In most sporting groups you’ll find like-minded people getting together to enjoy a sport they all enjoy. In this case, the sport is game and sportfishing. The group is effectively a ‘team’. As in any other sport, the effectiveness of the team is based on experience, dedication, ability and the willingness to work within a team structure.

In no other sport would you expect to be effective or competitive without some coaching, practice and training. Game and sportfishing are no different.

Although many game fishers consider it to be a pastime, when you take a closer look at it, you find it is an incredibly complex sport. Like all other complex sports, it is dependent on so many things including the technical aspects of gear, understanding the ocean, weather patterns, and the behaviour of species we know very little about.

In the chapter dealing with spooling up we have already introduced the concept of getting to know a bit about the gear before using it to try to catch a fish. We’ll now take the concept further, dividing it up into specific positions in the team, much the same as in football where you’ll find lock, wing and fullback. We will divide the fishing team into angler, crew and skipper.

Each team position should fit in neatly with the other, which is improved by each member not only specialising in what they enjoy most but also learning as much as possible about all the other positions. It is important to be able to adequately cope if put in a different position.

Teams can consist of many individuals or as one in solo fishing. In all cases the more experience you can get as a group the better and more confident the whole team is.

Many of the tasks are up to the team as a whole such as preparing and maintaining the gear, boat and spotting signs of life when fishing. Training as a team certainly shows in the final results, not only in tournaments and other competitions but mainly in just having the confidence in each other and the developed systems to enjoy the day, the fishing and the company.