ShareThisBy RON SCHARA
Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The summer fishing season is winding down. The days are shorter, but smart anglers always keep an eye on the bobber.
You never know when your luck is about to change.
The season known as fall fishing is on deck, so who knows: You could get lucky.
I don't mind being a lucky fisherman. As someone once said, "It's better to be lucky than smart."
Oh, I know. Fishing is more than pure luck. But it is luck, too.
Tournament anglers _ the fishing pros _ tend to possess above-average fishing skills. But it's also true they wouldn't pass up a little luck, either.
A hard-working angler hopes to make his or her own luck. I'm for that. The fisherman who drifts aimlessly on sunny Sunday afternoons, dangling a worm hook over the gunwales while casually sipping a cold one, is hoping for luck, but doesn't deserve any.
We should also mention bad luck here.
Bad luck is like catching a sheepshead instead of a walleye. Fishing is full of bad luck pitfalls. Good knots can go bad. When a hot lake turns cold the day you arrive, that's bad luck.
Experts on luck say a wise angler will find a way to turn bad luck into good luck.
You can ask Wally Hartmann of Brooklyn Center about that. Wally, at the age of 83, has experienced a wide variety of lucky and luckless days on the water.
One of his luckiest days was just recently. It came in the form of a phone call from Tom Christensen of Milaca, Minn.
Christensen called to tell Wally that his tackle box had been found.
"I just like to dive for treasures," Christensen recalled Tuesday. Last June in Grindstone Lake, the scuba diver discovered a large tackle box in about 25 feet of water "just sitting there like somebody had placed it there."
Recovering the box, Christensen said he found an assortment of tackle, ranging from a knife sharpener to old Rapala lures. "The hooks on 90 percent of the lures had dissolved."
Christensen's son, 10-year-old Lucas, was the first to spot the owner's name and phone number under the rusty lid.
Today Wally Hartmann's lost tackle box is back. Seeing it again, Wally said, reminded him of that day on Grindstone Lake when his fishing boat overturned and he almost died. A nearby angler was able to rescue Wally, but his tackle box sunk.
It took 15 years, but Wally's bad fishing luck turned to good. So _like I said, keep your eye on the bobber.
