Fishing by Accident

In the summer of my 40th year I stepped up to the edge of a river, cast a lure into it and reeled it back. I had never fished a river before and had no clue what I was doing. A couple of hours later I had lost a few lures to the rocky bottom and I landed a couple of smallmouth bass, which I chalked up to being an accident.

For the next couple of months I spent countless hours casting lures into flowing water. I continued to lose lures and occasionally I would land a smallmouth bass. Each time the catch would be chalked up to being an accident.

By the third month, when an accident occurred and it resulted in a smallmouth bass, I would walk over to the scene of the accident and pick it apart to see what could have been the cause.

From then on every accident was analyzed in excruciating detail. Not only were the physical details of the scene recorded, but theories were developed as to why those accident victims were there in the first place. Was it for sex, was it for food or were they simply being lazy and looking for a place to hang out.

Eventually I came to think of catching smallmouth bass as no more than accidents waiting to happen.

And I knew just how to cause them.