The World is His Water
La légende du pêcheur Patrick Sébile
Patrick Sébile has fished practically everywhere for everything. He's spent 200-300 days per year for 17 years as one of the world's most famous guides at some of our planet's most exotic locations. He has fished in 61 countries. He's caught over 565 species of fish and has held 300 international, European and French national records. He's written seven books on fishing, hundreds if not thousands of articles, and he's graced the covers of over 150 fishing magazines worldwide. There's no other fisherman with those kinds of credentials. Not even close. With stats like that, he's got to be the most accomplished angler alive today - or ever in history.
Patrick has recently started his own lure company, and has sold over one million lures in his first two years of business. With an escalating worldwide demand for his lures, he will sell another million or two (if he hasn't already) in no time flat. This story's not about Sébile's innovative fishing lures though. It's about Patrick. Please enjoy reading about the man and his legend.
Editor's Note: A version of this story also appeared in Bass WEST USA magazine.
Russ: Have you been there and done it all when it comes to fishing, Patrick? What is it that still keeps you fishing? What keeps your line in the water?
The big thing to me is fishing is a real adventure. Many people like to watch TV and they like to read books because they can have an adventure, but also because they may think, well adventure is not a part of my life. I'm sorry but I disagree there. Adventure can be anywhere you have some water. It can be any day. I think fishing is the best sport for that, and I've always got it in my life. That thrill of a new adventure keeps exciting me on every trip. I really cannot imagine it will ever be different.
My feeling is, even in the small pond near my home, I can have a huge surprise. I can have a wonderful adventure. I can go there and try to see if there is a bass or maybe a pike. I could be hoping, maybe I can find a really big fish there. When you can go to Canada or Mexico or anywhere, you can make a trip that is very unusual. You can catch more fish or bigger fish than anyone has ever caught before. That adventure is waiting in front of me, you - in front of all of us, with every cast we take.
After a lifetime of fishing, I am not tired and I don't feel I have seen everything. There are way more fish in fresh or saltwater than I will ever be able to catch. So that's one thing I like, that I can never catch them all, but I enjoy trying anyway. It's a fun passion. The world's waters are a big, big playground, and it all starts at the waters closest to home or wherever you are, whatever water is nearby holds many adventures just waiting for you. Fishing is an adventure and adventure is everywhere from your backyard to the most remote places in the world.
Fishing for giant Nile perch in front of an ancient Egyptian temple on the shores of Lake Nasser.
When I was first starting to be recognized in France about twenty years ago, before I really had a fishing career yet, one of the most famous fishing writers in Europe, he said to me, "I am certain in the coming years, you will be a major star in the fishing business." And you know at that time it was not my business yet. I was just passionate. I was reading articles from this man since I was a kid, and for him to say that to me, it was huge. But he also told me, "Patrick, you have to take care of your passion. You must find time to do other things besides fishing, because the fishing passion, especially when you become a professional, you will lose part of that passion, so find other interests. Don't overfish yourself." What he told me was wonderful, but it was also strange to hear that last part. I thought long and hard about it, but I decided I would just keep fishing with passion. That was twenty years ago. You know, I never heeded that man's advice, I never slowed down. I just turned 40, and I still feel very passionate about fishing today. Last week, I flew to Hong Kong for work. After a seventeen hour flight, I took my rod and a couple of my lures and I went fishing off the harbor wall from 10PM to 2 AM. I just wanted to have fun and go fishing. They were biting good! It was fun and I was so tired at work the next day, but it was a thrilling adventure to fish that night. One I would not have missed for anything. |
Russ: Has starting your own successful new lure business the past couple years, has that finally changed fishing and your passion for it?
No. You see the thing is, there's fishing and then there's my fishing business. These are two things, which are very linked, but each one is separate.
