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| Fishing for a spot on the lake won’t make you any friends |
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| The sport of fishing has certainly changed over the years. Gone are the days when a person could walk into the hardware store and buy his entire outfit for $20.
One thing hasn’t changed, though. Fishermen are as gregarious as ever – much like sheep, I think.
I don’t mean to seem antisocial or anything like that, but I prefer to fish with my companions, not with every fisherman on the lake.
That’s why I frown at the frequent suggestion from outdoor writers, “If you don’t know where to fish, just follow the other boats.” Or the equivalent advice: “Ask a lot of questions.”
I enjoy fishing, but I hate questions. Sometimes I want to ask, “Is this some kind of survey, or what?” A recent trip to the river is a case in point.
My son and I launched our boat and headed for our favorite spot. We passed one boat on the way, then motored on down the river another 400 yards. We circled around like a dog looking for a place to lie down and dropped anchor.
Before we could bait up, the fishermen in the other boat pulled anchor, ran up beside us and set up about 20 yards away.
Why would they do that? Our spot wasn’t any better than theirs, and they had miles of water to choose from.
It happens all the time. My boat is old, and my equipment looks like the final day of a yard sale, but fishermen follow us around.
Apparently they think, Hey, those guys can’t afford nice equipment. They must spend a lot of time fishing.
My brother and I had a similar experience on the coast a few years ago. We launched our boat about 8 a.m. and motored out into the bay.
I was surprised to see most of the boats were concentrated further back in the bay than I had observed on a previous trip.
Maybe the fish had moved? This was a large body of water, and 100 boats can scatter out very well if they want to.
I’m pretty stubborn, though. So we fished where I caught fish two weeks before. The results were meager.
The next day, our boat was the first one out, so we headed for the spot where we fished the day before. (Did I tell you I’m kind of stubborn?) Pretty soon, boats began arriving and dropping anchor all around us.
That’s when we realized everybody was following everybody else. The first boat out determines where everyone fishes.
Two old guys putted up in their little pram and asked, “Doing any good?”
“Nope,” we told them.
They motored over to the next boat and asked, “Doing any good?”
Those folks said, “Nope,” and the old-timers moved off a few yards and dropped their anchor.
We left soon after that and decided to try a spot where there weren’t any boats – about a half-mile away. Pretty soon, the two old boys in the little boat came chugging by.
“You fellas doing any good up here?” they asked.
“Nope,” we said.
So, they moved off about 30 feet and tossed out their anchor.
Readers with questions or comments for Roger Pond may write to him in care of this publication. |
| 9/5/2007 |
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