Luck

[jbmaine]

In many ways we make our own " luck". Knowledge, practice, preparation, time on the water, tends to make us more " lucky". But how about the pure luck that some people just seem to have.

 I've known two people that are just down right lucky when it comes to fishing ( I'm not one of them).

 

The first was a fishing buddy of mine from 30+ years ago. Back then we were heavy into fly fishing for trout. However my buddy had three small children so he didn't have a chance to go nearly as often as I did. On one of the times we did get out together we hit a pond in early spring, trolling flies. It was cold, windy, and we barely managed to keep our canoe under control. Suddenly his fly rod bends over, drag screaming. The wind is pushing us towards shore, I'm paddling like crazy, trying to keep us off the rocks, he's doing everything he can to get the fish in. Finally after I don't know how long, he gets the fish along side the canoe. It's massive. Our trout net wasn't big enough to get the fish in, but on the third try we get the net under the fish and " scoop" it in. Turn out it's a 5+ lb. SM. Didn't even know this pond had smallies in it. Considering the above conditions and the fact he was using a three lb. test  tippet on his leader, that was pretty lucky. I'd have thought it was a fluke except a couple of weeks later he took his kids out fishing in a trout pond. All four of them in his canoe, using worms and bobbers. He's helping his kids when one of them says" dad, where's your pole?" Turns out a fish hit, pulled his rod out of the canoe. He looks over, see's his rod in the water, the handle of his reel wedged between the side of the canoe and the anchor line. He gets it in and finds he caught a 5+lb rainbow trout. Up here catching a 5+ lb. anything is rare, two in a couple of weeks, just plain lucky.

 

 The second lucky person I know is my wife. She has hand issues, can only use a Zebco and weightless plastics, and can only fish for a few minutes at a time. But she has caught more big ( 4+lb.) bass, doing the oddest things than anyone I know. She'll hook a large bass and say " I wasn't even trying to cast there ( her casting is some what erratic, to say the least). The one we laugh about the most is once when she cast towards shore. Her senko went over a tree branch, down thru a bush, and ended up in the water, inches from shore. She tugged and tugged, but couldn't get it loose. I moved in to try to get her untangled and saw a really nice LM swimming away. I told her " if you hadn't got tangled up we might have caught that one". Turns out she did. As I got her line free it started pulling. Hand over hand I bring in a 4+ LM. How her 8lb test line didn't let go from rubbing on the tree branch, I'll never know.

 

 Conversely she has the worst luck when it comes to our pets and their occasional " accidents". I call her a P magnet. If any of our pets poop, pee, or puke on the floor, she'll find it, usually in her bare feet. Most of the time I'll just hear  her say "son of a ……." then head to the bathroom to wash her feet. However once I heard her Screech, and call for help. Turns out she speared a cat poop on her toe nail and couldn't get it off. I guess it didn't help when I just started laughing. 

 Another time she was in the shower. I heard her Screech and thought she'd fallen. I come running in only to see her standing there, swearing a blue streak. Turns out when she was in the shower one of our cats peed on her towel, and she didn't realize it until she was trying to dry her face off. I got in trouble for laughing at that one too.

 

So, do you know anybody who is just naturally " lucky" or maybe "unlucky"?

[NHBull]

I believe that luck, karma, anomaly and Devine intervention all fall into the same category.

You either believe or don't  believe......Followed closely by ***** happens.  I believe  that good and bad luck is usually  the derivative of a decision we made somewhere down the line.  That said, I think we all have that friend we don't want to be standing next to in a thunder storm and the guy we want to be with in Vegas 

[tander]

Don't know about lucky or unlucky, but that is some dang good stories !!!!!

[Deleted account]

This is one of those things that happens between our ears. Of course there are some folks to which statistically more good things happen to than bad and vise versa. Think how astronomically unlikely it would be for everyone to have the same proportion of both, assuming one could even define or measure such a thing.

[BigAngus752]

God blesses us when he makes our lives interesting.  For good or for bad.  

[Mobasser]

Each spring around my area, some inexperienced or novice fisherman will catch a big bass. Usually random casting a spinnerbait or some hard bait. To me, this is luck. Once hot weather comes in, these fisherman catch very few bass, as they are harder to locate and fish for. I agree that we make our own luck to an extent, by being prepared, knowing what baits will work, and most importantly, learning about the location of the fish.

[Dwight Hottle]

I have a close friend & lifetime fishing buddy (lucky Dave) that has always said "he would rather be lucky than good." Over the years his statement has borne fruit many times. Let me start out by making the statement over our fishing lifetimes I & most of my buddies have been competitive about who has the biggest fish of each species we chase after. I have always prided myself as being a student of the game. I watch & learn from others & on my own. I study other peoples success, read as much as I can, practice and prepare so when the moment comes I'll be as ready as possible. I'm always checking my knots, respooling fresh line, sharpening hooks, replacing hooks & hardware as needed. I'm always looking for that one special bait or that special technique that will give me an edge over my fishing buddies. We grew up living the mantra "in your face" with each other. That enough background the stage has been set. Lucky Dave just shows up.

