BOB HARRIS
------------------------------
Outdoors and Free
Volume 1, Issue 36

Good Fishing Luck Only Comes To Those Who Believe
By BOB HARRIS
Outdoors and Free
Friday, July 12, 2007

There’s a centuries-old saying, "To catch a fish, one must think like a fish." A friend and former news columnist who loves to fish, Sherry Butt Dunham, of Weare, New Hampshire, once claimed to possess the art of psychic fishing. She said, "The secret is a technique I perfected years ago and has nothing to do with bait, wrist action, or equipment. It does, however, bother fellow anglers."

Every summer, Sherry and her husband spend Sunday afternoons at her parents place on Lake Winnisquam. "After the guys lug all their fishing gear down to the boat slips, I let them get in a few hours of fishing before I irate them with my fishing prowess." At the end of the session, Sherry has fish, but they, unhappily, do not!

"My technique starts when I step onto the dock. I stop, close my eyes and clear my thoughts. I open my eyes and glance along the 28 boat slips , studying each and every one very carefully, imagining I were a school of bass. I wait for a sign," Sherry said. "Within minutes, I see, in my mind’s eye, the fish along the bottom and I take my place on one of the slips near that location. Then I bait my line and concentrate on the bass. I talk to them through my mind. I ask them where they are hiding, then wait for the answer."


Pinardville resident, Dave Donnelly, is a believer.
He holds up a catch of white perch that came in
over the sounds of the Irish Rovers.

"When I feel their location, I cast my line in front of them. My line no sooner breaks the water when a fat bass hit’s it with a fury. I hoot and holler and squeal with delight as I reel in a plump largemouth from below," Sherry told me. Any bass angler would be delighted to master Sherry Dunham’s highly successful technique of psychic fishing because he or she could throw away all those rubber worms they use and pay so much for. Spinner baits? Who needs them? Just talk to the bass and they will respond. Care to give it a try? According to Sherry, her husband "doesn’t seem to have mastered the secret. He always gets skunked."

There really may be something to Sherry’s method. You see, I too have a fishing secret. Several years ago, a friend and I were intently fishing aboard my 16 foot Sea Nymph Fishing Machine on Lake Massabesic. It’s a nice boat with a live-well, depth-finder, VHF marine radio and an AM-FM radio and cassette tape player. It even has a compass so you don’t get lost on the lake. The only thing missing at the time was a name for my boat.

It was one of those "iffy" type days with gray clouds overhead and a frontal system fast approaching. The moon phase was full and the wind was blowing out of the East. As the ‘old salts’ say, "When the wind is from the East, the fish bite least". Ha!

We were trolling. Two hours time had elapsed and not one bite did we have. "We are doomed to failure today, Bob," my friend Andy proclaimed. And, then it hit me. What better way to stir things up and aggravate the fish, and perhaps other anglers too, than playing a wee bit of lively Irish music? I grabbed my cassette case and rummaged through a number of tapes. Being part Irish that I am, I popped in a tape of Irish jigs and cranked up the volume to full blast. "No, no!" my friend Andy exclaimed. "Not Irish jigs! Turn it off, please," he begged.

Just then, both of our rods began bouncing lively, and not in time with the music either. A pair of fat white perch were soon in the live-well. Andy silently re-baited his hook. Before the lively Irish number was finished, the two down-rigger rods popped and started bouncing with active fish. We scrambled to get two more hefty white perch aboard. Then the second Irish jig began to play. There were no further complaints from Andy. Occupants in other nearby boats stared as Andy, stepped lively to the Irish music, when three of our four rods suddenly bounced into action. We now had three more fish, two nice rainbow trout and another fat white perch. When rain finally arrived, we called it a day with 31 white perch and two hefty-size rainbow trout to our credit. Oh, I almost forgot. We also came away with a name for my boat. From that day on, nothing else would do but, "Luck O’ the Irish".

So, take your luck as you find it. Get psychic, get Irish, get a rabbit’s foot or dawn your lucky shirt or hat. Just grab that fishing rod and get fishing. And, take a kid fishing with you, too. Tight lines, good luck and have a wonderful fishing season.

 




Bob Harris can be reached via e-mail at: outwriter2@aol.com

Past Columns  >>>
>
Bob Harris 07-06-07:  Hunters have a chance to take an additional antlerless deer in WMU "M"
> Bob Harris 06-29-07:  Courtesy is a MUST at the boat launch
> Bob Harris 06-22-07:  What’s happening in New Jersey could happen in New Hampshire
> Bob Harris 06-15-07:  Check Your Watercraft Thoroughly Before Launching
> Bob Harris 06-08-07:  The HSUS Isn’t What You Think It Is
> Bob Harris 06-01-07:  River bass are powerful
> Bob Harris 05-25-07:  A website for outdoors women
>
Bob Harris 05-18-07:  Vicious attack by a butterfly
> Bob Harris 05-11-07:  The Mini-Tandem Streamer
> Bob Harris 05-04-07:  Tandem Streamers - The Size Counts
> Bob Harris 04-27-07:  Come Have Fun at N. H. Fish and Game’s All-Fish Exposition
> Bob Harris 04-20-07:  Trout ponds open April 28th
> Bob Harris 04-13-07:  Come and enjoy "Discover Wild New Hampshire Day"
> Bob Harris 04-06-07:  It's time to enjoy landlocked salmon fishing
> Bob Harris 03-30-07:  New Hampshire Fish and Game Executive Director Will Be Missed
> Bob Harris 03-23-07:  Turkey hunting seminar April 14th
> Bob Harris 03-16-07:  The most sweeping gun ban ever introduced in Congress
> Bob Harris 03-09-07:  A backdoor assault on our right-to-carry in New Hampshire
> Bob Harris 03-02-07:  A call to action on Fish & Game funding
> Bob Harris 02-23-07:  Come Enjoy the 5th Annual Fly-Fish New Hampshire Show
> Bob Harris 02-16-07:  Snowshoe Hare Hunting Workshop Offered by N.N Fish and Game Department 
> Bob Harris 02-09-07:  Need to ride snowmobiles responsibly and safely
> Bob Harris 02-02-07:  The joys of wildlife watching and photography
> Bob Harris 01-26-07:  Many New Hampshire waters are open for fishing year-round
> Bob Harris 01-19-07:  Tell Governor John Lynch you care about Fish and Game funding
> Bob Harris 01-12-07:  Come and Enjoy the 31st Toyota Eastern Fishing & Outdoor Exposition
> Bob Harris 01-05-07:  Fox television joins movement to ban trapping
> Bob Harris 12-29-06:  A successful year for deer hunters
> Bob Harris 12-22-06:  Marine fisheries law enforcement activities increased in 2006
> Bob Harris 12-15-06:  December - a beautiful time for pheasant hunting
> Bob Harris 12-08-06:  The ice will be coming.  Be ready, be safe.
> Bob Harris 12-01-06:  Let's all help support the NH Fish & Game department
> Bob Harris 11-24-06:  The bear facts
> Bob Harris 11-17-06:  Become a volunteer ice fishing instructor
> Bob Harris 11-10-06:  Take a kid hunting this fall




> About Bob Harris

 


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