Is fishing a game of luck?

Some luck, some skill. It matters where and how the line and bait is cast, what size is the hook, how much crap is in the water that your line gets caught in/on, and how your bait is ensnared on the hook. This is assuming you have bait or a lure that is bite worthy to a fish. If a fish hides behind a big rock across the river, and the river is running swiftly, it helps if the fisherperson can cast well enough so that the lure ends up, at some point, just behind that rock.

4 out of 5 times experience will beat luck.

Depends on the tool you use.
For example, if you use bombs, it is not luck.

I refuse to fish for catfish. However, we wound up at Roaring River in Mo a few years ago. They have trout fishing there. I was all down for that! We had been together about 5 years at that point, and until that day he had NO idea that I knew how to fish! He kept trying to show me how to hold the pole and how to cast,until I finally stomped on his foot!
But…he caught two trout, I caught 0. Not sure what that proves, but there is is.

Fishing is so fucking boring, they should throw competitors cats in & the winner is decided by which moggy brings out the most fish or doesn’t drown…good luck with that.

I have to agree with that @ucme. That’s why you’ll catch me reading as Rick is fishing.

There’s definitely a mix of skill, understanding, and some luck.

I was waiting with about 15 boats, in a channel lock once. And people were fishing while we waited for the water levels to raise. One guy caught a catfish, that tied the record for the lake, on 10 lb testline. The fish just happened to be passing through the locks, at the same time as us.
We fished while waiting every time after that.