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My first lucky fishing hat! |
I believe in luck.
There it is. I’m now on the
record for saying that I believe in luck.
Half of you probably just quit reading this post, which means I can call
you jerks and you won’t ever be the wiser.
Jerks! The other half of you
probably gave your computer screen a stink eye and muttered under your voice, “Well
doy.” I get it and I can’t be mad at you
because you’re still reading. Thank you
and you are NOT jerks.
I need to clarify my stance on luck however. I don’t believe that a black cat crossing
your path guarantees a bad day. I’ve
walked under ladders and lived to tell the tale. I broke a mirror once and avoided certain
death although I did date a girl for way too long during that time. Alright, so maybe a little bad luck
exists. While I don’t adhere strictly to
my belief in bad luck, I do believe in good luck. I don’t necessarily think that hanging a
horseshoe above your door keeps vacuum salesmen away, but I think it can
improve your outlook on things when you look at it. After all, believing in good luck is simply
an attitude adjustment. Thinking you are
lucky is a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts. I think that if we surround ourselves with
positive things, then it can affect our outlook on certain situations. That’s
why I have a lucky fishing hat.
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The reigning champion. |
No, I don’t believe that my hat guarantees I will catch a
wall hanger every time I hit the water.
I’ve been skunked before in my lucky hat, but that doesn’t mean it has
run out of luck. It just means that the
forces of evil on that particular day were more powerful than the magic that
the hat possesses. But seriously, there
is a feeling that I get when I put on my lucky hat. It makes me feel good and evokes a feeling of
hope. You should have that feeling every
time you hit the water, but my hat is like having a fishing buddy. It says to me, “Hey bud, let’s go catch some
fish today.” I do a lot of fishing
alone, so maybe my hat is some sort of metaphorical companion. I am lucky enough to have a few pictures of
me holding some beautiful fish and most of the pictures have one of three hats
on my head. I am fortunate enough to
have had three lucky fishing hats in my life and they all hold a special place
in my heart. I know it sounds strange
that a hat can mean so much, but there are people that name their cars (the General Lee, Kit, Bumblebee, Christine, etc.) so it’s
not all that strange. I even know people
that name their tablets for Pete’s sake.
While I love my lucky hats, it is important to note that you
don’t pick the hat but the hat picks you.
You’ll know that you have found a lucky hat when you look back at some
fishing pictures and see that you are wearing the same hat in many of the
pictures. You might even realize it when
you are unloading your truck at the end of a fishing trip and toss your cap in
the passenger’s seat. For me at least,
there is not a big epiphany when I have found a lucky hat. It just kind of works its way in there.
While you cannot pick your lucky hat, you can do some things
to tip the scales in your favor. First
of all, I like to avoid mesh back hats in general. I usually have short hair and don’t need my lucky
hat accounting for early stages of skin cancer.
I also avoid hats that are trendy.
This is just a good rule in general I have found. Think about how you would look today if your
lucky hat said Von Dutch on it or had some goofy looking Ed Hardy inspired snake
wearing a top hat.
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NOT a lucky fishing hat! Also, I DO NOT OWN THIS HAT! |
Stick to what
you know and what has staying power. A
hat of your favorite baseball team is a great place to start. If you can get some extra mileage out of your
hat by wearing on the water and at the ball game, well then that just might
increase the lid’s juju. Just make sure
you account for the smell factor. The
ladies don’t like stinky hats. You might
also try a hat from a fly shop or tackle store.
Now I’m not talking about something from Bass Pro or Cabela’s. If you get too corporate, then the luck might
depend on how the stock is doing for said company. Gas station hats are wildcards. While I have seen some hideous hats hanging
in gas stations, I have also purchased a few that still have staying
power. My hunter orange hat that has a
large 01 on the front is still one of my favorite hunting hats because I loves
me some Dukes of Hazard and it affords me one of my two pieces of orange required
by the state of Missouri during rifle season for deer. Finally, don’t be afraid to give a bunch of
different hats an extended try out. I
have had plenty of hats that I thought had potential but petered out at the end
and are now yard work hats.
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The gold standard! This was my second lucky fishing hat. |
The bottom line is, I can’t tell you how to acquire a lucky
hat because there is not a set of rules that nature has laid forth for this
sort of thing. All you can do is take a
hat that fits you well, hit the water as much as possible with it, and see what
happens. I wish you all the luck in the world
that you find one if you don’t have one.
And if you have one already, then you hold on to that sucker for as long
as you can because they are few and far between.
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