The other day I went out on the lake to fish and had my bead on an extremely weedy corner of the lake. I made up my mind I would venture directly into the middle of the pack of weeds, but in order to do so, I would need to forgo my motor and row my way there.
As I stepped into the boat I noticed two other fisherman on the outer fringe of the weeds slowly drifting towards me. Judging by the size of their boat and the engine/motor combo, I figured they weren’t going to venture into the weeds but instead were going to stay on the fringes. Call it a hunch.
I rowed quickly but quietly into the midst of the weeds and tied on a weedless floating frog and began fishing.
Five minutes later I had my first hit but missed the fish. Fishing rules say that when you miss a fish in a spot on one type of lure switch lures and go back. I ignored it and went back to the same spot with the same lure on the next cast…BAM! Largemouth bass number one, about 2.5 to 3 pounds.
About ten minutes later I cast to a small opening between some weeds. It barely touched the surface when a small explosion of water sucked my lure under. Bass number two, 3 to 3.5 pounds.
Five minutes after that I placed a cast only ten feet from where I hooked the last one but in another open pocket. Pause for about half a minute….twitch…SPLASH and a dive into the thickest part of the weeds. But I kept the line taut and reeled it in. Bass number three, 3.5 to 4 pounds.
“What are you using over there?” I heard from the tandem still fishing not 40 feet away but at the fringe of the choking weed bed.
“Floating Weedless Frog Lure,” I responded.
“That’s what we have…”
Another 10 minutes passed and evening fell quickly; they left and I decided to head back home as well. A successful day fishing indeed…
So what does this have to do with innovation?
I left multiple clues within the story but I’ll get right to the points. Read the rest of this entry »
