Written By: Jake Bussolini
Several Hundred years ago, banana growers on the tropical islands used fishing boats to transport their bananas to markets on the mainland. To keep the fruit from spoiling, the fishing boat captains would make these trips at a speed that was too fast to actually fish so the fishermen on these boats complained that bananas were keeping them from making a living selling their fish. From this concern it became a widely accepted superstition that if there were bananas on the boat, it was bad luck and no fish could be caught. In the minds of some older fishing captains, this superstition still exists today.
I have had a couple of occasions in recent years where anglers on my boat pulled a banana from their cooler and began to eat it. Being the gentleman that I am, I never objected to the practice but usually made a joke of the superstition and allowed the angler to eat the banana.
My local fishing club recently held a fishing tournament and as I usually do, I invited two other anglers to join me on my boat. I was a beautiful fall day and the water temperature had cooled nicely. The bass had become very active on the days before the tournament but on this day, things were very slow for most of the morning. The fish seemed to have suddenly stopped eating. Late that morning one of the anglers, Harry Thiel, pulled a banana from his bag and started peeling it. I just couldn’t resist telling him about the old suspicion but it didn’t deter him from peeling back the banana and eating it.
To my amazement, the fish suddenly started biting in a frenzied fashion. At one point we had four bass on the lines at the same time. Within 45 minutes we had boated more than 25 bass, culling out those that we considered too small to compete. Let it be known that Harry Thiel smashed the superstition.
Harry is shown on the right with two of his fish and Bob Larson on the left holding two of his biggest bass. Both anglers won prizes in the tournament but more important than the prizes, was the knowledge that a long existing myth had been crushed. I decided to start carrying a banana on my boat for future fishing trips.
Jake Bussolini is a freelance writer who has published several books about freshwater fishing. His books can be seen at www.booksbyjake.com.