A recent thread by Basser89 about the "first cast jinx" got me thinking about some of the superstitions we bassers have. Some are funny, some are so dumb it's embarrasing to admit, others are.......well, you get the idea. We all have 'em. Probably more than one.

Here's one of mine.

I will not buy a Cavitron Buzzbait ever again. Why, because they are a jinx for me.

I have bought three.

First one, broke off the first day and went sailing into the lake (great distance though LOL)

Second one.... lure arrived in the mail, I put it in the tackle box and went fishing. That same day Canoe tipped, lost it and a ton of other tackle.

Was now VERY suspicious that this lure was a jinx for me. Waited a long time buy another one but finally did (they have excellent bass catchin rep).

Tied it on, very carefully. Made a few practice casts, all seemed fine. Fished it a few minutes, on about my tenth cast, line wrapped aournd the handle of my reel, I cranked several times before realizing it. Had to take apart the handle mechanism and while putting it back together broke the handle nut retainer.

I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER CAVITRON BUZZBAIT!!!!

It's not my fault, it's the bait. Bad bait, bad bait

the biggest jinx for me is grabbing the rod from the truck and going gung ho for that fisrt cast with out kooking around.  goes for being in the boat too.  heres what happend on several occasions when i fail to "take in the sights"  when i was about 12 i ran from the house to the near by creek, with out looking at anything but the water i reared back and got caught up in a bee hive, i had many stings to show for it.  other times i have almost met my fate with a water moccasin, (on another trip) a copperhead.  and once i caught my cousin in the arm with a cacahoe minnow!  the worst was falling into the water and forever loosing my rod and reel, and the tackle box i kicked in trying to stay in the boat.  i guess i get too caught up in the moment and become slightly retarded, so few years back, i just started taking it easy and approaching the water more relaxed, slowly and with less tunnel-vision of the fisrt cast and the first fish!  go ahead laugh, i do, ah the things we do when were young and not so wise!

I have also got the first fish jinx. Another thing that jinx's me is a camera, I never catch a big one when I have a camera availible.

You guys are both hilarious!!

Avid- You have more than enough "just cause" to hold tough on that one!

Kana- you sound like the Klutz my dad is convinced I am!

Mine is rather common I think. Please, please , please do not tell me I'm going to slay 'em, kill 'em,fill the boat, do great, can't miss,have an awesome day, catch one after the other etc. Total jinx. Same goes for lure choice,...but in reverse. I dare you to tell me that the lure I just tied on will never work. This one worked once when I threw a topwater (super spook excalibur no less)in 40 degree water and came back with a 3 lb chunk!

I have also got the first fish jinx. Another thing that jinx's me is a camera, I never catch a big one when I have a camera availible.

Good one - Used to be one of mine also, but then I got a camera cellphone and the spell was broken. (uh oh.......quick, find me some wood........knock knock knock)  ;D ;D ;D

My jinx seems to be certain people.  There are these two freinds of mine......it never fails, everytime I go fishing with them I get skunked,  I'm definately not one to belive in jinxs or bad luck, but those two seem to ruin every trip we go on together!

boy could I tell y'all some stories about jinxs with my job... but I won't bore you will them on this thread...

I haven't really gotten any jinxes yet in fishing... but I am still trying to find my lucky hat and shirt... soon as I find those though... WATCH OUT.. hahahahaha

AL

I have a cap that I got for signing up for a BASS membership.It's a sharp looking cap,and I used to wear it from time to time.I've ALWAYS had lousy fishing days when wearing that cap(I DON'T ever wear it fishing anymore).It's become my mow the lawn;work around the house cap.Boy,we seem to blame BASS for everything...LOL.On the other hand,I have a beautiful blue with white trim Yamaha cap that is money in the bank when I go fishing.I know these are all just superstitions,but why take a chance?

