The Lucky Bank
Owning a boat isn’t practical for most people. A boat requires space to park or moor it. It requires a trailer and a place to launch if you don’t keep it at a dock. A boat is expensive and requires maintenance, and worst of all, you’ll have a bad time if the water is choppy and you’re sensitive to motion sickness.
Don’t get me wrong — I’ll go out on a boat to catch big game on occasion. But there’s something incredibly fulfilling about learning where fish like to hang out (hint: it’s generally around structure; plentiful along the shoreline) and doing crazy angler things™ to get to them. And you don’t have to pay a charter, though you’ll occasionally pay a guide for pointers on how to stick’em.
For me, fishing is at its best when I get off work and the days are still long enough to get a few hours alongside the setting sun. The evening bite along the shore at my local reservoir is decent for a chunk of the year, and it’s here I learned most of what I know about fishing. Locals are often surprised when I tell them where I fish, even those acquainted with the sport. A seasoned bass angler even asked me, “Why do you bother to fish [at my lake]? The bass bite is so inconsistent.“
It’s true — my local lake is difficult. It’s an artificial reservoir, so the banks are steep and formed from loose gravel and bank access is spotty, even with waders. There’s no natural baitfish forage (e.g shad) so the gamefish mostly cannibalize, eat bugs, or draw from a limited population of craws. The water is clear, and the trophy bass are extremely wary.
But when you do catch a big fish here, the sense of accomplishment is unlike anything else. It’s the culmination of research, practice, and luck (…and a good dose of overspending on gear 😂).
I hope to share some of this joy and luck in this here newsletter. I expect some readers will be friends who have limited interest in angling, so I’ll try to balance the angler-specific material with general interest knowledge (read: fun fish facts so your eyes don’t glaze over).
Thanks for your support. Tight lines!