Of course, the raising of my company, I don't want to say exactly that's what drives me, but of course I created this company thinking it could do good, and the fact is it is doing so well that we have sold way more lures than we were expecting, and actually, we were surprised by that. We did not think it would happen so quickly. Today, we are selling my lures in 34 different countries around the world. Of course, part of my job, the first part is to create and then promote lures, and I have really been doing that for the past 20 years for other companies. I am of course better known in France and Europe, and that's where I have designed lures, hooks, rods, tackle bags and all sorts of tackle for major companies in Europe for about the past twenty years. So in a sense, I am still doing that, and many readers, even in the USA, may have tackle they use that I designed, except my name is not on those items. The difference now with my new company, with my name on the lures means I must be much more active with promotional appearances and business trips, meeting journalists, distributors and important clients, performing product demonstrations on the water worldwide, and like what we are doing now, talking together for me to have a relationship with the readers and anglers who are very important to me. So today I have this kind of work to do in the 34 different countries where anglers use my products. So I am traveling today mainly for sales meetings and promotional fishing. In the past year, I have logged enough air miles to circumnavigate the globe eight times by jet.
So that is one of my two things: raising my company. What does that means to the second thing: my fishing? Well, it is easy to measure the effect in terms of fishing days. Most of my life before my company, I usually ranged between 200-300 fishing days most years. My best year was in 2003 or 2004, just before I launched my company, I fished 317 days that year. That was around the same year when IGFA awarded me as the number one saltwater angler in the world. Since then I have really slowed down my fishing so I won't be winning that IGFA award again soon. Right now, I am only fishing 60-70 days a year. So my fishing time has dropped down over the last 3-4 years as my company sales have gone up.
A nice plaque and certificate from the IGFA for most saltwater records in 2003.
So I would like to go fishing more, but my company demands my time now. The good side is that my company trips allow me to meet many new people in new places who share my passion. They are passionate anglers I would not have met if not for my lure company. For example, I was recently on a business trip in Russia, and fishing on the Volga. It is a very big river in Russia, and it was beautiful, really just so beautiful. The Volga River has 100 arms, and it is so wild and unspoiled. The best part, there are pike, walleye (called zander), giant catfish (called wels) that can reach 250 pounds, many unique fish species, and that was a great adventure. So yes, I am fishing less than before, but I can combine fantastic fishing with my work, and make opportunities to enjoy fishing in beautiful places, and that's a very great thing. So I really try to make a balance.
My 564th species - a dazzling Tchekoin caught in Volga River, Russia on a recent
business trip.
You may recall the famous European fishing writer twenty years ago who counseled me to find a second interest so I do not burn out my fishing passion? Well, I follow his advice but in reverse today. I use my fishing passion as my 'other interest' to counterbalance my company work, so I don't burn out from working. For example, last month I was in Sweden, a gorgeous area that has trophy pike waters amidst breathtaking natural scenery. For 2009, we have many big baits coming on the market, so I was promoting them in Sweden for the pike, because the pike is a very important fish for Europe, and I love fishing for pike. Also, in Canada and the northern US, I will be able to use the same baits for pike, and I will also use these baits in California and Mexico for trophy bass, because a good lure for pike is also a good lure for giant largemouth. So yes, all those trips may be for business, but my passion burns for fishing on those trips too! So you see, I try to manage my schedule, use my time to do business, but also to enjoy the best fishing experiences that I can. |
One fish I love catching across North America and Europe - the pike!
Russ: We consider you to be a 'Legend of our Sport' but tell us, Patrick, who are your legends?
I have really one, Pierre Closterman. He is my legend. Actually, more than a legend because I knew him. Sometime you can have a legend who's just someone you read about in the book or on TV but I have had more than a chance to really know this man. He was one of my very close friends until he died four years ago.
I loved this guy because he was such a great man and more than that, a very unique kind of person. He was really in love with fishing.
His legend is, at the beginning of WWII, when he was 18-20 years old, he was in the USA. The USA was not at war yet, but when he first heard that France and Germany were at war, he got a berth on a munitions supply ship headed to England. In his suitcase, all he brought were two shirts, two pants, socks, underwear and most important of all, two fishing rods. So I think that tells a lot about this man.
He already knew how to fly planes, so he become a fighter pilot there. He became the ace of the Free French, and destroyed the most Nazi planes of anyone. He was not allowed to write about his missions, although he kept a secret diary because he was thinking if he died at least his personal diary could tell his parents about what was happening in his life. But he didn't die, and after the war, he gave the hand-written diary to an editor and it became a huge success. Winston Churchill himself said it was the most important book written about WWII, and his book was a huge success in the fifties everywhere in the free world.
