From 11/16/00</font id=blue>
Growing up I had a pretty good understanding of different types of tackle. I was lucky enough to have access to both freshwater and saltwater fishing. I even had separate saltwater and freshwater tackle boxes. I never threw my freshwater lures in the saltwater and never threw my saltwater lures in the freshwater. I was convinced that they were specific to the type of water and the fish that lived in each and they were not to be used in any other fashion.
About 12 years ago I met an avid fisherman who had moved here from Indiana. He had spent his whole life fishing freshwater lakes catching Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass and the saltwater was foreign to him. He was eager to learn about our fishing so I began to show him what I knew. We fished the flats and creeks several times and he asked me a million questions about the habits of the Trout and Reds we were catching. After a few trips he began to ask what type of lures he should bring. I explained that the tackle he brought with him from Indiana was all “freshwater stuff”, but not to worry because I had plenty of lures for both of us. Well, he was hard headed and showed up at my house for our next trip with his tackle box. He asked if it was all right to bring it along and I just snickered and said sure why not.
We hit the water early that day. The air and water were cold and we knew the fish would be lethargic and fishing would require patience and a very slow retrieve. My buddy pulled out a gold rattle trap and tied it on hid favorite bass rod. I just shook my head and mumbled something about freshwater tackle on my boat. He made two casts with no luck, and I was beginning to feel quite justified in my opinion of using this freshwater tackle to catch a saltwater fish. The irony of it was that I was not catching anything, but I still knew he definitely would not catch a thing. On his third cast there was a very large swirl, his rod doubled over and the drag began to scream. He set the hook and the fight bega