riverrat hit the bullseye, nothing beats time on the water, nothing. i will go one step further and say nothing beats time spent LEARNING on the water. guys like dave stewart, riverrat chuck and some very close friends that are some of the best guides in the state all have one thing in common....they have learned to eliminate the things that normally dont work and concentrate on the very precise , productive activity that they have learned. ive kept notes for over 30 years, i have changed what data i looked for over the years, but probably the one thing that changed my notes more than anything was to include how the fish actually bit using a scale from soft reluctant bites to jerk the rod out of your hand with the hook buried in the gullet.
i always feel like its very difficult to catch another anglers fish without him in the boat, so youtube videos dont really do much for me other than maybe just pointing me in the right direction.