Okay, here's the deal -- I catch fish. Small, medium, and kinda large -- you've probably seen pictures. But I suck at fishing. I tie lures on before I've threaded the line thru the eyes. I get hooked up on the bottom and lose 4 eels an hour. I get backlashes like no other. I hook lobster pot buoys with plugs. I fall. I thumb bluefish in the dark. Each trip I forget either my headlight or pliers or swivels or something crucial. I even eel-slapped myself in the face last nite after hanging up directly in front of where I was standing and yanking really hard. If you were me, you'd pass out with frustration every fishing trip. But somehow I manage to catch fish.
Does this mean that catching fish is easy? That I got shown some great spots? That I'm simply lucky? Rob Rockcrawler taught me how to fish and still helps me out quite a bit (which rocks -- not enough thanks can go out in his direction), so he has a big hand in my success. But I still can't understand how clumsy, forgetful, whiny old me can catch a fish. Do the fish feel bad for me? Is there something to catching that's beyond being slick? What's the explanation for this?
