Friday, September 01, 2006

Holy Mackerel, Grandma!

Watching a grandmother catch fish may not sound like much of a learning experience but when she outfishes everyone on the boat, it may be time to sit up and take notice of the old girl. This happened on a headboat fishing trip I recently went on.

We were fishing off the coast of N.J. on a mackerel fishing trip. It was not the best weather to be out on the sea, but it wasn't raining and the people on the boat were in fine spirits. We motored out about ten miles when the captain said he was getting large returns on the depth finder and we would try our luck here before searching elsewhere.

We were fishing with squid strips on a small "tree". The mates on the headboat handed each of us a small cup with a supply of already cut strips. The bottom weight was a 3 ounce dipsey with a leader which was tied with four dropper hooks. Each hook was baited with a squid strip and when the boat was stopped we all dropped our rigs into the water. The captain said the fish were running about 20 feet deep in the water, about ten feet off the bottom, so we lowered our baits to the bottom and reeled them up about a dozen handle turns. Immediately a large portion of the fishermen on the boat were battling fish, as the school was very voracious and hit well. Reeling in a string of two or more fish is exciting action and people were all over the boat, smiling and pumping their rods as they reeled in shimmery green fish.

The grandmother was busy with her rod, but didn't seem in any hurry to bring the fish up to the surface. When she did bring her line up, it was consistently loaded with four fish. She waited patiently as the mate helped her remove the fish into her bucket, she would reload her hooks with the squid strips and put it back into the water for more action. After the third or fourth full string of fish came in, she stopped fishing for a while and watched the action around her. People were still reeling in fish, but no one had a full load every time, as she had done.

I asked her how she managed to pull in a full rig of fish each time and she smiled and said," I learned a long time ago, when I was a girl and would go fishing with my father, to be patient and not reel in, but to let the fish on your line catch the other fish for you. I also add some Christmas tree tinsel to each hook."

Sure enough, when I looked at her fishing rod, which was leaning upright on the boat's rail, held there by a piece of twine in a neatly tied bow, each hook sported a piece of tinsel tied just above the hookeye. A granny with a secret advantage!

Not having any tinsel, I couldn't match her rig, but I could match her method. I went back to fishing and the next time I felt a fish on my line, I waited before reeling. Soon the action on the rod changed as another fish latched onto one of the hooks on the rig. Fighting the temptation to reel them in, I waited as the rod tip danced and tugged. Soon the rod felt heavy with fish! I reeled it up and sure enough, there were four fish struggling on my rig. The grandmother looked over at me and winked.

The next time you go out on a fishing trip, don't forget the tinsel. How to tie it on? With a granny knot, of course!

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