There are no laws to be applied to the culture of lure fishing – it’s all trial and error and the individual’s best guess on the day as to how to persuade the elusive bass onto the hook! There are, however, many laws that seem to gravitate to individuals when in hot pursuit of this enigmatic quarry – here are some of my favourites….
1) If you need “to go” whilst out in the wilds….the toilet paper you judiciously packed for your eight hour marathon will be in the car.
2) That fluro knot you reassured yourself was “ok” parts from the braid on the first cast – taking a brand new bad boy to Mombasa with it.
3) If you are going to slip and fall into a rock pool, it’s usually within the first ten minutes of your eight hour marathon. How deep you go is inversely proportional to how long you have left in your session.
4) If you embed a hook in your finger, this is usually when in the company of a few others, who find your pain amusing, and may video it.
5) Invariably, when you hook and skilfully play and land a prime bass, there is no-one around to see this. However when you hook and have to play a seagull, all your compatriots will wander around from the next bay to witness this with exquisite timing, and may video it.
6) When at festivals, the person with whom you are sharing digs, ferry cabin or a dorm, snores like a rusty chainsaw, and falls asleep the fastest.
7) When fishing “weedless” there is always plenty of weed around to disprove the theory.
8) The plug with which you caught five fish yesterday, will stick to a rock today and refuse to budge.
9) You have no waterproof coat. The swell doesn’t look that bad. Getting a faceful, overhead and down your neck, wakes you from this misguided reverie all too late.
10) You fish for six hours like a demon. You sit down for a rest for five minutes. Immediately your fellow pluggers will delightedly scream “FISH ON” and land some wonderful fish for you to unhook and photograph for them.
11) When it’s hot, flat and calm there is zero chance of catching a bass. The five year old child further down the beach being hauled into the sea by a ‘double’ is just ridiculously lucky.
12) When up to your neck in a gulley, it quickly becomes apparent that you could have tried harder with your leap. Curiously the gulley appears at least eight feet wider than it was whilst empty at low tide.
13) You will only snap the most expensive of your lure rods. The cheap ones are indestructible. You will always snap a borrowed rod, cheap or otherwise.
14) Saltwater-proof reels? Umm…no.
15) The latest “must-have” lure stops catching as soon as the tackle dealers run out of them…
Author: Rod Lugg.