A Little Dock Talk: Those One-Fish Days

We've all had 'em. Shoot, for that matter, I've had a lot of no-fish days. Nevertheless, we all keep going back for more, right?

The thing that got me to thinking about this topic was the front-page headline of this morning's newspaper that read: "One fish pays to the tune of $176K." Author Lee Tolliver, of course, was talking about the 10th annual Mid-Atlantic Rockfish Shootout, where the nearly 180 contestants went into the final day of the three-day competition without a single fish having been brought to the scales. The consensus was that most of the fish had moved off the coast, where, if you catch and keep one, you'd better hope John Law isn't watching.

By noon of the final day, there still hadn't been a striper caught, which had the tourney director feverishly considering alternative ways to dispense the prize money if, at the end of the day, everyone returned empty-handed. As luck would have it, though, one man finally hooked and landed a 30-pounder--crisis averted.

That turn of events reminded me of a day many years ago when I was fishing a tournament with the Back Bay Bassmasters. We were fishing our token tournament of the year on our namesake body of water. The thought that kept going through my head that morning as we gathered at the launch ramp was the discussion that had occurred at the club meeting a few days earlier when Back Bay had been announced as the tourney site. "Do we really have to fish there?" was the question a great many asked. What you need to understand here is that those days of "hot" fishing on Back Bay were nothing more than a faded memory when this tournament was going down.

Suffice it to say that those of us who showed up for the tourney that day were less than enthusiastic. The ensuing 8 hours of fishing and the weigh-in did nothing to change our mood. One angler weighed one bass, and the ruler even had to be brought out to make sure it was the legal 12 inches. His payday was only three digits, compared to the six digits the Rockfish Shootout contestant took home, but a payday is a payday--plain and simple.

Here's hoping there aren't many one-fish days in any of our futures.

Tight Lines!