Many of us have had those days where they just won’t hit. This past Sunday was one of those days for me.
The early morning sun already hinting at the kind of temperatures expected for the rest of the day, but it has been over a week since I have dedicated a day to putting my line out there. My brother phoned me while I was packing the gear, “sup Bob?” he asked. “Wondering when you going fishing again?” More than delighted at my response he was at my place and we were at the waters edge within the hour.
I spent all of the morning finesse fishing every fluke and soft bait, made by Zoom Berkley and Culprit, in my tackle (on which I have NEVER had a bad day). The retrieve went from erratic, steady slow, steady fast, twitch and pause to twitch on twitch, all with no results. I saw them schooling up and presented the bait right passed their noses, dropped under them, coasted over them… nada!
My mom joined us around twelve and brought some rolls, cold meats and drinks (ye mom still packs a good lunch) and took a break from the blistering sun. My brother in the mean time had his lines in with organic baits for other fish species (Carp and Barbel [Catfish for the internationals]) and was puttering around with a crank bait, also with no luck.
Then just as if out of nowhere my brother had one on… (By this time I was out looking for prime spots in the hopes of producing even a small fish). On my return he showed me the picture he had taken on his phone.
So I called it a day and decided to learn from him (albeit that it is normally the other way round). His retrieve was rather interesting considering he was using an old coffee grinder with about a 17-20 pound line and may as well have been using my tow rope for line. The cast was at least 15-20 meters out, and the retrieve so slow that the crank hardly submerged and then he would pause to let it surface, “rinse and repeat” (he was using a 6-10ft dive floating type crank made by Sure strike, bright yellow with a slight orange bottom and tungsten rattle).
Needless to say, when the fish hit he would turn to me and with a grin that resembled that of a five year old on Christmas morning, he reminded me of just why I love bassing so much, and why it has become one of South Africa’s fastest growing recreational sports.
The sun had long set and I had more bights from the mozzies when we packed up and hit the road, but my brother and I both walked away with a memorable day and valuable lessons. And I seem to have a new dam to fish and conquer, and as I walked away I thought to myself… Catch ya later little buddies!