My wife and I had not been fishing for almost two weeks. This is just not right.
We were busy again Saturday getting necessary things done. By the end of the day, we decided, all else could wait. Sunday morning, we were getting up bright and early and going fishing.
It was bright when we left for the farm though the early part was well past. Loading our tackle boxes, rods and cooler, we motored out into the lake where the brush structure fell into a deep trench before rising to the edge of a wing dam.
If a person is not sure where the fish might be hanging, this is always a good place to start. One cast can cover shallow to deep water plus the habitat of trees and brush where fish can hide.
My wife caught a nice bass on the first cast. I made several casts and retrieves while she got her fish in and removed him from the hook. She caught a second fish in another couple of attempts. I still had not had a bite.
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When she caught the third fish, I demanded to know what lure she was using. She had on a chartreuse spinner bait she said she had never caught anything on before. It obviously was working today.
I tried several different lures, including spinners in white and black. I did not have one in chartreuse. They did not work. I have several other lures in my tackle box in chartreuse, but not spinners. They also did not work.
My wife was nine or ten fish ahead of me when I grabbed her tackle box and started searching for another of the amazing lures. I found looking in a woman's tackle box is a lot like looking in her purse. They keep some of the strangest things in each of them. Sometimes it is better to not know, and I am sure it is best not to ask. I can almost understand having a pair of gloves in one's tackle box. It could turn suddenly cold on a summer day. I could see the need for finger nail clippers, flashlight, and of course, everyone needs a camera.
I was stumped when at the bottom I found a small hammer and several square drive deck screws. It was at this time I decided to mind my own business and make a mental note to get her a bigger tackle box.
She was still catching fish as I was searching the far reaches of long-forgotten spaces looking for another chartreuse spinner. In desperation, I tried out a couple of weird looking lures that only a woman would buy. They did not work either. My wife had been pulling in two- to three-pound bass at the rate of one every minute or two for close to half an hour.
She finally said, "I have to take a break." Her shoulder was getting sore from fighting the fish and her thumb hurt from getting chewed on while removing the hook.
I really felt bad for her. I offered to hold her rod and reel while she got a cold drink and rested her muscles. I started catching fish as fast as she had. We fished for over an hour sharing one rod, reel and lure, and caught fish steadily during the whole time.
We only stopped when company showed up. It was then we thought, "We should have kept some of those fish for a nice meal all caught on the same lure." We would have had a pile of food.
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I did buy two more chartreuse spinner baits the next day, now known as "the magic lure."
Walter Scott is an outdoors enthusiast and freelance writer from Bloomfield, Iowa.
