My family loves fish. Whether it's swimming in a tank, being chopped for sushi, fighting at the end of our line, being sold at our aquarium store, or being fried up in a lemony pecan crust we just can't get enough. My dad even brings a small tank to the beach so he can catch pompano in the surf, and search through the sargassum weeds for filefish and watch 'em swim around all week. (Ugh.)
Although I do enjoy the aquarium side of things, I would much rather be out on the lake/river/creek/pond/ocean/body of water, casting my line out in hopes of landing the big one. Which is why my favorite trip every year is to the family um.. cabin? shack? dwelling?.. lets just say "camp," on Lake Chmplain in Vermont.
Yes I love nothing more than waking up at the crack of dawn, rigging up my line and motoring out to the point in 50 degree weather, casting out my imitation crayfish and reeling in a few perch, and small mouths for about 2 hours before the sun cranks up heat to about 95. Not making up the temp change either.. believe me your newly sunburnt body will be rubbed in all the wrong places when you have switch to jeans and sweaters at night.
Unfortunately we arrived a bit later in the year this year and the fish just weren't in the mood for anything we threw at them. Trusted lure's were changed out for excentric ones, smelly ones, flashy/noisy ones, but it slowly dawned on us that if we wanted to make this trip a success, we may have to fall back on the ultimate fail safe... Worms.
Anyone who ever went fish with their dad as a kid probably had the same set up: A push button rod, attatched to a large red and white bobber, with a hoplessly impaled worm wriggling on the end of your hook. It's pretty simply- cast and wait, success is almost guaranteed. It almost begs the question, why dont all fisherman do it?
Well my guess is that although you are very likely to catch something, it is likely to be something that moves around a lot and isn't looking for a huge meal, aka- small fish. I'd say I made this realization around the age of 10, when I noticed my dad searching through his oversided tackle box, sifting between all shapes, sizes and colors of appetizing looking hooks and lures. Not only that, but he would cast and retrieve over and over as opposed to just sitting there waiting. Indeed the act of selecting just the right lure, dancing between the weeds and reeling in significantly bigger fish is ultimately more fun and appealing than the oh so successful worm, which becomes scoffed at as, begginner bait, and ultimately a last resort.
We had reached the last resort. We bought some nightcrawlers, ripped em in half, rigged up the bobbers, cast em out and BAM! A night full of good fishing was had by all. So the next morning we shipped out again and brought along my little cousin (3rd cousin? Dad's cousins, son? Whatever) AJ to join in. We hooked him up with a worm while we decided to try our luck again with the lure's. The air was cool, the water looked fishy, and the sun was up just enough to see the bottom of the lake.. and WOA there they were.. a pack of sheepshead the size of footballs. Moronically I tried bobbing my lure in front of them, but saw some bubbles rise to the surface.. I think they were laughing at me.
Well I'm sure you can see where this is going, and you'd be right... All of a sudden AJ was almost pulled out of the boat by one of the monstrous sheepshead. It was a long fought battle and I had to take over some of the reeling for him, but eventually we landed the 8 lb fish, twice as big as anything I'd ever seen come out of the lake, caught on a worm, surrounded by people with years of experience.
Everyone on shore was very impressed with the catch, and had a good laugh as we explained how the youngest man on board had caught the largest fish with the most basic of bait. So is there any pride lost in catching something HUGE on a worm? I dont think so, it is just less common. In anycase, I wont be overlooking worms anytime in the near future.
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