 

Smallmouth fishing. Lucky Dave almost always catches fewer fish but learned early on to catch the biggest. He has the record in my boat for catching the biggest smallie of the day as his first fish. During one lucky week in May prespawn fishing for smallies his first fish of the day for two consecutive days went 6 lbs-12 ounces. He has caught three 6-12's as the first fish of the day for him. His personal pb is 6-12. He had the biggest smallie overall for several years running. 

 

Salmon fishing. We used to fish the Niagara river in the fall during the spawning run. Lucky Dave had the biggest male overall (27-28 lbs with a well developed kype) and either the biggest female or second biggest female (32-33 lbs).  

 

Musky fishing. Lucky Dave caught the first musky & had the pb lead for a few years running until the rest of us caught up & exceeded his efforts. 

 

Pike fishing. This is where lucky Dave really excelled. Dave excelled as a spoon fisherman for pike. He mastered  the retrieve that would get a following pike to eat. He was really good at it. He has the camp record for 8 pike over 20lbs caught in one day. His 25.5 lb pike caught that same day held the PB record for a few years. Later on he caught the 2nd largest pike caught by our group at 29lbs,  a real trophy. 

 

Largemouth bass. Lucky Dave had the early lead with a 8lb bass for many years. Later on he improved to a healthy 8.5lbs. Lucky Dave also was the first to hook a DD bass. He hooked it on a wacky senko near the d**n on a large farm pond in Georgia. The big girl jumped clearing the water & both Dave & another friend saw how big she was. They both guessed her to be 12-13 lbs. Lucky Dave hooked her again on another trip at the d**n. She jumped twice before the hook pulled. The same two guys swore she had to be the same fish same size. 

 

Lake trout. Lucky Dave was the first to break the 30lb barrier & held the pb lead for several years before he was finally surpassed by two others. 

[J.Vincent]

Interesting stories...I definitely think some people have a greater amount of Gods grace than others.....how or why is beyond me. I can recal one instance when I rigged up a Texas rigged Zoom Dead Ringer and walked down the shoreline to fish a productive 30 ft long flat in the late afternoon. I was fishing for at least an hour with zero fish, so I set the rod down and picked up another setup with a different lure. My 14 year old cousin rides his bike down the hill towards the shoreline on his way home from a friends house; he parks his bike at the edge of the road and asks if he can fish with me. I said sure and he picked up the same Texas rigged setup I was using earlier and made one cast and caught a 5lb Largemouth.....he releases the fish and then makes a second cast to the same area and catches a 4lb Largemouth. He made a few more casts and after about five minutes he gets back on his bicycle and rides home : ) He wasn't bragging and he wasn't full of himself, he just had to get home for lunch or to use the bathroom. True honest to God story, and we talk about it to this day and that was 8 or 9 years ago. Timing, chance, luck or Gods grace...I really don't know how to explain it, but this is one of my best and more profound fishing memories over the last 20 years.

[Dens228]

It's been my experience that when I do well it's because of my knowledge and ability to apply it.  I've also noticed that when my buddies outfish me it's pure luck.   LOL

[Ratherbfishing]

I go fishing with a friend.  He'll start to do better than me.  Appreciably better.  And I'll ask him what he's doing different from me.  He'll say it's just dumb luck.  It might BE dumb luck that he fell into a pattern but it's just DUMB of me if I don't follow suit.

[WRB]

You tell when it's winter cold weather and cabin fever, the luck thread pops up!

How about superstition, it goes along with luck.

Tom

[Big Rick]

2 hours ago, J.Vincent said:

Interesting stories...I definitely think some people have a greater amount of Gods grace than others.....how or why is beyond me. I can recal one instance when I rigged up a Texas rigged Zoom Dead Ringer and walked down the shoreline to fish a productive 30 ft long flat in the late afternoon. I was fishing for at least an hour with zero fish, so I set the rod down and picked up another setup with a different lure. My 14 year old cousin rides his bike down the hill towards the shoreline on his way home from a friends house; he parks his bike at the edge of the road and asks if he can fish with me. I said sure and he picked up the same Texas rigged setup I was using earlier and made one cast and caught a 5lb Largemouth.....he releases the fish and then makes a second cast to the same area and catches a 4lb Largemouth. He made a few more casts and after about five minutes he gets back on his bicycle and rides home : ) He wasn't bragging and he wasn't full of himself, he just had to get home for lunch or to use the bathroom. True honest to God story, and we talk about it to this day and that was 8 or 9 years ago. Timing, chance, luck or Gods grace...I really don't know how to explain it, but this is one of my best and more profound fishing memories over the last 20 years.