After the war, he worked for Cessna. He flew around the world to show the Cessna aircraft to VIP customers, heads of governments and magnates of big companies. Everyone knew of his passion for fishing, so everywhere he was invited to fish on the best seas, the best rivers and lakes, in the best boats with the best guides. So you can imagine he had some very good fishing in his life.
He knew how to write, very beautifully, and he wrote several more books; one which is considered the most famous French fishing book. He also became an IGFA Trustee for France.
My legend and very close friend Pierre Closterman,
Free French Ace in WW2, successful book writer and IGFA Trustee Emeritus
He made a huge surprise for me when I wrote the first of my seven fishing books. He contacted my editor without my knowledge, and Pierre wrote the foreword of my first book. I didn't know he did that, so you can just imagine the surprise that makes for me when the book came back from printing, and I saw the foreword by Pierre Closterman.
In my new home in Colorado where I live now, I have very few pictures, but his picture sits beside my mother's picture. So, yeah, I have a legend I look up to every day, it is definitely him.
Russ: Who have or do you learn about fishing from, Patrick? Maybe you learned a lot from this man, your legend...
About fishing itself, no.
Really, most of the things I know about fishing, I learned by myself. Of course some people shared with me a couple of things, but I really can say most of the things I learned were by watching the water, simply spending time and studying the fish in the water. When I was a kid, my father died when I was just nine, and my only great thing as a kid was to go on the lake close to my mother's home and spend the whole day and evenings if possible, just watching what the fish were doing. I still do that.
You know sometimes you learn more by not fishing. Stay on the water and leave your rod alone and just watch, and resist the temptation you have to take your rod and hook the fish you see. Just wait, and watch the way the fish are doing things, the way they hit the baitfish, the way they attack, the way they hide themselves in the grass. When you see all that, you learn many things, little by little, and that's how I learned most of the things that made me a better fisherman. |
Russ: With all the contacts you have made around the world, among all the fishermen you have met, do you have any mentors or master anglers you consult for information or who teach you now? Are there any people who you can go to in order learn new things about fishing, such as a mentor?
No mentor, no I really cannot say there is one. But I am in contact with many others who are all world class fishermen, and always if I need to have information, yeah, I know lots of anglers who are specialists for some kind of species or experts for some local areas. So if I have not fished there yet, or have not fished for that species before, a friend can be good to share with me some information, some ideas, some tips, some techniques for a new location or species I plan to target.
I do the same. I share information. I do not like the secrets. That is something that makes me disappointed with some anglers, when they find something working good, they just hide it, do not tell anyone. My thinking is the more people know about fishing, the more fishing is enjoyable. The more sharing and commingling of ideas among anglers across the globe, even to unite together as stewards of our world fishing legacy, can be effective to promote angler-beneficial conservation measures. In the USA, angler conservation efforts are way, way stronger than in France or across Europe. I admire what I see has been accomplished in Florida for example, with the management of snook, the ban of the nets and like that. But even something as simple as catch-and-release that many American anglers take for granted, they may not even realize what a huge benefit catch-and-release can be for your fisheries. For us in Europe, it was just the accepted thing if you catch fish you keep it and you bring it back home to eat it. Of course, that was since humans appeared on earth millions of years ago, fish were always eaten. But only recently in Europe, we have learned that catch-and-release works, thanks to the American anglers for opening our eyes. Of course, if you would like to eat a fish from time to time, why not? But if you kill 15 bass a day, you won't be anybody's friend in France I can tell you! In Europe today, there is a great personal pleasure now when you release the fish. That release ethic that benefits the fisheries has comes from America and spread across Europe like wild. So you see why I am all for sharing fishing information that benefits all anglers.
Russ: You are a certain high level of angler, Patrick, and we all are at certain levels as anglers, each with different degrees of experience, skills, time on the water. You hold vast experience catching many species at many locations and having been on the water most days for decades. Where do you see yourself fitting into the hierarchy of anglers across the fishing world? Have you met any other anglers who are on your level? Are there any anglers better than you?
I am pretty sure there are!
Russ: You may feel a little embarrassed or self-conscious to answer this. I feel you are being humble or polite now, and that is appreciated by all of us, but the fact is, Patrick, when all your angling accomplishments are added together, you alone may be the only one who has fished in 61 countries, caught over 565 species of fish, held 300 records, and you have your very unique lure concepts that no other manufacturer has these lure concepts. Your lures are a reflection of your fishing mind. We'd like to know, who else is out there who you know on the same level as you? The question is not to ask you to brag or boast, but for us readers, we may not know another angler like you, so we wonder who do you consider to be at your level? The world is your water, but who else do you run into like yourself out there? Are there other anglers out there better than you or who you consider your equals?