I am not a believer in luck, chance or superstition. Preperation usually improves your "luck". In the words of John Wooden and fellow Hoosier, "when oppurturnity knocks its to late to prepare"

This wasnt a real superstition or jinx but, On 5 straight occasions this happened to me.

Fishing with a club guy in tourney, PROCRAFT 210 SuperPro, Mercury EFI 200.

I mention to him that his motor is really nice and it runs really smooth, put on the life jacket to go to another spot and it doesnt start and we have to raise the orange flag to tow in?

Again with a

Cajun 160-Mercury Tracker 75

Nitro 2000DC-Evinrude XP 200

Bass tracker 170-Evinrude SPFL 60

Grumman 1881-Evinrude 50

Every dang time I mention the outboard and something good about it, It dies, we either get towed in, or wait 30 minutes for inspection and quick Fix, either/or it ends up in the shop.

I truly dont know how the heck this happened. I have mentioned it plenty of times now since and it hasnt happened so it really isnt a Jinx anymore.

This isn't a superstition, but I'll tell it anyway.  Yesterday was a great day of fishing, maybe the best of the year for me.  Today I was at K-Mart and the fellow in front of me was purchasing quite a bit of fishing gear.  He had enough to completely cover the counter.  After I checked out and got out into the parking lot, I noticed that the girl behind the counter had put a Crickhopper crankbait in my bag, which was probably bought by the guy in front of me.  I returned it to the store, since it was the right thing to do.  

After returning it, I went fishing, and caught just one fish.  It was a scrawny little largemouth that was 10" at the very most.  I was highly disappointed, seeing as how yesterday was such a good day.  On top of that, I thought that karma would be on my side today for returning the lure.  Now, I wonder if I would've caught some good fish if I had kept the lure?  Or would I even have caught any at all?  A mystery that I will never know...... :-/

My superstition is that anytime I catch a fish on my first cast, I am skunked the rest of the day. So what I do now is make a quick short first cast  and reel in as quickly as I can, so as to not catch a fish.  

My superstition is that I have to spit twice in the water after I catch a fish.  I'm almost OCD about it.   :-/

Mine is rather common I think. Please, please , please do not tell me I'm going to slay 'em, kill 'em,fill the boat, do great, can't miss,have an awesome day, catch one after the other etc. Total jinx.

Thinkin back about my outing today with tuxdad, I'm fairly sure I told him that we were going to do real well today! End result, one dink.  :-/   Me and my BIG mouth! Sorry tux!!!!!

I'm not sure how I picked up this one, but I have to do the "Jimmy Houston" kiss to each bass I catch. If I don't, I'll go fishless the rest of the day.

Last one, LOL! After I change lures, I have to completely close up my tackle bag. Everything put away, zippers zipped, carry handles secured together and my clippers tucked into the one side pocket and the two zippers need to be zipped together on the clippers!

The one more cast jinx. It never fails Ill call last cast think I got a tap go for another and get hung up on some rock or tree IT NEVER FAILS :'( :-[

:  OH, OH.  You shouldn't have gotten me started on this one.  My best partner always had to light his pipe or we caught nothing.  If it rained, he smoked it upside down.

Some research I did for a paper a long time ago turned up these:  if a fishing party does poorly, someone in the group had sex the previous night; women are strictly forbidden; you must not predict the results of your efforts at any time; you must 'strive not to strive' (how Zen can you get?), in other words, don't be thinking on it all the time.  Try to relax after that one.

My daughter the psychologist says it normally takes two coincidences to establish a personal superstition.  But for fishermen and baseball players, it takes only one event.  

Here are my personal best superstitions, with just one final illustrative example:  gotta have that hat;

if fishing for the pot, you must keep the first fish no matter what or the fishgods will be insulted (that's from the Florida Gulf Coast); after LOUDLY declaring your last cast, throw a second last cast--scored two nice steelhead on that one.

Perhaps the most famous is spitting on your bait.  I know this one is true.  One truly nasty day on the Skagit, we were doing nothing.  Little wonder:  the water was so high from snow melt and rain that there were trees floating past us in the river.  I declared loudly that we all needed to spit on our baits.  

