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A moment of truth came yesterday morning as I launched my first cast of the day from the back of my buddy Wayne's Ranger boat. My bait just had hit the water when a fish swirled under it. I had two choices: Swing for the fence and perhaps jinx myself/us for the day, or let the moment pass and maybe have one heckuva day. I thankfully opted for the latter.
Five hours later, when Wayne and I quit for the day, our combined best-five total weight (out of about 15 fish caught) amounted to approximately 17 pounds. The question I'm still wrestling with in my mind now is: Was that because I passed up the chance of catching a fish on my first cast of the day, or because that's just the way the day would have turned out, no matter what I had done on that initial opportunity?
I'll never know the answer for sure, but I'm not the only one who ever has had to confront such a situation.
As writer Darrell Davis explained in an article he once wrote, "There are some interesting stigmas regarding a day's first cast--mostly the belief that catching a bass on the first cast is bad luck." Something to do with 'first casts' was mentioned by about 90 percent of the anglers Davis interviewed for that article.
For openers, Peter T's first cast is never in the direction that he wants to actually try to catch fish. If he does so, he says his day is ruined, and it never will feel right.
David Dudley has a similar belief but about bait changes. "If you make any kind of bait change and catch one on the first cast, you have to cut it off," says Dudley. "Otherwise, you might as well just take the boat and dock it."
Jeff Sprague follows suit with not catching a fish on the first cast, but he has other superstitions as well, starting with not touching his dip net. He also never leaves the ruler on the floor of the boat.
Clothing came up several times, too, during Davis' interviews. For example, Charlie Weyer says he has to wear his tournament jersey when he is fishing. He considers it good luck while on the water, and if he doesn't have it, his entire day is thrown off. Casey Carpenter says he has to wear the same pants and shoes. Davis' buddy, Gene, a longtime Wheeler Lake resident, has to wear a certain patch. He keeps it in his truck now to keep from forgetting it.
Some superstitions have been passed from one generation to the next. One that stood out to Davis concerned hats. Dion Hibdon (like his father and grandfather) believes it's bad luck to put your hat on the bed. If that happens, and he thinks he might accidentally wear it, he will cut the brim so that he can't.
Occasionally, anglers find something in the water, such as a unique rock, duck decoy, etc. If the place where it's found becomes a good spot, they end up taking that item and keeping it in the boat.
For some anglers, superstitions dictate their routine. Clayton Batts says that, during a tournament, if he catches them really good, he repeats everything he did that day the next time. He will wear the same shirt, eat at the same place, park the same way, and even fish the same way...kind of like Groundhog Day!
Bill McDonald goes for beauty when it comes to his superstitions. He cleans up his fingernails and toenails before he leaves for a tournament and never touches them until he returns home.
As for yours truly, I spent a number of years with two superstitious habits: (1) I never ended a day with a backlash...I only would stop after at least one clean cast; and (2) I always would start each new fishing day with the same bait I had ended the previous one with, provided it had been productive. My premise was that to do otherwise would mean one really bad day the next time I hit the water.
We can sit here and talk about old "wives' tales" all we want, but make no mistake that, to a bass angler, they are very real. Each individual may or may not have his/her own set of unfounded beliefs, so when you get in another person's boat, remember that, unjustified or not, the consequences are real. And if you choose a banana for a snack, it could be gone.
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