First Cast Curse – Is It Real?

I, for one, think it is. It happened to me more than once. Catch a fish on the first cast and something goes wrong in the space/time continuum. Either no additional fish are caught or problems that don’t normally show up suddenly do. I became more convinced after a recent outing.

Lake run smallmouth season is still going on so I made my way to a local river. Early morning, it’s light but the sun wasn’t up yet. Tee shirt warm, just right for a few hours on the water. I made my way to the tail of a pool where smallies have been known to hang out. I like to work this pool the same way I work for steelhead, cast, step, repeat. At the end of my line was a chartreuse woolly bugger, and my first cast landed downstream. With a quick mend the streamer was swinging through the middle of the pool. Feeling a slight bump I lifted the rod and set the hook. First cast, fish on. So, was my day going to be epic or would that be it? I wish I could say it was epic but after all, this is about the first cast curse.

For the next three hours nothing but casting, casting, and more casting without the hint of a strike. Granted, that is not unusual. I’m sure everyone has had a session on the water where the fish just didn’t want to play. But, this is where the curse shows up. After changing streamers multiple times I finally put on a golden retriever and cast it near a downed tree. It started to swing when a smallie nailed it, and immediately went airborne. It makes a run and all of a sudden the line and leader went from tight to slack. Looking at the leader I noticed the double surgeon knot gave way. I’ve had tippet to fly knots fail but can’t remember the last time a double surgeon knot failed. That was it for the day. So, for me, on this day, the curse was real.

But I was curious, what do other fishermen feel about a first cast curse? So, I put the question to a couple of fishing forums I frequent to get other opinions. While the sampling is small, around 40 responses, it is interesting that a vast majority of replies believe in the curse. Here’s some of the responses.

     “A lot of people throw out a dummy cast on that first one and reel it in fast
     before a fish gets it to avoid the jinx.”

     “Got me more than once.”

     “That’s why you should always take a banana fishing. It counteracts the first cast curse.”

     “Sounds like coincidence to me.”

     “In my boat we always want to miss the first bite or hit that we get."

      "If somebody catches the first bite or hit, we are usually screwed for the rest of the day.”

     “I've had some pretty horrible days that began with a first cast fish."

     “I don’t believe there is such a thing. There’s a reason for everything, and it usually isn’t
      luck or hocus, pocus.”

     “The first fish curse is no myth, this is as real as it gets. Sometimes now, I will just pack
      it in right after it happens. Saves sooo much grief.”

     “It's so real that my first cast is always where I KNOW THERE AREN'T ANY FISH..
     even if it means I make the first cast in the parking lot at Walmart.”

These are all interesting comments. All I can say is if you believe it is real, then it is. As for the banana, I leave that superstition for another post.

Go out and fool a fish!