Pooh, pooh, everybody says.  On the next drift, I nailed a lovely ten-pound buck steelhead.  My friends and the guide were all hooting at me now.  So we ran back up and I called everyone's attention to me spitting on the bait.  We drifted and I caught the hen, also ten pounds.  My companions then tried to throw me out of the boat.  Those were the only fish we caught that day.

Of course we promptly forget when our favorite ploys don't work.  A tip:  never, never, use live frogs or salamanders for bait.  I won't tell you the consequences.   :-/

 Look for my picture on the hundred dollar bill.

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You can't see under the water until you know what's there.   8-)

OH, this is turning into a real hoot.  

I've got another one. Not so funny, but it is true.  I NEVER change a lure that is on my rod before making at least one cast with it.  Want to discover the joys of backlash?  Try throwing a weightless finesse worm into a 25mph wind.  

Oh yes, I almost forgot my fishing hats! I always have to wear one of my hats that fishing related: BASS, BPS, Evinrude and so on, with a gold hat clip on the left side. Now if I plan on doing some type of fishing besides bass fishing, I can't wear on of the hats I wear when I'm going for bass. I don't want to cross-modulate the MOJO in my bass hats!  ;D

im with you on the hats    i always have an LSU  hat on  

Oh yes, I almost forgot my fishing hats! I always have to wear one of my hats that fishing related: BASS, BPS, Evinrude and so on, with a gold hat clip on the left side. Now if I plan on doing some type of fishing besides bass fishing, I can't wear on of the hats I wear when I'm going for bass. I don't want to cross-modulate the MOJO in my bass hats!  ;D

Cross modulate.... ;D ;D That's hilarious!

Mine is that I have to wear all white.

Tshirt, hat, shorts and especially underwear.

I can cover it up with any color sweatshirt or rainsuit but I have to have the white.

I like clothes  and hats to be at least 7 years old, got to have experience to have the power in them or smell.

I always fish better with my pint of chocalate in the boat.

I have found out with Willie as my partner the last year, every time I have brought candy bars out in the boat, he gets skunked, and the two paychecks we have earned, no "paydays" in the boat.

Its taken a year to learn these things as new partners always adjust.   No candy bars for Willie, and he makes sure I have my breakfast, chocalate milk.

You think its funny, but we believe the results.   Thus its the un-written rules or Jinx's.

I always got to have something Penn State on.  Evey time I go out without the PSU I get skunked.  Last time my wife washed my PSU hat....went fishing....got skunked.....the next game was the ONLY loss of the season.  :'(  Talk about a jinx!!!  Can't wash the hat after the Blue White game anymore!!!!  

I've got a ton of fishing caps I've collected over the years but I got it in my head that I could never catch fish unless I was wearing a Red cap.  I finally broke myself of that superstition a couple years ago by intentionally NOT wearing red caps and I've never noticed a difference.

I'll give you a perfect example. That fish in my avatar, a 7 1/2 lber as I recall was caught at my buddies resort at LOZ about 10 years ago.  I know, you're saying "Hey, you're wearing a blue cap!".  No, not while I was fishing.  I had the photo taken to put on his lunker board and put the cap on you see that had his resorts name on it.  I still have that cap and have fished with success occasionally.

Another thing that jinx's me is a camera, I never catch a big one when I have a camera availible.

Weeeeeeeelllllllll...........you ain 't alone my man ! that makes two of us.

Also, there must be something in the combination certain fishing partners and I do, for example, if I and my friend Pedro go fishin together---->OK, when I and my friend Alejandro ( Pedro 's brother in law ) go fishin together------> OK, Pedro and Alejandro go fishing together--------> OK; me, Pedro and Alejandro go fishin together -----> UH OH ! :-/ and if you add our common friend Sergio to the mix-------> HOLY COW ! jinx EXTREME.