Last season some time, a friend of mine and I were headed back to our cars from one of our favorite holes on the Farmington River. We were walking riverside when we came upon a young man who was hooked into a very large brown trout. He was very quiet and intensely focused. He did not want to lose this fish. My friend and I each commented on how nice the fish was and, as we both started walking away, heard the kid groan and subsequently blame us for "jinxing" his ability to land a fish he had evidently been fighting for ten minutes. My friend and I felt bad for the kid. It was, without doubt, a very nice fish. I didn’t want to be the one to tell him that it was his technique, and not our compliments, that caused him to lose that fish.
by James Plante - Tuesday, Aug 16th, 2011