My Nirvana crashed down around me and I was jerked back to reality by the shrill voice that can only come from a young child. All I heard was “DAD, DAD!” The training I had gone through while raising my own children kicked in. I spun around, fearing some sort of catastrophe and looking for the source of the commotion. Relief washed over me when I heard “DAD, LOOK WHAT I CAUGHT!” The moment of dread had been caused by a small boy about 5 years old. He was in his own Nirvana and was racing to share it with his Dad.
As he drew near, I could see the excitement in his blue eyes and joy on his face. In his right hand was a little fishing rod of the Snoopy variety. In his left, was the fishing line; attached to the line was a big ol' spinner bait. And, dangling from the spinner bait was a bass that clearly outmatched the rig but, evidently not the angler. I congratulated him on his catch and bragged about its size. A bit out of breath, he politely thanked me and continued on with his search.
I’ve never put much stock in the belief that you’ve got to have the very best and most costly equipment to catch fish. My view is that if you put what fish want in front of them, no matter what you use to get it there, it’ll get bit. Now, when I hear some puffy chested bird crow about his $600 this or $1200 that, I think of that little boy and what he was able to do with the tools he had. So go ahead, toss that spinner bait with a Snoopy rod if you want to. The fish couldn’t care less.
D
Posts