Okay, I would like to make two points before answering this question.
The first point is: of course there are many very well-known anglers who I have never fished with. Of course, there's no better way to compare who you are as an angler - but I don't say compete - than to go on the same boat with someone. But if he just wants to try to catch more or bigger fish than me, if that's his goal, I just couldn't get passionate. If you do that, fine. I will simply try to catch the fish I can, and that's it. We will have lost the fact that fishing must first of all, be fun.
On the other hand, if we have a good feeling together and we are having fun and fishing together, that's truly fishing, That's not to say you can't have a look and say "Whoa, this guy is a better angler than me," maybe for a certain species, for use of a particular lure or technique. Maybe he has mastered fishing a difficult kind of ocean current or water condition. So some anglers can be good, the best, in some things, but not others.
A fish which I (on right) grew up with - the European sea bass, here a very nice specimen.
Now I come to the second point I would like to make: I think the very best fisherman I ever was, for about 7-8 years in my early 20's, I was really target fishing for two species, the European sea bass, which is very close to the striped bass (without any stripes) and the second fish, I am very in love with, the gilded sea bream. You almost cannot catch it with a lure. Gilded sea bream like to eat crabs and such, and it is very difficult to catch even with bait. In the USA, bait fishing may be considered very easy, but in Europe, bait fishing is considered an art worthy of mastery, and wherever the gilded sea bream is found, it is almost revered as one of the most difficult fish to catch on bait. Almost everything about your set-up must be perfect in every detail, otherwise, you will not succeed. It is a sign of the very best angler to be able to catch the gilded sea bream at all - but I was doing that 5 days a week all year round and those two species helped me achieve much of my original fame in France. My accomplishments at that time are still talked about today. I don't think anyone has equaled it. In the spots I was fishing, I knew everything around every single rock, every single current. In comparison, today, I fish one week in one country and the next week in another country. I am always on the move, so I don't have the local knowledge. So obviously I cannot compare to the guy who knows the spots and the species, because knowing fishing is one thing, and knowing the spots and species is another thing.
Okay, so those two points so far, they are a lead-in for my answer here now. Honestly, I find that while fishing for the gilded sea bream that was the only time in my life when I was fishing with a man who was intriguing. It was in Morocco in North Africa. I met there a guy who was fishing from a cliff, and he was fishing for a living. That means he was a Moroccan guy. They go from father to son, they just go to their one spot. Their only fortune is one rod, one reel, maybe you could buy for $20. At that time, for eight months, I was fishing and living on the cliffs with the local fishermen there and this guy, who was then in his fifties, his fishing nickname was Moustache because he had a big thick moustache, and he had the knowledge and it was just so beautiful to watch him, the way he was fishing, how he was keeping his rod, and sometimes he could wait ten minutes without casting his line, just to wait because we were mainly fishing in a very, very rocky area, and the rocks are totally covered by mussels. So if you put your line in the wrong spot, it would be immediately snagged and then you cannot fish. You have to break the line and retie your rig. This guy, I remember him, he was just watching the waves until he had exactly the perfect wave, and he knows every single little rock, he knows every little hole in between two rocks, and when the perfect wave was there for his spot, then he would cast the line with a mussel or a crab, hold his rod just so, and in the following second, catching a gilded sea bream or another kind of fish every time. He would do this all day, every day no matter what weather, I imagine, for all his life. To tell you the truth, I have been fishing with and watching people fish all my life, but this guy with a simple $20 buck rod, a very poor guy, he is up until today, the only angler that has really intrigued me. I have not seen anyone his equal as an angler.
Russ: Clearly the difficult fishing environment molded this man you speak of into an expert angler. Along those lines, are there any other areas of the world, any fishing environments, types of angling, or particular species that turn out the best anglers?
