Guide Lines: Fishing Superstitions - Otter Tail Lakes Country Association

After being a full-time guide for 21 years, I’ve had the good fortune of being able to spend thousands and thousands of hours with fish—and fishing, of course. And after all of those intense guide seasons, one thing that I know for certain is that there is nothing more corrosive to the fishing spirit than superstition. Most fishing superstitions, or rules, were passed from one generation to the next with absolutely no legitimacy. For instance: a long time ago, a disgruntled angler couldn’t get a bite one day when the wind came from the east, which just happened to rhyme with the word “least” so the idea that fishermen should be suspicious about east winds became a “known rule.” Wow! But superstitions like this one still exist and they still inhibit a fisherman’s confidence. I know this because nearly every day I’m reminded by my fishing guests that those ideas are still a living part the contemporary fishing school of thought.Last season a gentleman I had on board watched as I applied...