North 40 Fly Shop eMagazine August 2016 | Seite 37

When Rid of Bananas, the Angler Will Catch
While bananas on the boat are never good, I have seen the removal of bananas turn a bad day
into a phenomenal trip. Here was the clincher episode for me.
This happened on a mid-September fly fishing trip in Alaska. After missing uncounted fish,
breaking off numerous hook ups, breaking two fly rods and generally getting our butts kicked,
we stopped for lunch. Out came the bananas.
I said, “You brought bananas?”
“Yes, would you like one?”
“Sure, please hand me the whole bunch.”
I chucked those four bananas as far as I could. They were mortified,
until we began fishing again. That afternoon was magic. No
more broken lines. No more missed fish. More big rainbows
than anyone deserves.

the
banana
ban
Doubters & My Personal Decision Regarding Bananas
Near the end of that season, I was with a group of guides discussing bad banana stories. One
guide said that earlier in the month, his client pulled four bananas from the river and tossed
them in his boat. I asked the guide what he thought about the bad fishing and bad luck with
bananas superstition. He laughed and said it was just a myth.
I asked him about his day after the bananas came on board. He paused and then said, “Well,
the fishing was ok, but the guy did end up breaking a rod.”
There will always be doubters out there. There are anglers who scoff and wear banana suits.
They take pictures while eating bananas and catching fish. Some will even use them for bait.
To them I say, “You don’t know what you’re missing and messing with.”
How much better might their fishing day have been without the banana? How many more fish
would have been caught? How much larger would those fish have been? Maybe that 30# King
Salmon would have been the new world record.
They’ll never know, and I will never knowingly venture forth with a sinister monkey pickle on
my boat again.

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