Breaking the new equipment jinx 1/14/2023

[Starman77]

Ever get some new fly fishing gear and feel like you're jinxed until it gets broken in? Well, I just installed a new AirFlo Sixth Sense Type 5 full sinking line (light blue in color with dark blue hang markers which I like better than the bright orange hang markers on the older line) and a RIO Aqualux II clear intermediate full sinking line, so a double jinx, if you will. On Saturday I thought I'd try a popular western WA lake, hoping that everyone would be at home watching the Seahawks playoff game, just to try out the new fly lines. Well, when I pulled into the parking area around 11:30 a.m. there were 15 vehicles there and another 2 along the highway, so no chance of solitude on this outing. By game time, however, a lot of the crowd had dissipated. The weather was nice and the sun was shining:



Fishing was slow for me, but I was finally able to break the jinx with this 15 incher:



And then I was able to break the jinx on the other line with this 16 incher (that had obviously been caught previously):







The water temperature was a cool 45 degrees and somewhat murky, probably due to algae. Only saw a few adult chironomids and no fish rising until the sun set, when I saw 4 fish rise. I hooked fish using a baitfish pattern and a dark olive rabbit fur leech, casting and stripping as I usually do.

Not a lot of fish hooked on this day, but at least I broke the new equipment jinx on those two new fly lines.

Rex

 

[Wanative]

Ever get some new fly fishing gear and feel like you're jinxed until it gets broken in? Well, I just installed a new AirFlo Sixth Sense Type 5 full sinking line (light blue in color with dark blue hang markers which I like better than the bright orange hang markers on the older line) and a RIO Aqualux II clear intermediate full sinking line, so a double jinx, if you will. On Saturday I thought I'd try a popular western WA lake, hoping that everyone would be at home watching the Seahawks playoff game, just to try out the new fly lines. Well, when I pulled into the parking area around 11:30 a.m. there were 15 vehicles there and another 2 along the highway, so no chance of solitude on this outing. By game time, however, a lot of the crowd had dissipated. The weather was nice and the sun was shining:

View attachment 50214

Fishing was slow for me, but I was finally able to break the jinx with this 15 incher:

View attachment 50215

And then I was able to break the jinx on the other line with this 16 incher (that had obviously been caught previously):

View attachment 50216

View attachment 50217

View attachment 50218

The water temperature was a cool 45 degrees and somewhat murky, probably due to algae. Only saw a few adult chironomids and no fish rising until the sun set, when I saw 4 fish rise. I hooked fish using a baitfish pattern and a dark olive rabbit fur leech, casting and stripping as I usually do.

Not a lot of fish hooked on this day, but at least I broke the new equipment jinx on those two new fly lines.

Rex

I fished it Tuesday and the water temp was 39. 4 fish to hand.

 

[Irafly]

Rex, I’m not sure if the scaling on those fish is due to catching. Almost every one of the 20 I caught last weekend looked similar. I think maybe it is just the condition of the fish.

 

[Salmo_g]

Wait a second, why is new fishing gear jinxed?

 

[troutpocket]

I treat new fly lines like a new fishing hat; on probation until the fish say otherwise. Maybe @Starman77 does the same?

Wait a second, why is new fishing gear jinxed?

 

[Starman77]

Rex, I’m not sure if the scaling on those fish is due to catching. Almost every one of the 20 I caught last weekend looked similar. I think maybe it is just the condition of the fish.View attachment 50311View attachment 50312View attachment 50313

Of the 6 fish I landed, 4 had lots of scales missing. I assume that the beat up looking fish are due to the heavy fishing pressure this lake receives, much like the Rocky Ford fish. But I could be wrong. What other condition would cause this look in the fish in this lake, if not heavy fishing pressure?

 

[Starman77]

Wait a second, why is new fishing gear jinxed?

It is a long-time joke among me and my friends that any new fishing gear (waders, fly rods, reels, fly lines) may jinx the fishing until the jinx is broken. When someone gets a new fly rod, for example, and is showing off their new bling, the fishing gods will jinx that rod until that person gets suitably humbled. This jinx offers another excuse for not catching any fish, among the many excuses we all have during those dry times.

 

[Irafly]

Of the 6 fish I landed, 4 had lots of scales missing. I assume that the beat up looking fish are due to the heavy fishing pressure this lake receives, much like the Rocky Ford fish. But I could be wrong. What other condition would cause this look in the fish in this lake, if not heavy fishing pressure?

Water chemistry, how they feed, what they feed on, Eagle harassment .

 

[Stonedfish]

Of the 6 fish I landed, 4 had lots of scales missing. I assume that the beat up looking fish are due to the heavy fishing pressure this lake receives, much like the Rocky Ford fish. But I could be wrong. What other condition would cause this look in the fish in this lake, if not heavy fishing pressure?

They don’t plant a lot of catchables in there but I wonder if some of that scale loss might occur during the transport and planting process.
SF

 

[Starman77]

Water chemistry, how they feed, what they feed on, Eagle harassment .

Not to be a skeptic, but you'll have to elaborate on those first 3 reasons to help me understand. Eagle harassment usually results in claw marks on the fish's back, not the loss of lots of scales.

 

[Starman77]

They don’t plant a lot of catchables in there but I wonder if some of that scale loss might occur during the transport and planting process.
SF

I've watched a fish planting truck putting jumbos into another lake, dumping them on floating logs, and subsequently caught some of the fish that same day, and they didn't look nearly as bad as the fish at this lake, although I would agree that there may be some scale loss during the transport and planting process.

Going back to the Rocky Ford example, when the fish are freshly planted, there is some scale loss just due to what you wrote, but soon those fish show more and more scale loss as they are caught and released numerous times.