2 minute read
The Editor’s Note
KENAI SOLDOTNA
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The editor’s purchase of a Shakespeare spinning rod and reel in 2019 has yet to yield a fish so far. Could it be a bad
luck charm? (CHRIS COCOLES)
Since I don’t consider myself overly superstitious, my list of “good luck charms” is small and boring. I guess if I had to identify any such items, there is a pair of red socks I’ll wear if my alma mater Fresno State is playing a big game. And then there are the photo tags of my dearly beloved and now departed dog Sharkie hanging from my car’s rearview mirror that I’ll tap sometimes when I’m on long driving trips.
But when our correspondent Brian Watkins shared some of his favorite tales centered around a bow he won in an Alaska Bowhunters Association fundraiser banquet contest (page 58), I started to think long and hard about the power of superstition.
Good on Watkins for his “luck of the draw” success on several Alaska hunts with that special bow. Contrast that with the Shakespeare spinning rod and reel I bought in 2019. If a bad luck charm piece of outdoor gear is indeed a thing, then count me in as a cursed angler. I’ve used that dastardly rod probably a half-dozen times at various lakes and come up fishless every single time!
In my defense, I could count on one hand the number of fish I saw other anglers catch during said outings, so maybe it was just the conditions and not some fish gods’ conspiracy as to why I’ve been skunked so many times.
But good karma seems to be working for Watkins, so whatever works, right? I also kept thinking about one of my favorite fishing movies, Grumpy Old Men, when Walter Matthau’s Max Goldman character swore by his lucky ice fishing rod, which he called the “Green Hornet.” (True story: you can buy a replica on Amazon.) Matthau and co-star Jack Lemmon, two longtime real-life friends and distinguished acting collaborators, had their own fishing feud in the film, with the Green Hornet itself getting caught in the middle of the conflict.
After pondering it all, maybe I should come up with a name for that crappy rod of mine to add some good vibes like those that clearly worked for the fictional Max Goldman and Watkins. I’ll think of a name and maybe even wear those lucky red socks the next time I dare fish with it again. -Chris Cocoles
HOMER
KEY
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