I don’t think I know of any angler who does not believe in luck. In fact many of my angling friends even believe that some of their fishing tackle is luckier than the other fishing tackle in their fishing arsenal. I am not talking about favourite tackle. No, I am talking about fishing tackle that are better off entertaining fishes at the bottom of a lake than being held by an angler trying to catch fish with it.

I have heard many a times something that goes along the lines of this rod or that reel will not catch any fish as it is an unlucky reel or rod. The reason anglers lose faith in their fishing tackle is because these tackle of theirs have never caught them anything on fishing trips. They are the rods and reels that all fishes avoid at all cost while every other reel and rod around them catch lots of fish.

I for one have had a few of them. These “space wasters” have defied the powers of the gods. Holy water merely acted as tackle cleaning solution without any help of breaking their unlucky spells. These cursed tackle have been sitting snugly in some dark corner of my fishing tackle room and have long been forgotten until a recent field testing trip when one of the testers talked about his unlucky rod.

Cursed Fishing Tackle

Don’t break mirrors or you’ll have seven years of bad luck, don’t walk under ladders, etc. are just some of the superstitious believes that are well known and believed even by current day humans. We anglers have some too and I am sure that you’ve heard of a few. An example of one way to piss off a fellow angler is to step over his or her rod while fishing. You do not have to be a shaman or a voodoo priest to put a curse on that said rod taking away its ability to even register a bite. So, how the hell does such an act work?

First of all, if one is inconsiderate enough to step over a friends fishing tackle, one deserves to be shouted at, punched, and even thrown overboard. Not so much for cursing the said tackle but for risking losing one’s balance and stepping on his or her fishing rod. This has happened to me before but I was too nice a guy to shout at my said friend let alone throw him overboard, who was also too smart a guy to offer to pay for the damaged he did; destroying my fishing rod my accidentally stepping on it. Sorry is no payment nor is it any form of reimbursement. Of course, one forgives a friend but does not forget. With that, we have not fished together in years.

Fishing too has a cursed animal. That animal is the cat and not just black cats, but all cats. How can fishing be worse than witching… In the world of witches and wizards, only black cats get a bad rep. In our world of fishing all cats are blamed for cursing a fishing trip. No idea what I am blabbering about? Play with a cat before you go fishing and you will not catch fish. Bring a cat fishing and you will not catch fish. If you’ve not heard this before, you probably don’t fish enough or your circle of angling friends is not big enough. Why do some folks give cats such a bad rep? Because the fish can smell or sense a cat or the vibe of a cat. Oh, I feel sad for cats.

Anyway, I have done the irresponsible act of stepping over my own fishing rods while fishing but I still caught fish with them. I have also gone fishing with cats hanging out right by my side. In fact, one of the places that I regularly go to, to field test fishing tackle is also home to few cats that for some reason love hanging out with me when I fish (despite me being a dog person). Why? Maybe it is because I do not have the power to transfer the vibe of cats to the fish or could it be that my ungodly powers to curse fishing tackle is only as strong as sugar pills. They only work on those who believe.

OK, I will be honest with you. I am guilty too. I too used to be a believer in some of these nonsense. But we learn, we grow wiser, and we see things differently. So, how can fishing tackle be unlucky? Well, we live in a universe where we are ultimately linked together as one and within the realms of this universe of ours lie forces that vibrates in a way that causes our fishing tackle to lose its fishing powers by making its atoms vibrate in a certain way… haha, you may think that what you’ve just read is a whole load of bull crap; but you know what, it actually is not.

There are forces that determine your catch rate and whether you catch fish or not. We will look at them in the next issue where we take a look at some of the curses that have plagued many an angler. We will them try to understand what forces are actually at play. We will then look at the key to unlocking these curses. Sounds good? Stay tuned for the next issue.