He was fishing WAY slower than you were.....or maybe way FASTER.....?

[OCdockskipper]

I noticed something about the luck factor when I used to bowl often.  If you were good & hit the pocket a lot, the "luck" factor would be negative because strikes were expected & single pins left seemed the result of bad luck.  Conversely, if you were not accurate, missed the headpin or went Brooklyn often, your "luck" factor would be positive because you were getting unexpected or non deserved results. 

 

The same can be observed in fishing.  If one person does everything well & is prepared, catching a large fish is not a surprise, it is expected.  The only luck such a fisherman can have is negative (line breaks, equipment fails).  Meanwhile, the kid throwing a jitterbug in 45 degree water with a Zebco 33 can't have anything go wrong because the expectations are nothing.  Any results he gets are "lucky".

 

So my theory is if you want to be lucky, don't prepare and use methods that experience has shown don't work.

[J.Vincent]

2 hours ago, Big Rick said:

He was fishing WAY slower than you were.....or maybe way FASTER.....?

Lord only knows

[Paul Roberts]

As @reason said above, I too see luck as "between our ears". And I would add that luck doesn’t actually exist at all. I see “luck” as random events that may be given too much significance in our minds. Events we are forced to come up with an explanation for. But, sometimes a shrug of the shoulders must suffice.

[MIbassyaker]

"Luck" is when humans misinterpret chance.

[Bluebasser86]

My wife has to be one of the luckiest people I know. She wins all the time at scratch off tickets and at the casino in slot machines, places that really do require dumb luck. Last time we went she took home over $200 off one $20 bill. 

[Deleted account]

8 hours ago, MIbassyaker said:

"Luck" is when humans misinterpret chance.

You are probably right...

 

[Brad Reid]

14 hours ago, Paul Roberts said:

As @reason said above, I too see luck as "between our ears". And I would add that luck doesn’t actually exist at all. I see “luck” as random events that may be given too much significance in our minds. Events we are forced to come up with an explanation for. But, sometimes a shrug of the shoulders must suffice.

Paul and @reason have it dialed in correctly.

 

There is no statistical requirement that two people flipping a "fair" coin 10 times will each have 5 heads. And, if you fill an auditorium with 1024 people, one "lucky" person will statistically flip 10 heads in 10 attempts and it fits within the assumptions of a bell curve perfectly. 

 

It is the same fishing, side-by-side with close to identical gear, tackle, presentations. The results won't likely be the same.

 

Still plenty of room for a higher power to interject a bit of favoritism but it can be explained statistically.

 

And, the more you fish with someone else, that is more statistical trials, and if that angler out-fishes you rather consistently, the angler IS more likely more skilled than you, doing something different though not always hard to narrow down to "this or that."

 

Brad

[A-Jay]

Perhaps Luck & Karma are related in that one often seems to beget the other.

And being 'prepared' can be beneficial, regardless of which type of 'Luck' comes our way.

A-Jay

[TOXIC]

Luck is a matter of preparation meeting opportunity.

But there is this thing called "natural talent".  My Grandfather had it.  I remember in my youth going with him to Canada and watching him pull fish after fish as we trolled the same lures.  I commented that it must be his pole.  We switched.  He kept right on catching fish with my pole.  

[Deleted account]

1 hour ago, Brad Reid said:

There is no statistical requirement that two people flipping a "fair" coin 10 times will each have 5 heads. And, if you fill an auditorium with 1024 people, one "lucky" person will statistically flip 10 heads in 10 attempts and it fits within the assumptions of a bell curve perfectly. 

"Heads I get the front of the boat, tails you get the back, call it..." 

 

[Tennessee Boy]

3 hours ago, Brad Reid said:

There is no statistical requirement that two people flipping a "fair" coin 10 times will each have 5 heads. And, if you fill an auditorium with 1024 people, one "lucky" person will statistically flip 10 heads in 10 attempts and it fits within the assumptions of a bell curve perfectly. 

@Brad Reid your response to this thread and others tells me that we think alot alike when it comes to fishing.  I've always been fascinated with the role that randomness plays in fishing.  We all go fishing hoping the fish will tell us what we are doing right and what we are doing wrong.  The answers we get are probably 95% noise and 5% science.  To truely seperate the science from the noise would require several  lifetimes of fishing experience and a PhD in statistics.

[soflabasser]

I believe in L.U.C.K which is Labor Under Correct Knowledge as well having faith.

[WVU-SCPA]

On 11/25/2018 at 7:27 AM, jbmaine said:

Her senko went over a tree branch, down thru a bush, and ended up in the water, inches from shore. She tugged and tugged, but couldn't get it loose.

The cast may have been luck,  but the method of a bait hanging over a branch is tried and true technique....just be sure to call the shot with any co anglers so they don't say it was luck.