Waiting for the Green Light
Posted by Pete Robbins on Dec 14th 2020
The bass blew up on Hanna’s Rico and missed completely.
She reeled in as fast as she could, made another pinpoint cast, and got the same response. No contact. This time, though, her line got caught in the trebles.
I held my cast. Plenty of people I’ve fished with over the years – in tournaments and for fun – would’ve been in the strike zone immediately after the first whiff, but I couldn’t do it. It’s not in me.
It all dates back to my first “away” tournament in the fall of 1995. I’d just joined a bass club, and my partner and I went down to the tournament site early to practice. Fellow club member Dave Ochs was down to practice as well, but his partner couldn’t make it that day. Dave got a cot in our hotel room to save cash.
At dinner, Dave talked about the unwritten rules of tournament fishing. I don’t know if it was just idle chatter, or if they were trying to ingrain a few lessons in the FNG. The line I remember most: “When a bass blows up on your partner’s lure, you don’t throw at it until invited to do so.” It might’ve been a throwaway line, but it stuck with me. I’ll wait for the invitation. If my partner doesn’t seem interested in going back to the scene of the crime, I might ask. But I won’t go there until I have explicit permission to do so.
It’s the simplest of lessons, but if you extrapolate the concept out it would make fishing so much better. It’s not just an application of the Golden Rule – it’s a way to work as a team, and to fish ethically, even when you’re competing against the guy (or girl) with you in the boat.
For the record, Hanna caught that El Salto bass.
The next day the same scenario arose and when her hooks got fouled she yelled out, “Get a cast in there.”
I caught the second fish.
Karma, baby, karma.
