Night Fishing

A few weeks ago, some friends from work and I decided to go fishing. It was hot out when we started - not off to a good start. I had been to the store during lunch to pick up some night crawlers. While I was there I found a lure that I wanted - it was $20!! I asked a few of the sales guys about them and they swore up and down they were some of the best lures in the store. So I bought one anyway, they did look like good lures after all.

I had been to the body of water we were going to before. It's located across the street from my friend's house. He knew what was going to work and so did I - worms. Night crawlers on a bobber, yes, but mostly fake rubber worms in a natural or dark purple color with a bright red tail retrieved at a medium to slow speed. Out of all the times I've been there, and from the stories he's told me as well, this seems to be what works most consistently and with better results (more strikes by larger fish).

Well, I'm always up for a challenge, and since I knew worms were going to work it lost some of it's appeal. I had bought some lures a few weeks earlier that I hadn't had a chance to throw yet. So I started out with those.

I had been to my friend's place several times and I've fished with him on several occasions. But I was still trying to impress my other co-worker. He hadn't done any good bass fishing in a while, so I wanted to make sure he caught some good fish and had a nice time. If you're reading this and thinking that it's conflicting with the statements in the previous paragraph, you'd be correct. I didn't realize how stupid it was of me to experiment while trying to impress until later.

Good thing my buddy stuck to the tried and true. He was having a great night. He got our other friend all setup and he caught some very nice fish as well. I was catching jack-squat. So I finally tried the new $20 lure - nothing to lose at this point - and caught a decent fish. Satisfied with that I switched to worm too.

The sun went down and we could hardly see to get back. At this point we were all fishing with night crawlers on the brightest colored bobbers we could find. Things had been slow for a while and we were just about to call it a night. My friend ended up catching the largest bass he's ever pulled out of that pond! It was a very nice fish.





I've had a while to reflect:

• When it counts - use what you know will work.
  There's a time and place to experiment - and it's not when it counts. It's behind closed doors, on the practice court, during the scrimmage match. It's definitely not when you have something riding on the line, during a tournament, or when it's go time. You're probably not going to end up impressing anyone and it will take longer to get results. Most likely you'll end up going back to what you know works anyway.


• You get what you pay for.
  Well... this isn't **ALWAYS** true, but it holds true for a lot of things in this life. Out of all the artificial lures I tried, the expensive, ultra good looking, super lure (please humor me) came through for me. The better stuff usually costs more. Why? - because it's better. Cost is often directly proportional to an item's worth. If it wasn't any better than any other lure (nothing that set it apart ) it likely would have been priced accordingly. SUB-POINT: Listen to what other's say. If the community is giving it good feedback - it'll probably prove it's worth.


• Be patient.
  As evidenced, the best results are often those that are not rushed. We knew worms would work - we just had to wait for the big one to bite.


• Have fun!
  It was hot. I wasn't having good results at first (my own fault). When I started having success it was dark. Two super-sized mosquitoes tried to carry me away. Would I do it again? Absolutely. The thrill of reeling in a fish is fun! Hanging out with your friends and enjoying nature - awesome. If you're not having fun, **NOTHING** will make it worth the effort - period.