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Mojo Madness

theartoflee

Anadromous Angler
When things take a turn in the wrong direction for you on a trip, how do you salvage the trip? This is a thread on the techniques that one can use to salvage a skunking. Should I ever find my self in the Great Lakes struggling to charge my mojo meter I follow these guidelines:

Eat Buffalo wings after the first days skunking.. the worse the wings the better luck you might have. Avoid this step if staying the Buffalo area. If you are not experiencing any issues on your trip you may also choose to eat some buffalo wings as long as they aren’t from the Drift Boat Inn.

Wear a hat appropriate for the river you are fishing.. this is difficult to identify at first but is very important. If you are feeling VERY unlucky hats can be paired. The following is an example of pairing hats a base ball hat with a knit hat. Together the two can drastically increase your luck!

You can have anything to eat before the trip with one exception, no Chinese food before you go on your trip! Once you arrive at your final destination you may opt to eat Chinese food.

The more stops you make one the way to your destination the worse luck you will have. Extra mojo points will be awarded for reaching your final destination without taking a rest stop. Although this can be difficult to accomplish at times it will be well worth the effort... trust me.

Bring a two pairs of waders if possible ideally one pair should be a good luck pair. You may wish to reserve the right to wear the lucky waders the first day if you are on a multiple day trip. Save some mojo you owe it to yourself!

Bring multiple lighters with at least one of them being a lucky lighter. Five years ago I adopted a hula girl lighter. She has brought me much luck, unfortunately she had to be retired. Now I bring along my lucky Mets lighter with me. If you encounter somone asking for a light while on your trip it is best not to bring the lucky lighter into play, hence the suggestion of brining multiple lighters.

It is alright to be intimate with your partner before a trip. Although some athletes believe this to be bad luck before a big game it is acceptable before fishing as long as you follow two rules:

1) They may not come on the trip with you, this will be acceptable just politely inform your partner that I advised you that they not come along.

2) You must keep you conversations with said partner to a minimum while on the trip. If you are going to a location that they have never been to before, try telling them that there is limited to no cell reception.

Do not fill up your tank with gas after you have departurted or before you reach your final destination.

I hope that everyone hear benefits from the techniques I have shared above. Please feel free to share some alternative techniques that others use in this thread.

:victory:
 
It is important to have a pair of lucky fishing socks. They should be thick, ugly, and wool. Washing them reduces luck by about 30%. Cleaning them by wet-wading increases luck by 200% as long as they don't sit in the trunk unused long enough to stink the car up. Wearing other socks over them is only acceptable from October through April, and they must also be ugly fishing socks.
 
Don't clean the cork!!! If you don't have to I'm not and esthetics guy I clean my cork one time a year if it really needs it . And when I do clean it the very next fish I catch gets the slimey hand applied to the cork nothing like a fly rod that smells fishy to keep away the dredded SKUNK !! And no bananas before the trip or durring !! And I also found I catch way more fish not carring a net ! Being a member of the 10% club is tough but someone has to do why not me !! FISH ONNN!!!!:D:D
 
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I like to be as ritualistic as possible. If I've been doing something before fishing the same way since I was 5 there will be no diverting from that routine now. Also always leave your camera at home if you want to catch bigger fish. The day you don't have your camera you will land a monster IF AND ONLY IF it's not with you. Carrying a camera makes things smell skunky. ALSO if you do happen to have your camera and you're catching loads of fish (mostly small) do NOT photograph every single one. After you take a picture of your 5th small fish (in a river where bigger fish are possible of course) you will undoubtedly stop catching fish, possibly for days.

For those chest packer out there...it's very important to carry your old vest with you...we all had a vest at some point...if you even smell a skunk...think you hear the stinky rodent...hell if you see a dark tree with a white stripe...PUT THAT OLD VEST ON!!! it will be the only way to salvage a trip.

When informing other about your trip, don't short change the fish that you did catch. If a friend asks how big the fish was add about 10-15% of the true length (I don't care if your honest Abe Lincoln's great-great-great grandson)....wouldn't you want someone exaggerating your positive attributes.

And last but certainly not least, if you ever find yourself wearing a cowboy hat while fly fishing, go to the deepest pool on the river and dunk your head under, hold it there for a few seconds and let the hat float away downstream, that is the biggest skunk (among other things) attractant of them all....not to mention criticism from me (including names known only to my closest fishing family).

