84: Curse tackle 7 - The Angler

The Curse Of The Unlucky Fishing Tackle Part 7

Nature: Fishing In The Wilderness

By The Angler

The world we live in is a funny place. We live in a huge ball called Earth. We feel that it is big, but then something hits us on the head and we realize that our “ball” is a little tiny little marble in the universe. To the galaxy we are just a speck of dirt. In our “ball” alone we have so many things that we do not understand. Sometimes when things do not go our way and we do not understand why, we narrow it down to a four letter word called ‘luck.’

Well, I do believe in luck. Luck is indeed real. I believe that the harder you work, the better your luck. But make sure that you are working right. But what happens when you are working hard but you are not getting the results you want, despite doing everything right? Is it bad luck?

[ After six hours of fishing you got so bored. Some of your buddies have resorted to eating the baits from the live-bait well. ]

Let’s say that you have planned for a fishing trip out to your favourite fishing hole at a secret spot somewhere in the South China Sea. You have fished there for years and you have always filled your cooler box. Before your trip you visited the tackle shop to get the latest fishing rod, fishing reel, new lines, hooks, sinkers, etc. You even bought a fish bone key chain for good luck.

On the trip you proudly take out your shiny new tackle, placed the rod on the rod holder as your fishing buddies look in awe. With the sun in the background your brand new fishing tackle sparkles as if being blessed by the “god of the sea.” Your confidence level shot up by 900%. Why not a thousand? The balance 100% you put down to your ability to handle the hard fighting brute. It has been two years since you fished here. You do have a little doubt. Two years of not fishing this place also adds confidence that the fishes have grown larger and started new families.

Your boatman finally drops anchor and parks the boat. You checked the GPS and yes, you are satisfied. You are back at your old hunting ground and the boat is parked right. While you put on your branded sun shielding sleeves that keeps you cooler than a polar bear during winter, your favourite hat that is proudly made in America, and you slap on some SPF 2000 sun block.

As you are putting on your new pair of Oakley sunglasses, you get the boatman to put on your bait for you (as you always do), and you free the line allowing it to drop to the bottom. Excited, you wait patiently for your brand new reel to scream. In your mind you imagine fighting the brute on your new setup, and how much of a workout you will be getting.

After the first hour you begin to wonder. You ask the boatman if he indeed parked the boat properly. Your friends too begin to wonder if this is the secret spot that all of you used to fish at. The quietness is out of the ordinary. In your head you regretted not buying the fish finder. Your favourite boat does not have a fish finder. It was on sale but you decided to buy the RM8,000 (Ringgit) reel that now adorns the reel seat of your RM2,500 (Ringgit) fishing rod. “Maybe it’s the tide,” you tell your buddies.

After six hours of fishing you got so bored. Some of your buddies have resorted to eating the baits from the live-bait well. You have been clearing all the unwanted pictures and “good morning” forwarded messages from your phones picture gallery. Your phone now has an additional 30 gigabytes of free space. Your buddy sitting at the back starts to take a piss and almost falls overboard. Secretly you wished he did, so that you could tie the live saving ring on your line and cast it out to him. At least you got to fight something.

From morning till sunset, your brand new rod, line, reel, hooks, etc. remain untounched.

Finally, you raise your hands and ask to take a vote. “Shall we call it a day despite having two hours left?” you asked. Everyone said yes. Makes sense, since even your boatman caught nothing today. So, your boatman raised anchor and in about an hour, all of you arrived safely back on land. This was one of your worse fishing trip. You look at your new fishing tackle and cursed, “paid so much for unlucky tackle.”

My apologies, whilst typing I went into story telling mode. Haha. But incidents like this one do happen. Is it really the fault of the new fishing tackle? While it may seem so, it certainly may not be so. Note that no one else caught anything too. Something other than the fishing tackle certain changed.

Here’s The Key

[ The most expensive, and the best fishing tackle in the world will not catch anything if one is fishing in an underwater “wilderness” or barren land. ]

Mother Nature is very much alive. She is at work to ensure that our little planet stays alive for as long as possible. To us, Earth is our home. She (Mother Nature) is Earth. As for the above fishing trip, the angler’s favourite fishing hole could have seen some changes. Most likely structural changes. The movements of the plates beneath the bed of the sea changes the environment. Structures that once provided shelter to fishes there could have been gone or destroyed.

When there are no structures, there are usually no fishes, unless one is lucky enough to meet a current that fishes follow to get from one place to another (migratory fish). Hence, the angler and his buddies caught nothing that day. While changes in the structure of sea beds are seldom this drastic, it could happen. Perhaps a tsunami happened. Maybe a fleet of “I don’t give a damn” trawlers came and destroyed the bottom wiping everything out.

So, what is the key here? What can we learn?

The most expensive, and the best fishing tackle in the world will not catch anything if one is fishing in an underwater “wilderness” or barren land.
Your favourite fishing ground can change over time. So, don’t just take for granted that fishing in one spot will always be good.
If your favourite boatman does not have a fish finder, encourage him to get one. Or go buy a portable one and bring it along with you whenever you go fishing out at sea or in a lake.

With this curse broken, you can now take out your “unlucky” fishing tackles that have not caught you anything. Give them another chance to prove you wrong. Or in a more positive way, give them a chance to prove them right. Perhaps bring them along on your next trip. Maybe, as a spare tackle just in case you need an additional one. Who knows, you may fall in love with them again. Stay tuned for the part 8 in the next issue.