Maybe There Is Something To The Banana Superstition

I have to start by saying I never thought of myself as a superstitious person, but after the last two outings I may well be one now. My previous post about a first cast curse led me to investigate fishing superstitions. One of the superstitions I came across involved a banana. When I read that my eyes got wide and a voice in my head said “You’d catch more fish if you didn’t pack a banana”. Talk about a light bulb moment.

It appears as though many fishermen and guides believe a banana holds some mystical power that repels fish. In fact, many guides will not allow bananas on their boats. Well, I happen to like bananas, and would have one in the car to eat after a morning on the water. I guess that’s close enough for the mystical power to work. Now, I’ve never kept track of the times I did not remember to pack a banana and my fishing outcome for the day until yesterday, when I purposely left the snack at home. Some may call it coincidence but after the first cast curse, I’m not so sure it’s coincidental.

Yesterday, I made my way to a local river to hunt for some smallmouth bass. It’s a river I fish frequently, and have caught a few in the past. So, my expectation was to get into a couple of fish, but more importantly, just have a nice morning on the water. In terms of numbers, I ended up having my day ever. Six smallies were brought to the net, and another five were hooked and lost. The ones that were lost were small, and my hookset brought the fish out of the water, similar to when a small brook trout is caught and becomes airborne from the set. The line had too much slack to keep the hook firmly in the fish’s lip. I’d throw a topwater fly and fish would hit it. I also used a golden retriever, swinging it through a pool, and fish would hit it. All the while, there wasn’t a banana within miles of me. Coincidence or power of superstition?

Smallmouth have great hearts. This one put up a nice fight before hitting the net.

(Click on image for a larger view.) 

Largest one of the day. Hit a topwater popper.

Conditions of the river and the weather were ideal. The water was low and clear, with a noticeable increase in its temperature from just last week, when I fished it last (getting skunked). Clouds and warm temperatures also helped. Logical people might say the results of the day were due to the conditions, and being in the right place at the right time. For me, I’ve always thought of myself as logical, but now I’m not so sure. I do know one thing for sure, no more bananas when I go fishing.

This says it all.

Now, about that lucky hat.

Go out and fool a fish!