I'm here all week.
 
This is all good stuff, but...

There's only one thing I need on a river to determine whether I have my mojo on or not. That is toilet paper. There is nothing that can ruin a trip faster. Be sure you have it with you, or you better be within screaming distance of me.

Cdog
 
Wet wipes in a ziplock bag. Should increase your mojo by a few percentage points, you need to carry less than TP, and cleans you up better while leaving you smelling spring-time fresh. And no smoking cigars or hitting the scotch unitl after the first fish is hooked, or else negative mojo.
 
Wet wipes in a ziplock bag. Should increase your mojo by a few percentage points, you need to carry less than TP, and cleans you up better while leaving you smelling spring-time fresh. And no smoking cigars or hitting the scotch unitl after the first fish is hooked, or else negative mojo.

TN,

I really didn't want to know that! :puking-smiley:

Crapinthewoodsdog
 
When things take a turn in the wrong direction for you on a trip, how do you salvage the trip? This is a thread on the techniques that one can use to salvage a skunking.

Wear a hat appropriate for the river you are fishing.. this is difficult to identify at first but is very important. If you are feeling VERY unlucky hats can be paired. The following is an example of pairing hats a base ball hat with a knit hat. Together the two can drastically increase your luck!

Please feel free to share some alternative techniques that others use in this thread.

:victory:

C'mon guys - it's all about the hats!!! I own tons of hats, but I only wear one or two when fishing. A fishing hat evolves over time, getting better with each stain and lost thread. And the fish know this!

All those other things are niceties, but the HAT is where it's at!:D
 
Here are four that always work out nicely for me.

I am guaranteed, multiple, large, beautiful fish if I :

1) Forget a net.

2) Don't bring my camera.

3) Fish alone

4) Have low expectations

I subscribe to the no hook-up no cigar rule as well.

Tying AOL's and CDogs together in terms of Chinese food is the ultimate kiss of death. Chinese food before a day in waders PLUS no toilet paper. Now THAT can get ugly fast.

~James
 
Agree with Rusty: Hat = Mojo

I have tons of hats as well - some with more mojo than others. However unlike Rusty I will change hats if one has become temporarily skunked. In fact, if I go on a multi-day trip I will bring one for each day and change daily to find my mojo.
 
Wylie,

You forgot spitting on your fly before you fish it......

I've got way too many mojo rituals and to list here, and some of them might get me commited if I go public. Here's a safe one; I always cut a short piece of my tippet off before I tie a fly on, even if I just nipped a fly off or put a new piece of tippet on my leader......ALWAYS, usually just a 1/4 or 1/2 inch.

I do have a differing opinion on bringing your partner along. My wife is my best good luck charm.....it seems I always do well when she comes along. She even fishes sometimes. That's not to say she comes along all the time.....only once in while or when we travel......do you think I'm that crazy?! Or maybe I should say, do you think she is that crazy?!

And no, she doesn't have a gun to my head right now.

And I talk to the fish I'm targeting, even if I can't see them. It's a psychic connection with your prey kind of thing............

I better stop.

Matt ><)))))'>
 
And I talk to the fish I'm targeting, even if I can't see them. It's a psychic connection with your prey kind of thing............

I better stop.

Matt ><)))))'>

I name the (big) fish I'm after, so I find everything you say as normal :). Ask me about Fred on the WBD one day...
 
That's funny RS.

I give all my fish female names.

Cdog

I do too, but Fred got his name for the way he fed against the bank with his huge snout poking out once in awhile to take a dun. I stung him once - as close as I got to seeing him up close and personal - but he was an upper 20s fish. Fred-the-Head as I called him. :)
 
This is great guys thanks for sharing, after this weekend I am thinking of adding to the list:

Its bad mojo to get the camera out before the fish is landed.

To "the one that got away" this weekend: :give-the-finger:
 
Don't be superstitious, for it is unlucky to be superstitious ~ AK Skim

Of course we know you don't follow your own advice - there is no way a baseball fanatic can be non-superstitious :)

Then again, with the Curse of Ruth now over :bang: maybe you are not superstitious...
 
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