It Never Fails...

Wash your car or your home's windows, and it will rain every time. Put something away so you'll remember where it is, and as sure as heck, you'll forget where you put it. The same sort of thing is true with all kinds of fishing matters, too.

Take, for instance, the fact that, about five or six months ago, I went to looking for some feathered treble hooks that I absolutely knew I had bought and put away in a safe place in the garage. Then, here just a couple weeks ago or so, while rummaging through tackle stuff for something else, voila! I found those missing hooks. Just one problem, though; instead of taking the time to put them on my desk or some other out-in-the-open place, I kept clawing after whatever new thing I was after at the time. Now...once again...I cannot lay my hands on those hooks, to save me.

Finally, then, consider our Classic tournament held just this past Saturday, a day when it rained most of the fishing day...oh! and did I tell you how tough the fishing was that day? My partner and I struggled to boat just three keeper fish during the 8-hour event...and ultimately decided just to dump them over the side at weigh-in, rather than bring them to the scales.

Today, we decided to spend a little "fun time" on the water, since my partner had to meet someone at Pungo Ferry to check out his boat anyway. And don't you know that, in only about three hours of actual fishing time, we combined to boat about 12 keeper bass. So there were no big ones in the bunch...the point is that they all were 12-inch or larger fish, and we didn't burn but a very small fraction of the gas we used Saturday, if truth be known.

Now, to be honest, I have to admit that, once the water started coming in hard this morning, the bite we had enjoyed for the most part stopped. Bites weren't coming anywhere near as quickly as they were earlier.

My partner summed it up like this: The conditions...that's what matters.