First, let me say, I have a couple of fish that I love very much but also catch very few because they are not so common. In terms of the best fighting and strongest fish of all, it is the Talang queenfish. For its size, you cannot believe the fight this fish can give you. It averages about 6-8 pounds and when you hook this fish, it jumps out of the water up to 4 meters (12 feet). Yes! The first 2 or 3 jumps are just amazing, after that, they are not as high. Perhaps some readers are thinking I exaggerate but one Talang, I caught it from a pier, and on the side of this pier were measurements, markings to gauge the water level. The fish jumped at my eye level. So I know for sure it was 12 feet. I have not caught many, only 6 to 8 at most of this species. There are not a lot of them, but you find it especially in the channel of Mozambique which is between Madagascar and Africa. A related species, the double spotted queenfish is equally strong and it can be a little plentiful at times off Cairns and the northern part of Australia where it can be possible sometimes to catch 10 or more a day. However, the double-spotted queenfish does not jump quite as high as the talang.
I just wanted to share that story because, although the talang is way stronger for its size than most any other fish, you cannot catch too many of them. Not enough to really even target them. So this is an example of a great species I love, but its not possible to become a good angler or expert fishing for it since it is such an uncommon catch.
On the other hand, there are several species and several places I really love for the challenges they offer, and they can sharpen an angler's skills by simply fishing there or for them.
One of the favorite fish of many worldwide, is the largemouth bass. It can be one of the most difficult species, requiring great skill at times. They can be one of the most finicky to catch but also they have those crazy times when almost anything that hits the water will be attacked. So the bass has two sides, it can be very shy, and when it is very shy, that is the vexing challenge to find out what you can do to make it bite. The other side is when it really wants to bite, the way it attacks, it can be so ferocious. I think that is one of the reasons why many people fall in love with the bass.
The largemouth is one of my top ten favorite fish to catch in the world.
There are days or even, there are hours, for example when you arrive at the lake very early in the summer, the first one or two hours you can have a bite every 2-3 casts on almost any bait you are using. But then, things can quickly change in ten minutes time, and the action turns off; the situation goes from very easy to where you have to use the best knowledge you have to try to get even one more bite.
So okay now, since the fish have stopped biting, they don't want to hit, you have to use a bait for a different meaning - to try to get a reaction strike, not a feeding strike. You must try different baits or even sometimes the same bait but used a different way, to generate a reaction strike. You often need to be more 'insistent' with the bait, jig it or jerk it a couple of times and rip it forward and cast it a couple of times. Reaction potential is there and sometimes linked to what the fish considers its comfort space. It may not attack during the first seconds, but after 30-40 seconds, I don't want to say the bass thinks like a human, but there's finally something like, "Hey, you're in front of me, in my space. I want you to go away. If you are not going to go away, I will bite you." - and then you get a fish. That is one of the challenges where you can really see the difference between the average angler versus the very, very good angler, because the very good angler will find this kind of solution and also they find the baitfish, they find the spots, they find the conditions and many different things, and they choose this or that bait to do that job well. So the largemouth, due to the challenge, makes anglers who excel.
In terms of location that can produce better anglers, really, I love Florida. In Florida, it is possible to have very, very good fishing for largemouth and also snook - two of my very favorite fish. I have enjoyed thousands of hours in my life fishing for them. These two can both be challenging, each have their own environment, and require skill - but that's not all. Many, many other challenging species are found in Florida. It is a hospitable location and an overlapping range for many species in freshwater, inshore and offshore saltwater on both the Atlantic and Gulf sides. So an angler there can experience many species and dimensions of fishing. There are many, many fishing opportunities all in this one place, and an angler can really grow into an expert in Florida more than most other places.
Peacock bass fishing in Fort Lauderdale back yards!
Speaking of another species that can heighten one's skills as an angler, I love the zander and its North American cousin, the walleye. They are not strong fighters, but the challenge, if you cast for them, it is the highest level of lure casting techniques you need to do truly well catching walleye. Of course, it is a very wonderful fish to catch trolling too. But in casting for them, it is a species where a very good fisherman can make a huge difference compared to the average angler, especially when you need to fish deep for them. In comparison, when there are bass in shallow grass, yes, a skilled fisherman can make a difference compared to the average angler, but the bass in that situation is not such a difficult fish as the zander and walleye when you need to go down deep for them. So to learn to fish for walleye (and I speak especially if you are casting), can make a huge difference between the very good angler versus the average angler. The difference can be on a scale from 1 to 10 really.
