Bob Thomas Writes

How To Catch a Big Fish! (A Guide for Beginners)

Back in 1980, or 1981, I went fishing for “Giant Blues” in the shadow of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It was a trip still talked about to this day by my dozen or so, fellow fishermen who shared the experience with me. (Although they never admit they were there…. just that they “heard about it”!)

It was October and the beach was lined from horizon to horizon with fishermen from as far away as British Columbia, Texas and Arizona. They were in an assortment of motor homes, four wheel drives, station wagons, vans, dune buggies, ATV’s, one or two wheelchairs and things that looked like ‘rust’ on wheels! There were so many Igloo coolers on the beach that, if everyone filled their coolers, the Atlantic would be a vast wasteland of ‘fish-less’ water!

But, we didn’t. No one caught their limit. No one even caught a fish! No one even lost their bait!
It was so bad that on the third day of fish-less fishing, we were driving past a cleaning station and saw a fellow cleaning a small Drum. We slammed on brakes and shouted “Where did you get that fish”? He snatched it up off the cleaning table, clutched it to his chest and replied, “THIS IS MY FISH! I CAUGHT IT”! Apparently he thought we were accusing him of stealing it! “No, no”! We replied, “We just want to know where they’re catching them”! He told us he had caught it under the bridge at Oregon Inlet!

Since we were through fishing for the day at the lighthouse, we decided to mosey down to the inlet and ‘wet a hook’. As we ‘moseyed’ down the highway, at 95 MPH, we were being followed, by a bumper to bumper line of about 50 other wild-eyed, swearing, fishermen! We straddled the white line so they couldn’t pass us, and at the bridge we leapt out of the truck while it was still rolling and ‘slung’ our 6 oz. lead weights from our parking spot. . . about 75 feet from the water’s edge! We actually cast over the heads of 40 or 50 other fanatics trying to outrun us to our ‘spot’. We hadn’t actually found a ‘spot’ yet, but we wanted to get our line in the water first so we could have some negotiating power when the arguing, pushing, fighting and shoving started!

So many lead sinkers hit the water at one time that it looked like a load of rocks had been dumped off the bridge! . . . But, once the water settled down, and we settled down, it became apparent that the fish we had seen was the last fish on the face of the earth! Nothing. Zip. Nada. We continued our quest for another two days. But, after five days of fishing. . . or rather, ‘washing bait’. . . we packed it up and went home. We tossed our 50 lbs. of bait in the dumpster!

I wish that “not catching” a fish was the worst part of this story, but it’s not!
The worst part happened before I ever left home!
You probably weren’t able to tell it, but I’d never fished before. I know, it’s hard to believe, but it’s true! Oh, I had been Perch fishing a few times in some Oklahoma lakes, but it’s not quite the same thing! So, in order to get ready for this ‘expedition’ to capture the “Giant Bluefish”, I had to buy the necessary ‘gear’. Since my business was next door to a sporting goods store, and we were ‘close friends’, I was bound to get a good deal on everything I needed. So, I put myself at his mercy and trusted him to sell me just exactly what I needed.
First, I needed a rod. A good surf rod. Something large enough to deliver a 6 oz. lead about 200 yards out in the ocean. (He explained that I needed some ‘heavy’ lead because the surf would move my bait around too much! Sounded good to me!) So, he went in the back room and came out with a monster surf rod. . . 16 feet from grip to tip! The grip was about the size of the mid-point on a baseball bat! He said he didn’t have it on display because he was ‘saving’ it for the right kind of fisherman! (He also couldn’t put the two 8′ halves together inside his store!) I mentioned that it wasn’t very flexible. “That’s because of the weight you’ll be pulling in! You need a strong rod”! O.K. Sounds good to me!
Next he showed me “waders”. Rubber boots with a pair of pants attached that came up to my arm pits! “I’m going to stand on the beach and fish”. I said. “Oh no! You’ve got to get as far out as you can when you cast…. get all the distance you can. Plus, you’ll have to wade out to pull them up the beach!” O.K.! I’d forgotten about having to pull those monsters up the beach! Good idea! So, I got the very best rubber boots w/pants attached he had!

Next he looked at me and said, “Real”? I said, “You’re darn right this is for real”! “No, I mean, do you have a REEL” he said. Doesn’t it come with the pole? “Nope. Let’s look at the options”.
He then showed me a collection of reels that completely befuddled me. I finally said, “Just give me a good one”! He did. I think it was made in Japan out of Platinum and Diamonds by brain surgeons!

Next he said “Tackle”. “Nope, I’m going to just hook ’em”, I said. “If they’re so big I have to tackle ’em I’ll get help!””No, I mean, do you have the hooks, swivels, leaders, leads, crimps, pliers, knives and so forth”? “No”. “Well, you’re gonna need some”! “O.K.” We then proceeded to the ‘tackle’ stuff section. It was at least a 100 feet long and had 3000 different little doodads hanging on pegboard hooks! I bought some of all of it! Just to show you how dumb I was, I didn’t even know you had to have a bait cutting knife, a fillet knife, a cleaning knife, a knife for cutting line, and a good folding knife …just in case! Plus, you need pliers for crimping, a pair for cutting leader, a pair for pulling hooks out of fish, and another pair for fixing stuff!
Of course you need 75 sizes of hooks, 25 assorted ‘rigs’, a roll of leader, some pre-rigged leaders, a couple of extra spools of line, “just in case”, and a first aid kit! Also “just in case”!
After I had it all piled up on the counter I asked, “Is that it”? “Yep”, he said. And he started ringing it up. About 20 minutes later he hit the ‘GRAND TOTAL’ button and I felt one eye almost pop out of my head! I couldn’t speak for a minute, then I could only babble like an idiot! I finally managed to express my surprise by saying something like !!!@@%()&*^&%%$$#!!!!!! HOW MUCH?

He chuckled and said, “Yeah, they all say that”! I said “What can I do without”? Nothing. “How about this shiny thing with the handle on it? “Nope… that’s your hook sharpener. You’ll definitely need that after one or two big ones”! How about these little twisty things? “Nope, swivels, you gotta have those.” What about this thing…what is this thing anyway? “Complementary key ring… you don’t need it”. “O.K.! …deduct that.” “It was free.”

Finally I said “O.K., I’ll take it all”. He said, “What are you going to put it in?” Huh? “You got a tackle box”? Nope. “Step over here in the tackle box section”.

I now have the largest tackle box in North Carolina. It weighs 300 lbs., has it’s own gasoline powered generator, a spare room, running water, a built in cooler and turn signals!
The guy who owned the sporting goods store? He retired.
So, as you’ve determined by now, I’m the most well equipped fisherman on the coast!
And, I’m prepared to tell anyone who asks me to go fishing with them, “Well, I would, but my tackle box is out of gas”!
(as much as I hate to admit it, this is mostly true!)