It had been an eventful day already;  three hours earlier we had drawn the boat close to shore. Being still possessed of a crate full of androgens, I drew the boat near to some young girls sunning themselves on the beach. 

"Boy, was I going to look good!"  I thought, as I prepared to dive into the water;  I took up a position on the rear of the boat, and although I wanted to appear macho I decided to take a sitting posture on the rail, before I took the plunge. 

I then looked around, like an over stuffed peacock, to ensure that there was a reasonable audience; then I took the ever-so-graceful lean towards the water.  I was right, the water did feel refreshing, and refreshing, and refreshing.....But I wasn't able to surface!!  My head remained submersed but my butt stayed dry. 

What was happening? 

I realised in an instant that my bathing suit was caught on a boat cleat!  My head was stuck underwater, and the anti gravitational pull of the cleat on my swimmers left me dangling there. 

Now picture this, and make a decision; should I continue inhaling lake water, or should I attempt to wriggle out of my bathing suit in front of ALL those admirers? 

My engorged lungs urged me towards the latter. I envisioned the site of my naked derriere as it would appear from the shore, bobbing unceremoniously, like a pale putty cork!! 

My ego was busted, and it was decision time.  But fate smiled on me as my shorts gave a relieving "R.R.R.R.RIP," and I spluttered into the depths. 
To this day I don't  think I ever heard any applause from the gathered beach crowd; I just revved up the motor and we disappeared around the next headland. 

 

We decided to get into some serious fishing.  

Sean, being a neophyte fisherman, was loathe to bait his own hook.  
I dutifully laid down my rod and went over to his side of the boat to impale a worm on his hook; I still think he wiggled more than the worm did!! 

I then started to instruct him of the finer art of bait fishing.
Suddenly I realised that my own rod had a bite; this seemed amazing as I had only a bare hook in the water......absolutely no bait.

I picked up my rod and reeled in a small largemouth bass.

This was the start of a revelation in fishing technique.  Since then I have repeated the bare hook scenario, and been surprisingly successful......which brings me back to the start of this story, and my friend George.

George invited me to fish a secret gravel pit near our home town of Stratford, Ontario.

We arrived there at 8am and slipped the canoe into the clear waters.
George made several casts with his favorite spoons, but was having no luck; I then offered to show him my bare hook method. I made a single cast and gently retrieved the line in a slow manner. The immediate response was a hit by a small bait fish. I repeated this a few more times to impress George that this was a bona fide way of catching fish.
Unfortunately the method was so successful that we were unable to give any of the larger fish a chance; the small bait fish were ravenous.

We were not satisfied with this approach as we new there were some trophy smallmouth bass in the quarry.  We therefore baited our hooks with one of the bait fish and WHAM a three pounder straight away!!

The rest of the day was spent bare hooking the smaller fish and using them to catch the larger Bass.
If you feel adventurous, try this; it works.

Let us hear your successes using the bare hook method; but don't try diving off the side of your boat unless the cleats have been removed!!!

David Williams