I also love the Upper Michigan region for the smallmouth bass which is just amazing with beautiful fish, plenty of 6 to 7 pounders. The quality of the fishery there is not so usual to find anywhere else, and that's really a species and a place that can challenge, indeed inspire, an angler to become the best he can be.
A fishery abundant in big smallmouth can challenge and inspire anglers to become
their best.
Possessing passion for all those challenging species, the largemouth and the snook, the smallmouth and the walleye (or zander) can result in the best anglers.
Russ: So those are some of your most challenging species that can produce the best anglers worldwide. Please tell us about your absolute best fishing spots now. Tell us, where is the best fishing in the world today, for any kind of fish?
Okay, as a long time fishing guide, the 'best place' to me means lots of fish, big fish, and easy ways for anyone, even novice anglers to catch them. So these would not be the most challenging places, but the best places for anyone to have fun. Well, I have several possibilities, so I will give you two or three. The Mississippi Delta is really amazing for the redfish and sometimes the tarpon, but really for the redfish that's so hot. And then I would like to say the Great Slave Lake in Canada if you want to fish for lots of pike plus lots of walleye. Oh yeah, that's really very good.
Russ: Okay, now where do you say is the very best largemouth bass fishing in the world?
Now for the bass, I may surprise you because the best place I have every fished for huge bass and lots of them is Youssef-ben-Tachfine. It's a huge lake, made by a dam in Morocco. It's about 80 kilometers south of one of the biggest cities, Agadir. It is very remote. It required a long, difficult drive for me to get there, including three torturous hours in four wheel drive through the Sahara Desert. What kept me coming back to try it, is because of a picture I have seen of a villager there with a monster bass. They say it was scale-weighed and went 14 kilos (over 30 pounds). I don't think that photo ever made it to a magazine or even beyond the village. Of course, I can't say yes it was or no it wasn't 14 kilos, but certainly it was a monster in the picture. Many people in the village work in the agricultural fields which are right on the banks of the water. As they work, they can look down from the fields into the water. They keep just the handline in their pockets, and when they see a big bass, they try to find a lizard or whatever they can find, they hook it and they throw it in the water, and if they catch a fish that way, it's for food. That's how this guy caught this monster bass in the picture. It was 5-6 years since I was last there, but at that time, Youssef-ben-Tachfine was just amazing. There were a lot of bass and they were all huge. Most had never seen a lure. It was the best place I've ever seen for big bass. However, it is in an arid part of the world where you can have no rain for 3-4 years and devastating droughts. Huge lakes like Yousseff-ben-Tachine can almost dry up or be used up for agruculture during those dry years, so you can have dramatic fluctuations in fisheries there. So I don't know how bass fishing has been there recently.
Russ: There's a saying that an angler learns something new on every fishing trip. Does that still apply to you? Has the learning process slowed down at your level? How do you learn, and where do your new insights come from? Can you keep an open mind, or do you settle into a routine of what you do? How do you expand on what you do?
I would like to say, I receive less new information today, because I already have a lot, but what I receive now, what I can see the fish do, I find richer details and deeper information, things which need years of experience to see, things which I am very sure that 20 years ago, I would not be able to see or understand as well as today. There are still many things to be aware of to increase my knowledge. I am always a student.
And also, confidence is a big part of what you are doing. A good way to explain this is when I try new lure designs, believe me, I make many tests which are not good. When I design a new lure, I have many ideas and I make many samples and I make prototypes and try them all. Not every idea works. Sometimes it seems none of them. So the start may be to clear out of my mind what cannot work. Simply, I have confidence that if I keep on testing, I will find the solution, and little by little, I begin to understand the different ways that I may be able to reach my design goal. That's a good way to design a lure, but it is also a good way to fish, to constantly test everything to see if it is working. So yes, I and you can keep an open mind for fishing. It's important to know what isn't working. Clear your mind of what is not working for the moment, for the day. Keep testing as you're fishing, Then, little by little, refine what does work. Have confidence and optimism that if you keep doing that, then you will succeed. Sometimes even beyond your wildest dreams.
Go fishing my friends, and your wildest dreams can come true.
Angler Max Domecq (right) and guide Patrick Sébile with 286lb 9oz IGFA All Tackle World Record tarpon.
To be continued....