Set the Hook

Hold your ground, reel down, step back and rip it into next week.

Fishing is a very technical sport. You need to practice a lot to become decent, and even then you need more practice.

What comes naturally to some is less obvious to others. We need to be taught.

For a beginner, the feeling of hitting a rock, getting caught on a piece of grass or actually getting a bite can seem very similar. Either way, I was told, by the boyfriend, to set the hook. Hook sets are free.

Pete and I were on vacation at Lake Winnipesaukee in June 2004, not yet married. In fact we’d just been dating a few months. It was our first trip together and we couldn’t have asked for better conditions: sunny, not a cloud in the sky, fish on beds everywhere. Pete brought every plastic lure that didn't seem to work elsewhere with us. Our goal was to use them all.

Oh yeah, it was my first time actually fishing other than at overnight camp in the 70s. I'm pretty athletic and coordinated so I was pretty sure this would be easy.

It wasn’t.

Did you know your casting has to be spot on? You need to hit the sweet spot in the bed and get it to stay there, like a bow and arrow hitting a bullseye every time. Not as easy when you are trying to make a good impression (remember we are dating) while SOMEONE is watching your every move, there is movement on the water and the darn fish won’t bite. Yep, that's what I was up against.

Thank goodness Pete knew what he was doing. He could hit the sweet spot every time and aggravate mama enough that when I finally threw in and nailed the target, she had had enough.  

She bit, and was at the end of my line and I didn’t quite know what to do.

She swam off the bed with my tube in her mouth and Pete yelled, “SET THE HOOK!”

And she spit the lure and returned to her bed.

Pete, not happy, said, “I told you to set the hook!”

“That was me setting the hook!”

We weren't even engaged yet, and we were already on the road (lake) to divorce.

After hundreds of hours of instruction, days on the water practicing and paying attention to other anglers catching fish, I finally have perfected my hook set.

Apparently I must have made a good impression, because, as you know, Pete and I are still happily married. This year will be our 15th anniversary. I’m just glad I learned to set the hook – on fish and on him.