When I was younger and stronger I could really cast a long way. That lure would go clean out of sight and sometimes even past the horizon.
One time I built a fancy new rod with all the gimmicks. I got a special reel from Australia and replaced the stock bearings with Abec 7 ceramic bearings. I also bought some of that rocket fuel and lubed the reel with thinnest and fastest of them all. I went to Race Point and spent about 20 minutes warming up and tsretching to get ready for some real distance casting. Then I tied on a big 4 OZ hopkins lure and was ready to start casting.
As often happens I was pushing so hard for distance I was getting some overruns and wasted a lot of time taking out birdsnests. Then finally I took a few deep breaths , reached way back and put everything into a cast that sailed away perfectly. That thing went so far I lost sight of it over the horizon but even then it kept takling line for what seemed like forever. Finally with just a few turns left on the reel , the lure must have landed because the line stopped peeling off.
I fugured it must be in deep water so I waited a minute or two before retrieving hoping to get down deep for a big fish.
Suddenly i felt a couple of tugs on the line and immediately started reeling it in. I reeled for over an hour until finally I could see where my line was. There was defintely something on the end of my line. Of course I hoped it was a big bass and proceeded to land my catch.
low and behold the Hopkins was no longer on the end of my line. Instead there was a bottle of wine with a note. I read the note with great anticipation. The note said
" Thank you for this beautiful american Fishing lure. They are hard to find in my country. In return for taking your lure I have tied on this bottle of wine which is abundant in my land. I hope you like Port wines. here in Portugal we make the best wines and these Port varieties are our best."
I took the wine home and drank it while eating some Keebler crackers very sharp cheddar. It was a great tasting wine.
Now I swear this is an absolutely true story. I swear it!!
