Is it just a superstition?

[Alpster]

I think we are all lucky that there is NO SUCH THING as LUCK. JMHO

Try to explain to a kid why his lucky dog named "Lucky" got run over by a bus. I really had to do this once. Sorry to bum anyone out, but like the poker & fish analogy, luck too often gets confused with chance. Chance is somewhat measurable and can be calculated. A poker hand is a good example. You can calculate the odds (chance) of filling a hand based on the # of cards in the deck, # of the cards you need left in the deck, # of cards showing on the table that cannot be in the deck, etc. The more information you have, the better you can figure the chance of success. The guys who bet on their luck, pay most of the bills at a gambling establisments. Those who are good at assessing the facts and calculating the chances are sometimes the winners in games of chance (not games of luck). JMHO

Ronnie

[dodgeguy]

i walk around the boat naked counterclockwise 10 times saying a fishing prayer.i then bath in smelly jelly and put on my clothes and lucky hat.ROFLMAO!!! ;D ;D ;D ;D

[Guest avid]

For the benefit of you doubters out there, I bought a new mesh cap from BPS.  The very next evening I went out and inside of an hour and a half I caught 5 bass.

NOW EXPLAIN THAT!!!!!!

ps - Chris, I'm glad that you have a ritual that seems to work for you.  One question though.  Do you ever wash those shorts?  

[Keithscatch]

I don't believe in superstitions either. I believe in God. No lottery tickets for me either.

[Matt Fly]

Superstition?      You can say all you want to about having lucky hat or charm.

Fishing is in the mind, if you aren't in the zone and concentrating on the tougher days, your gonna miss some.    

If you left that lucky hat on the table as you left, your mind isn't gonna be right.

Its mental aspect.         If wearing a red hat gives you confidence, your more apt to be mentally focused.

I love a pint of chocalate milk on the boat for early mornings, it sets heavy on my stomach, thus not getting hungry.

Forget that chocalate milk and I'm more apt to be thinking of hunger and miss some bites because my mental aspect is not in the game.

Don't care if they are charms, candy bars or drinks, forget something that is normally part of the trip and your game can be off due to mental aspect.

Matt.

[RoLo]

For the benefit of you doubters out there, I bought a new mesh cap from BPS.

The very next evening I went out and inside of an hour and a half I caught 5 bass. NOW EXPLAIN THAT!!!!!!

I can't explain anything.........I just wanna know, WHAT COLOR was that cap???????????

Roger

[senile1]

So, is anybody going fishing this Friday, October 13th?  

[KYbass1276]

I don't believe in superstitions either. I believe in God. No lottery tickets for me either.

Same here but after learning how to post pics here I started to take my camera more and each time I took it I would only catch small ones.  If I left it at home I would catch nice fish.  Luck no, thats the way it goes in fishing

[jomatty]

a few quotes that i like on superstition:

its bad luck to be superstitious

the harder i work the luckier i get

ronnie,

your exactly right about poker and superstitions.  superstitions lie  a lucky mesh hat are harmless and may even be helpful due to confidence issues.  superstitions that cause you to due something that affects the play of a hand(like always or never drawing to a flush becasue you always or never hit it), will destroy you at the table.  there is a corrolary in fishing imo.

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I wore my camo pants during every tournament this year, more for comfort than good luck, but hey....whatever works!

[Chris]

I don't like to catch a fish on the first cast

I make sure to wear my gold necklace with a bass charm

that's about it  

That is about the extent of my voodoo rituals maybe a can of Copenhagen to calm my nerves. I tend to fish fast without a dip and I become kinda testy.

[nboucher]

Superstition and luck are not the same thing. I'm not the least bit superstititous, but I occasionally get lucky. (Err, let me rephrase that; oh, never mind.)

Skill in fishing is of paramount importance, but there's often an element of luck. Like catching a fish while removing a bird's nest. Like just happening to cast in the spot where a big fish IS. (Skill is casting where a big fish is likely to be.)

success = skill + luck

[edbassmaster]

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!!

[Guest avid]

without a dip and I become kinda testy

I often feel that way on a Saturday night.  But then, sometimes I get lucky  

[Captain Cali]

I agree with everything Matt Fly said. It's all in the mind and if you have other things on your mind, whatever that may be, you will miss some. Plain and simple. I don't beleive in luck or the first cast jinx.

Many people have told me I was lucky for sticking a 10+ on a dinky drop shot worm.

But I know it wasn't luck because 1) I had a pattern, 2) I landed the fish, and 3) I did it again 15 days later on lighter line.

How is that luck? It really came down to time on the water and fishing hard. While my buddies want to get drunk or whatever while fishing I don't and consistantly stick bigger fish. It comes down to mindset.

[mjhutch1116]

I do not have a "good luck charm" per say, but I do carry in my tackle box a lure that my grandfather gave to me when I was little and just learning how to fish.  I never use it the lure just sits in its tray and is there to remind me of the lessions that my grandfather taught me.  However once I took it out to show it to my son and explain where I got it and it was not put back into the box and on the next fishing trip when I noticed that it was gone my whole day of fishing was shot.  I just could not seem to do anything right on that day I missed hook sets and when I did manage to hook one it came off before I could get them to the boat.  Once the bait was returned to my box I fished much better.  Superstisious or not the facts do not lie.  Lure present fish great, lure missing fish terrible.

