Two things have never happened to me while fishing. First, I’ve never caught a fish on a spinnerbait (which is strange because it’s a very popular lure) and second, I’ve never lost a fishing rod.
Both of those things changed in one fell swoop last weekend.
I was bass fishing from a 12 foot john-boat at one of my favorite ponds. When bass fishing, I always use two rods – one with heavy and one with lighter lures. Half way through the morning, the fish were biting well enough that I decided to try to catch one on a spinnerbait. I tied one onto my heavy rod, made a dozen, fruitless casts, and decided to switch back to the plastic worm on my lighter rod. And so, like always, I reeled the spinnerbait in to within a foot of my rod tip and then set it over the edge of the boat to keep it from tangling with other gear inside the boat.
I turned to the other side of the boat and began casting a sparkly, purple worm. Suddenly there came a series of two splashes. The first splash was the bass biting the two-inch-deep submerged spinnerbait. The second was the rod going overboard.
I plunged my arm shoulder-deep into the pond water in a desperate but unsuccessful attempt grab the sinking rod.
A moment later a three-pound, head-shaking bass jumped from the water with my spinnerbait firmly lodged in the corner of its mouth.
I suppose that now I can say I’ve caught a fish on a spinnerbait… sort of.