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Bad Luck Larry

Shooting fish in a barrel

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I love flyfishing, but that doesn't mean I don't like spin fishing (although the latter seems a bit more mechanical than the naturalness of the former). However, fishing IS fishing! And I love it all!

My cousin's in-laws have a homestead north of the city from where I live, about thirty minutes out in the country with umpteen acres of land. It just so happens that on their property is a nice lake filled with bass and sunfish. Being secluded (more or less) those bass get VERY little pressure. So, it means that they've never seen a lure.
Usually we spend the two to four hours travelling the perimeter of the lake where the drop off is, or close to shore...lots of structure and that's where they usually are found.
It really IS like shooting fish in a barrel!
However, that doesn't mean that they DON'T have preferences. Sometimes they'll hit one colour than another; water temperature will be a little cooler than warmer; I'll remember my rabbit's foot than the horseshoe! But most often than not, throw anything and they'll hit it.

The whole point of fishing is exactly that: To FISH...for fish. It implies a guessing game. If you're like me, your numbers of fish aren't record breaking. So if you're also like me when you do come into a situation where fish aren't afraid to bite, you've hit the lottery jackpot!
As my mentor once said: enjoy a situation like that because they don't come around very often.

The crazy thing about this whole thing of 'shooting fish in a barrel' , is that after a while it DOES get kinda boring.
It's like that joke about the flyfisherman who dies, sees a huge bright light, and ZAP!...he's on a stream, with tackle and everything. So, after the bewilderment subsides, he decides to cast into the waters...dry fly, of course. He casts, fly floats....WHAM!...fish bites! He fights it, and after a nice struggle pulls in a 22 incher...trout no less! He thinks this is great! He releases the fish and casts again. WHAM! Same thing happens; nice fight, nice fish. WELL...after 6 hours of huge trout with every single cast, things get kinda boring to the fisherman and the casts get wimpier and wimpier 'cause the novelty has worn off.
A voice booms over the guy and asks: ' Joe, is there a problem with the fishing?'
The guy replies that no it's great, but that getting a huge eager fish with every cast, well...it can get a little on the boring side after a while, having the same thing happen over and over. Joe even says: 'This is great and all, but it wasn't what I thought Heaven would be like.'
The voice then replies: 'What makes you think you're in Heaven?'

I DO like to be challenged. I'd rather spend my day onstream or near waters where I HAVE to work for the fish I catch. I'd like to think that's the way WE improve not only as fishermen but as people as well. Because if there's anything this hobby does is to teach us patience and humility, and those are two huge qualities so valuble to us as human beings.

People talk about NATURAL trout or WILD trout. That to me implies fish which have never seen a fly. And if they're like those bass on that secluded lake, WILD means that they'll attack the fly I dubbed my belly-button lint onto.

So folks, enjoy the good times when you find that winfall of fish which you can't keep off of your line, but never get accustomed to it because too much of anything can be a bad thing.
And if anybody says they prefer WILD trout, tell them what I do: I prefer HEAVILY PRESSURED trout....ANYDAY!

And always remember: That's why they call it FISHING, not CATCHING!

Updated 10-18-2008 at 01:15 PM by Bad Luck Larry

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