[Poor Richard]

 You gotta love 'em!  Come on, troupers, superstitions are fun, part of the spice of life.  My favorites:  

1.  If the fish don't bite, it is because someone in the party had sex the night before.

2.  If there is an inexperienced woman angler in the party, she will catch the best and most fish.

3.  You must keep the first fish, no matter how small, or the fish gods will punish you with a bad day.

4.  You must strive not to strive:  a fish bites only when you are not thinking about it biting.

5.  Beginner's luck.

6.  Always say "one more cast," then make two.  This worked once for me.

7.  A big bass will remember your face.

8.  If fishing is slow, someone must light a pipe upside down.

9.  If no one is catching anything, someone in the party is insincere.

10. Always spit on the bait

This last one is true.  On a hideous day floating the Skagit River, we saw nothing but floating trees, ice floes, and mud pies.  As we ran up to rerun one of the few floats available, I declared that we needed to spit on the bait.  My colleagues hooted and howled, but I did so spit, and at the end of the drift I caught a very nice 10# buck steelhead.  I was hooted some more, of course.  We took the drift again, I spat nicely on my bait, and at the end of the run I caught his mate, a fine 10# hen.  My colleagues grabbed me, threw me overboard, and I perished in the frigid water.  Nonetheless, these were the only two fish that bit that day.  I rest my case.

Poor Richard says, "Attitude is everything."

[Fish Chris]

Don't know why I didn't reply to this earlier, but yes, I do actually have two "ritualistic" things I do, which I believe results in more big fish.....

A) I always pick up trash which clueless idiots have thrown onto, and around the water..... Kind of an apeasement to the fishing gods :-)

I always try to give somebody, at the ramp, or on the water, at least a few little pieces of helpful advice. What goes around, comes around.

Peace,

Fish

[dabluz]

That superstition stuff is all baloney.  I don't believe in that stuff.  However, I don't bring a landing net when I go fishing.  I never catch a big fish or even hook one when I have a landing net so I don't bring one of those things anymore.  That's not a superstition....that's just a fact.

You guys can take a landing net with you if you want.  Just leaves more big fish for me.

[boondocks]

I am not superstitious and don't believe in luck or coincidence. I have ZERO interest in MOJO or any other pagan voodoo. I have nothing that is "lucky" or unlucky. Superstition and bad luck go hand-in-hand: Try to control your future, make life decisions that have a higher probability of success.

BTW,

I don't buy lottery tickets either.

Well said and much agreed.

[Fish Chris]

Darnit Dabluz ! Now you tell me ! I've been carrying a net the whole time, and have only caught 73 DD bass :-( I just knew I should have had 200 by now ! So that's it. I need to quit carrying that d**n net ! Just wish I would have read this sooner....

Fish

[Low_Budget_Hooker]

well FC, I think it's easy enough to say that being a good person and superstitions don't really relate.  what you are talking about is more like Karma.  Somthing I strongly believe in and probably the main reason I also do trash detail.  Plus, I don't like trash at my lake,lol.

Going out of your way to increase someones experience is just being a good person, evidently it pays well.  I wouldn't mind getting paid w/ DD's.  

Everyone knows my main superstition, the TUNA CHARM.  (Please pass the mojo)

Also, if we see alot of animal life on the way to the lake, the fish are often active.  If we don't even see so much as a squirrel,...turn around and go home,lol.  Seems the wildlife on the way to the lake shows whether the wildlife is "active" or not.  Fish, being wildlife, apply.  Not a superstition, just somthing we noticed a yr or 2 ago and have been paying attention to.  Like a crystal friggin ball. lol

The day we hit a 7.2 and a 6.9 a few weeks ago, we has seen a fisher cat with a squirrel in it's mouth crossing the road, a herd of deer and 2 raccoons fighting (early morning no less)(nocturnal animal).  All on the way to the lake.

Are we crazy?

[paparock]

Avid, you can always try to start a new tradition. Go "Natural" like Ike and the other pros in the Berkly Gulp commercials. They say it drives the fish "Wild"!!! Then you would be on an Avid streak! Don't Look Ethel!

[senile1]

There are enough facts to worry about in life without worrying about wearing the right hat, wearing the right shirt, or wearing underwear with one inch skid marks. I don't believe in superstitions, but I do believe in the power of belief. If you have a strong enough belief in something, even though that something has no power at all, your belief will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Forget your lucky hat, and it's in the back of your mind ruining your confidence and causing you to think about the hat, rather than the methods you are using to catch fish. If you are thinking you will fail, you probably will. It's the same concept that applies when chasing members of the opposite sex. If you think you will be rejected and dwell on that thought, you, either won't approach the target or you'll be so nervous you make a fool of yourself. Failure is often the result of thinking that you will fail.

[BD]

I am not superstitious and don't believe in luck or coincidence. I have ZERO interest in MOJO or any other pagan voodoo. I have nothing that is "lucky" or unlucky. Superstition and bad luck go hand-in-hand: Try to control your future, make life decisions that have a higher probability of success.

BTW,

I don't buy lottery tickets either.

Agreed. I do however, buy a ticket now and then........obviously never win too  ;D