The Truth About Lying From An Admitted Exaggerator

When it comes to fishing, there are two kinds of lies. Little ones and great big ones. Personally, I skip the pogies for the lunkers. Little lies are, admittedly, easier to tell, and more digestible for listeners. But they’re boring. It’s the whoppers that enhance the experience. I’m talking about entertainment friends. If you are offended by this suggestion, I humbly apologize. But fishing stories are essential to fishing! It’s important to embellish the truth, exaggerate the trivial and magnify the microscopic. It’s legend building. Right? Every trip to the water has to birth a story. Period.

So by all means, abandon the truth for a healthy yarn about your angling prowess.

For example, let’s say you go fishing and net a handsome two pound bass. Who is to say it didn’t fight like a 12 pounder – it could’ve—in fact it did. Perhaps it really was 12 pounds. Yes!! Spin your story accordingly. The giant bass struck like lightening, almost ripping the pole from your hands. For nearly an hour you fought the monster tooth and gill, unspooling nearly every foot of line on your reel. Finally, soaked with sweat and near collapse, hands blistered, arms aching you were able to bring this cagey, Herculean bass aboard. Just barely though, because you discovered that this monster had frayed your leader to barely a thread…he had almost escaped.

Now isn’t that more gripping that saying you landed the just one pogie with the snap of your wrist? You bet it is. And every fish tale deserves an Early Times cocktail. Click here for great recipes to enjoy after a day of fishing.

Old Time Fishing

Any time you drop a line in the water, you’re practicing an ancient skill that’s as old as mankind, maybe even older. The fact is no one really knows how long humans have been casting the waters, but archeologists believe our predecessors, Neolithic cavemen (and perhaps even cave-fisher-women), wet lines up to 30 to 40,000 years ago. Since there was a noticeable shortage of tackle shops back then, all the fishing equipment was handmade. Thirty millennia ago, wood, thorn, bone, antler and claw were the materials of choices. Sadly no artifacts made of these materials have survived. All are long gone, decayed by time and weather. But many wonderful cave drawings depicting fishermen from this period have discovered and dated by experts, some of the most notable are in Sweden. What does it mean? It proves that fish stories are as old as the sport itself.

Make Your Own

If I can’t fish… If the weather stinks… If I’m forced into attending a wedding during prime fishing season… I get my fishing fix by making my own lures and/or flies.

It’s a fun hobby that adds so much satisfaction to the sport. Even though it was ten years ago, I can remember the first trout I took with a fly I tied. It was an incredible experience. I was wading the Au Sable River just outside Grayling, Michigan. It was late afternoon and the water was sparkling like a thousand diamonds. The wind had dropped. I fed out twenty feet of line and dropped my own hand-tied Grey Ghost dead-center on a still pool of water. I let it drift downstream a bit. Then, bang, a strike. The water churned and so did my heart. Wow! I netted a 14” beautiful brown trout, which I then released. Yes, friends, I was hooked, so to speak, on tying.

Making your own lures is relatively easy once you get the basics down. There are plenty of books available on the subject. Plus there probably any number of enthusiasts willing to share their knowledge.