"What tide stage is best for fishing," tourists often would ask as I fished from Big Pier 60 on Clearwater Beach as a boy."I don't know," I'd answer honestly, then explaining that I normally fished all day - or all night - and that when fish bit, I would catch them.
I thought little about tides, seasons, moon phases, air pressure, wind direction or other such factors when I was growing up. I fished as often my parents and my schedule would allow and used the limited tackle I owned to try to make the fish bite. If it worked, I caught fish. If it didn't, I didn't. Either way I was fishing - and I was happy.
Through later high school and college years, when I'd fish Big Pier 60 at night, my approach was as simple as it gets. I'd carry a spinning rod rigged with a set of pink Love's Lures (tandem rigged paddle-tailed grubs that were very popular in the Tampa Bay area and hugely effective for trout) and one spare packet of Love's Lures in my shirt pocket. That was it. No tackle box, no stringer, no food cooler... I'd spend all night fishing, working the pier lights with my Love's Lures, moving from one light to the next in search of active trout.
As often as not, I'd catch fish all night long. Sometimes they didn't bite well, though, or I wouldn't even see fish in the lights. Maybe it was the wrong time of year, the wind was blowing the wrong direction or moon phase was wrong. I'm glad I didn't know better and didn't stay home on those nights!
I wonder if Bonnie's Bait and Tackle still sells Love's Lures?
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