Article... for those interested...

[Deitz Dittrich]

I wrote this a while back.. but I still like the story...

Here is how the story goes

I got home from work last night(Oct 31), having had a horrible day. For those

that don't know, I am a Physical Education Teacher in an Elementary School,

and Halloween can be brutal: 500 kids in a small confined area all running

on a major sugar high. So anyway, I get home and my wife shows up a little

bit later and says she wants me to go to the grocery store with her and pick

up a movie to watch after dinner. The day wasn't getting any better, but

that is what we did. Now you are probably thinking, "ole Deitz has lost his

marbles once and for all. What does this have to do with fishing?"

NOTHING...But wait... The movie we rented was FREQUENCY with Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel, a new release. The movie is about a 36 year old cop who digs out an old Ham Radio while reminiscing about the 30 year anniversary of his father's death. After he plugs it in, he hears a voice. I don't want to ruin the movie because it was a great movie, (even though it's somewhat of a chick flick) but the persons voice turns out to be his father 30 years ago on the day before he died, and while he is talking on the Ham Radio to his father he is able to tell him not to go down a hallway of a burning building and it saves his life. That is no where near the end of the movie, nothing has been revealed, and I recommend the movie to anyone. But enough about the movie.

It made me think, "what if you could talk to yourself from

the past?"

What if... This summer I had a tournament on a lake in central Minnesota called

Clearwater Lake. My partner Jeff Audette and I found some good fish while

pre-fishing the week before. Early in the morning of the tournament I caught

a real nice 4+ pound fish and was able to add to it an almost identical fish

later in the day. I then was able to work to fill my limit with some decent

keeper fish. If you go back to my home page you will see a picture of these

2 fish. Halfway down the page I am holding them in a crouched position with

a great big smile on my face, I had just weighed them in and found out that

we had placed 6th. Here is where the movie comes back in... About 10:30 in

the morning, Jeff and I were fishing a shoreline with a nice drop off with

weed clumps on the edge. I was throwing an Exude Spider Grub while Jeff in

the back of the boat was throwing a R.T.Slug(Fluke type bait). I saw a weed

clump and made a real nice flip to the very edge of it. I felt the tick

right away, and set the hook. I didn't know that when the fish hit, he had

made a small run towards the boat. So that when I set the hook, I hit mostly

air, but did manage to hook the fish. The battle lasted about 10 seconds and

finished with a very large bass jumping out of the water and throwing the

hook. We missed the money that tournament by only 2 ounces. That fish would

have easily put us in second place. I wish I could have gone back on that

Ham Radio and talked to myself to say...."Hey, dummy, your going to get a

bite at 10:30, its going to be a great fish, be sure to reel in the slack

before you set the hook because the fish is going to run at the boat". Then

that great picture I have on my home page would have had me holding 3 fish

and not just the 2. There was another time, shortly after I had got my first bass boat, that my girlfriend (we were not married yet) and I were going to go for a boat ride

and maybe do a little fishing. I put the boat in, parked the truck and just

as we were leaving the boat landing I hit a big rock with the prop because I

had let the boat get a little to close to shore. And for those in the know,

the price of a new prop seriously puts a dent in the beer money funds when

both you and your girlfriend are in college. Again, I wish I could have just

been able to tell myself, "make sure you push off the dock and put put away

from shore, and don't plane out the boat till after you are sure the prop

won't hit." Oh sure, there are plenty of things that are unavoidable. However, in both

instances above, I knew better. I know to that in order for there to be a

solid hook set, I need to have the line taught, that way you can take the

energy of the rod to make the hook penetrate the jaw of the bass. I know its

possible for a fish to run after a hit, because he is sitting in ambush

waiting an attack and hits out of reaction of something that just fell into

his lair. I know these things, but did I reel down and feel for pressure?

No. I didn't, I was caught up in the excitement of the tournament, And

possibly had let my skills lack because I hadn't got a bite in over an hour.

And for the love of fishing, I knew it was shallow at that boat landing,

Everybody knows there is a great big shallow flat that runs out about 60

yards out in the lake. But, again I was caught up in the moment, sitting in

a new(well new to me at least) boat with my girlfriend, beautiful night, and

bammo, bent prop. There are certain things you shouldn't have to go back and tell yourself to do...

Make sure you take in slack line before you set the hook.

Make sure you have plenty deep water before you put the boat on plane.

Retie often.

Recharge your t-moter batteries, it stinks being stuck on the lake.

Make sure your hooks are sharp.

Xcetra...Xcetra...Xcetra... You know what I am getting at. Make a list of things that you have done, that you really don't want to do again.

Maybe, just maybe, next year I'll flip a jig along a weed clump and feel a 'tick', and I'll hear my own little Ham Radio "hey Dummy, make sure the line is taut before you set the hook, this is the fish that is missing from that picture!"

[TNFL]

How about: Hey dummy, when you get home from fishing on Tuesday night remember to close the sunroof on the wife's Blazer. It is going to rain on Wednesday morning. Yes, I'm talking about this week.

[bassman186]

Excellent Story Deitz;

I too have thought about that, although it never was with a radio, just telling myself what to do. You were out of the money by 2 ounces. I was out of the money by 1 ounce. Oh and yes I have seen that movie and no you didn't give it away.

~Matt Jung

[Matt Johnson]

Great read Deitz! And nice fish dude! Maybe things will be different at this years LETS See you next weekend buddy!

Good Fishin,

Matt Johnson