For all our time on this planet, we have been prone to believe that unrelated things have causality.
These things can often be irrational and can best described as superstitions. However, “When you believe in things, that you don’t understand, then you will suffer.” So warned the great songwriter, musician and philosopher Stevie Wonder.
Supporter Spotlight
Well, fishing and boating are no different. There are lots of people who will believe in things that have no basis in fact. Just because something happened to someone, that doesn’t mean it’s a real thing.
Let’s take a look, starting with one of the most popular superstitions: “Bananas don’t belong on boats.” The likely source of this myth is probably due to the presence of spiders in cargo ships containing bananas. It’s not for nothing that Harry Belafonte sang about seeing, “Deadly black tarantula.”
I’m not sure how it became a forecasting device for predicting fishing success, but I know captains who will go through snacks and other food items brought onboard before a trip and then throw any bananas overboard. I wasn’t like that, but if there were bananas in your bag and the fish didn’t bite, I might have pointed a finger or two. I’m not telling you not to bring bananas, but you should be aware of the consequences if you do.
Next, wind direction. This is a major part of whether a fishing trip will be a success. The old-fashioned saying was, “Wind from the west, fish bite best. Wind from the east, fish bite least. Wind from the south, fish don’t open their mouth.”
I was never able to determine what I was supposed to do if the wind was from the north.
Supporter Spotlight
The main thing to remember here is that, at some location and at some point in history, this was probably good advice. I assume that in some places it still is. But weather preferences change by location and season. I live in Carteret County so let’s use this spot as an example. Here, spring brings southerly winds, and good fishing depends on them. When it shifts north, you can count on things shutting down soon. However, prevailing southwest winds can make it difficult to fish the ocean in a small boat because of being exposed. This can mess up the ability to fish even though the fish might be there.
Fall in Carteret County provides the best bite with its northerly winds. Fish are on the move, and the east-to-west orientation of our beaches here provides a sheltered place to fish. When the wind is northwesterly, we can experience great action on almost all the types of fish we pursue during fall. This is due to migration patterns and ocean conditions.
And so, we see that just here at my home, the old myth turns all around. At every place you go, and every body of water you might visit, the myths will be just as convoluted. Toss the superstition away.
There are numerous tales about the phase of the moon as related to fishing success, or lack thereof. There are those who tell you that fishing is best on a full moon. Others may say that a new moon is best. I have also been told that both of those are terrible, and crescent-moon phases are the thing.
Here’s what we know for sure without having to call Neil deGrasse Tyson: The closer we get to the full or new moons, the more water movement we are going to get. Each day after the full moon hits, the current will slow until the next quarter, or waning, moon. At which point it will start strengthening again (waxing moon). This is highly simplified but will be enough to start.
There are no all-encompassing rules about when fishing is best or worst due to the phase of the moon. BUT… when the moon is in the shape of a bowl, it holds the fish. When the bowl turns over, all the fish fall out. Now I’m not saying that’s an absolute, I’ve just seen it happen enough times to have formed a certain superstition of my own. Hopefully I won’t have seven years of bad luck.
Basically, you need to determine which moon phases and amounts of current produce the conditions that you need to be successful in the places you fish and what you pursue. This “local knowledge” will turn you into the person whose opinion others will seek.
There are a couple of things that arose from dads and grandads trying to keep excited youngsters from driving the Old Man crazy. Number 1 is, of course, “Don’t talk, you will scare the fish away.” Of course, they can’t hear you speaking. If we’re just having a normal conversation and at a normal level of sound, fish aren’t going to spook. Now having said that, know the situation. If a huge redfish is tailing 40 feet away, don’t yell, “Hey! Look at that tailer!” You might get thrown out of the boat.
The other one is, “It’s bad luck to step over rods that are laying in the boat or on the bank.” This one was obvious to me the first time I heard it as a kid. Of course, you don’t want to step over rods, that’s how they get snapped.
It’s best to secure rods vertically, in my opinion. When I see bass-boat guys with what looks like dozens of rods scattered on their foredecks, I feel like I would lose my mind. Those fancy graphite rods cost a lot.
It seems like there is a lot of misinformation out there, but if you remember that many of our fishing superstitions have a basis in some form of reality and understand that the reality is based on some other truth, then we’ll be okay.
Except for bananas. That one is totally real.
