A little prep time goes a long way when it comes to gearing up for the surf.
This is a tale about how stubborn I can be when it comes to fishing, but serves as an important lesson. Usually before I hit the surf, I double-triple-check everything that I have on me; pliers, check, ruler, check, surf pouch snacks, check! This night was the first of many to come, fishing in the dark, so being all caught up in my excitement, I forgot my headlamp.
By the time I hit the surf, it was already way too late; the night bite was on, you could smell it in the air. I had the whole miracle mile stretch of beach to fish with my usual terra firma fishing partner. I headed north and he headed south. My lure of choice was an old bone minnow, which looking back on this night now, was red flag number one.
Fishing at night eliminates one of your senses, sight. I rely heavily on the feel of my plug in the surf from as soon as it hits the water to when it’s dragging sand as it exits the trough. It’s always a surprise when you get that first bite in the dark and when I was ‘bent’ I knew it was just the beginning. The first fish of the night brought my fishing partner in for a quick picture and release; it was a good fish but red flag number two was in fact red, the red light from his headlamp shining down on me as I removed the trebles from the fish’s lip, another reminder of what I was missing.
After that first fish, I was dialed in. I had a couple more fish after the ice breaker schoolie and then things started to went awry. I would hook into fish and just after a couple of cranks, I’d drop them. The red flags and I suspect some bad karma started to have a domino effect on my fishing night. Instead of pausing to assess my situation, I continued to fish, silly on my part but it shows just how darn stubborn I can be, and as I write this I’m shrugging my shoulders. Lesson learned.
A few more dropped fish later, I was approached by a red light asking me why I was dropping so many fish. I rubbed my eyes as they adjusted to the light and assessed my situation. I used my fishing partner’s headlamp to check over my lure, the old bone minnow. I had a belly treble and a single tail hook. The tail hook was fine as it was freshly added onto the lure, but the treble was broken, leaving only two points on the hook. I looked up at the looming red glow and scolded myself with some choice words, and trust me, my fishing partner joined right in. I shook my head, popped the lure off my clip and swapped it out with a fresh minnow lure. After a couple of more fish and the changing of the tide, I left the beach with a lesson – learned the hard way – that will ensure that I don’t make those mistakes ever again.
So what lesson can we take from this situation? First, don’t forget your headlamp! And second, make sure you have an extra one, maybe in your waders, surf top or glove compartment. (And keep an extra set of batteries, too!) Things can get chaotic when you’re preparing to hit the surf, and if you’ll be fishing from someone else’s vehicle, things can be easily left behind. If I had my headlamp, I would’ve immediately noticed the broken treble hook and swapped lures.
The other red flag that could’ve been preventable was swapping out that treble hook before leaving my house. It was an older lure so the hooks definitely needed to be changed, in my rush to leave, I missed it. This is just one of those “live and learn” situations where you have to accept your mistake and learn from it. A funny story that has become an important lesson for, not just me, but every other surfcaster I share it with because, hey, nobody’s perfect no matter how hard we may try.
