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The Petes and Brads and Neds and Teds
A bent rod is a good thing for anglers, but it comes with a lofty price and often can be the beginning of the end of a fortunate fisher’s success. That’s because that bent rod can be a beacon beaming out a clear message. The message, in fact, often is one of the first to resonate with people who are learning to fish. If you want to catch fish, you go where people are catching them.
So people looking to shortcut the road to fishing success look for bent rods, nets waving, bulging stringers and other telltale signs that indicate a score.
I saw the bent-rod pattern up close and personal last weekend at Mosquito Creek Reservoir. I was walleye fishing with a friend and the pack of anglers grew larger every time someone hooked a fish.
It was a curious commentary on the mindset of the corps of anglers on the lake that day. People who would normally want to steer clear of other boats jockeyed into the proximity of those who were catching the walleyes. It wasn’t exactly a bumper-boat derby, but it got close a couple of times.
Spend any time observing on-the-water fishing action and interaction and you no doubt will witness a lot of interesting behavior.
I fish weekly, so I get lots of opportunities to spy on local anglers. I probably haven’t seen it all, but best I can tell I’ve seen plenty. At the dock and on the lake, I’ve witnessed myriad activities put into play to gain angling advantages.
Since the dawn of fishing, an angler who caught a fish might as well advertise it on the front page of the newspaper. Before the slime has dried on the successful angler’s hands, a horde of big-eye fishers swoop in.
The big-eye folks are just one of many categories of our fishing characters.
We have the Sneaky Petes. They go out of their way to act so nonchalant when a fish bites that it’s nearly impossible to see what’s happening. They simply don’t get excited when the strike finally comes.
There’s no jumping and shouting, just reeling and whistling. They are well-practiced in hiding the catch. If you glance their way, you may notice they’ll shoot a glare that says, “Whadaya looking at? No need to look here, I’m not doing anything special.”
On the other hand, we have our share of Braggin’ Brads.
They cannot wait to boast about their catch. When they reel in a fish, they look around to see who may have noticed. They are truly disappointed if it’s apparent no one saw their heroics.
Back at the dock, they are the people who can’t wait to share their success. “Man, we hammered them today,” they may say to anyone whose eye they catch. “They’re schooled up on the stumps up north and we had our limit in 45 minutes!”
Another bunch I have noticed are the Negative Neds. You probably know them, too. They are not very creative in their fishing tactics and their results tend to reflect their efforts. Their universal lament is, “I don’t know why I bother ... I never catch anything. This lake sucks.”
We also have our Twenty Question Teds. They hang out on the docks and jabber with all of the people as they tie up their boats. “How’d you do? What were they hitting? Where did you fish? How deep are they? When did you go out? Was it better this morning or this afternoon? Was everybody catching them?”
I guess it takes all kinds to make the fishing world go round. There are you and me, of course, sharing the water with the Petes and Brads and the Neds and Teds – all of us out there looking and learning and, with any luck at all, catching.