The 3rd Time Isn't My Lucky Charm, Neither Is the 4th

I'm the kind of guy who, if he loses the first fish of the day, figures the rest of his day is going to be filled with plentiful bad luck. And yesterday--a tournament day, of all things--was just another example to demonstrate that point.

After fishing a topwater bait for several minutes, without so much as a sniff, I had put it down and picked up a rod that had a chatterbait attached. I had made only a few casts before I felt a fish, set the hook, and started him toward the boat. I knew the fish had some muscle to him because he was slipping my reel's drag, which always is a sure indicator of size. When you're fishing 40-pound braid, you can cinch the drag down good and tight, without much fear of a fish breaking off, and that's what I always do.

The battle raged but a few moments, with what I could tell was a lot of head-shaking on behalf of the fish. Finally, that sickening moment came when, with one last, desperate head shake, he had secured his freedom...and I figured the story of my day already had been etched in stone.

My supposition was that I probably would spend the next three to four hours just trying to entice a bite. Imagine my surprise, though, when not one, not two, but three more jarring strikes would follow in quick succession...within the next five minutes, to be exact. The result each time, however, was the same as the fist occasion: a hookup with a solid fish taking drag, finally getting the fish started toward the boat, but then feeling the fish ultimately shake free of the chatterbait.

I couldn't believe what was happening. This chatterbait had been catching fish after fish for me in recent days.

As time wore on yesterday, I finally managed to put a small bass in the boat with my chatterbait, and it was then I saw what likely had been happening with those four bigger fish first thing yesterday morning. When I took hold of the line on this first smaller fish, the lure simply fell out of its mouth. When I caught the second one, I looked to see where the hook was in its mouth, and the point was just barely grabbing the inside of the lower lip...with no penetration whatsoever. As soon as I relaxed the line tension, the hook once again fell out of the fish's mouth. This scene repeated itself a third time before my day was over, leading me to conclude one thing: The hook on my chatterbait must need sharpening.

Suffice it to say I've been looking online today for a lot of different hook sharpeners and have narrowed my scope to one with a lot of positive reviews. Before another day passes, I intend to buy one and use it on all my hooks from now on. Another day like yesterday will be one day too many.