Fishing in the Central Valley: Don’t fish with a fragile ego
Docks and launching ramps can be the most dangerous places for an angler with a fragile ego.
Here’s what I mean, I recently had a rough trip, and it seemed that the fish just didn’t want to bite. Later when I headed back to the dock to leave I didn’t really want to see anyone who might ask me how the fishing was. Of course the law of fishing karma gave me exactly what I was hoping to avoid as I tied up to the dock.
I was stepping out of the boat when a boy about 13 or 14 years-old comes running out to me from the shoreline, asking how I had done?
“Any big ones today,” he asked. It was the very question I didn’t want to answer. Instead I deflected.
“Not today,” I said. “But I got a good one last week!”
At this point it occurred to me that I didn’t want to say that I had a bad day — even to this kid. Pride is a subtle thing, but I felt that I had at least satisfied his curiosity and could still be redeemed as a credible angler.
After listening to my lame excuse, he said, “Hey mister, you see that guy sitting on the shore fishing with bait by the launch? He just caught a huge striper a few minutes ago. You should go see it.”
At this point I would rather go pull weeds in my backyard than go over and look at a fish that a guy caught just yards from my idling boat.
The boy couldn’t really tell me much about how big the fish was but he was impressed.
“It’s big,” he said.
Now I’m really quite sure I’m not going to walk over and ask to see this guy’s fish, when I’ve been out all day in a tricked out striper boat and caught nothing.
I didn’t think I could choke down the crow if the fish was as big as the kid claimed. Sometimes it’s easier for your ego if you just ignore stuff that could hurt it.
When I see another angler frantically working to get his boat on the trailer and up the ramp, right before you tie up across from him at the dock, I usually have a suspicion that the angler doesn’t want to talk about his catch, or lack thereof.
On the other hand, it’s a bad sign when a boat comes in to the dock— then one of the anglers nonchalantly but pointedly asks how you did.
It’s a setup designed to crush you. After you answer, he reaches down and pulls out a 20 pounder.
They didn’t want to know anything, they just wanted to show their couch their big catch. Now you feel really bad and are ready to go home.
That’s why many boaters flee the launch area after hearing about another angler’s success.
These types of things seem to happen the most after a long hard day of fishing, just as you’re throwing in the towel.
If I see that I have an open dock, I relax because I know I won’t have to fabricate any reasons for my tough day. (I can save them for the next trip.)
My advice is to stay away from the dock area, and if they do catch a bigger fish than yours, never give up.
