Brilliant thread and thank god not everyone agrees. I fish for lots of different things in different places and they all have their time and place, be it Flathead in the local river in Aus or Peacock Bass in a lake somewhere in Asia, i'd fish in a cup of tea if i thought i had a chance of a bite!
Back to one of the original comments - the guided charters are huge learning experiences if you are a relative beginner like myself, which then allow an immense improvement in the DIY trips as your knowledge becomes broadened by fishing other places with other guides/people. Now, a guided trip with a guide who ISNT fun to be with is a real pain in the backside.....
Whilst the prep is a large part of it, that is primarily due to the scarcity of my fishing trips for GT's.
I'd also have to say that fishing with a few good friends is an enormous part of the game, and the banter, assistance, beers and general time spent doing something we all enjoy is a large part of it for me. Having said that i still do occasional trips on my own.
Lets face it GT's live in some pretty cool places, and using fishing as an excuse to go to the Maldives, New Cal, Komodo, Seychelles etc etc is a bit of a laugh isnt it?
As for the OCD aspect, well, its funny how the tackle prep and awareness varies. To me it is merely an aspect that is 100% in our control - having gear that is fit for purpose, works, is well maintained etc and can handle whatever situation is thrown at you. So it would be remiss to not have everything as much to my liking as time and money will allow. We can choose to a moderate degree of certainty the weather we fish in, we can choose to a reasonable degree the state of the tides etc. What I cannot control at all are the fish. So i guess it seems obvious to me that the research takes care of as much of the weather, tides, boat and location is is possible and the prep takes care of the one item fully in our control gear. It isnt OCD - its risk management, why spend $5-10 k on a trip, flights, charters, hotels, food etc and not have those extra $1k of lures that might make the trip an epic? That spare line, extra gloves, sunnies ..... whatever else we can all think of. A trip with zero tackle issues that cause lost fish or shortages that might be deemed to lose fish to me makes the prep seem worth it.
The trips all add to our fishing knowledge/experience, which then means you get to fish with more "accuracy" for want of a better term on any future trips, reading the water better, working lures better when in the hot seat etc etc.
The fish then go and do their best to mess it all up, which is why i go back for more. Like many styles of fishing, if it ever becomes truly easy, and is always catching, not fishing - I'd move on to something else as a focus.
I'd have to rate the landing of fish at the lower end of the percentage scale (as witnessed by my still fishing after numerous blanks for many species).
Prep 30%
Experience of spending time travelling/fishing with friends/good guides - 40%
The actual fishing itself 30%.
