Remain focused in face of adversity

Ben Chiganze A Bass Fisherman’s Approach
Bass fishing in summer is more enjoyable than in winter when biting is very slow. Nevertheless summer fishing has its own attended risks such as rain, thunder and lightning. In conventional fishermen’s thinking bass cannot be caught when there is thunder and lightning. Most fishermen believe that bass tend to go down when there is thunder and lightning which reduces their chances of biting.

I bought into this theory, for a long time until recently when I decided to test its validity. My first discovery was that bass in addition to going to deepest part of the dam, they also have a tendency to go into heavily weeded areas during the time of the storm.

These areas would be very warm as compared to clear water surfaces. In addition, heavily weeded areas play a double role of good fortress of defence for bass and as well as trapping zones for the predator’s victim.

This is the place which offers bass its strongest defence against the fisherman as it can easily entangle your line with weeds and stumps.

These areas are difficult to navigate. By merely looking at the user unfriendly environment at this particular area of the dam, one might be forgiven to think that it is impossible to fish at the area.

A fisherman is only able to fish in these areas in summer only. It is impossible to fish there in winter where you require your bait to sink to the bottom of the dam. The fisherman must be skilled in moving the bait on top of weeds delicately and then allow the bait to drop where there is a small gap of water which is not covered by weeds.

The major challenge one faces when moving the bait on top of the weeds is ensuring that the bait does not pull weeds along with it or it’s not covered by weeds. Once the bait is covered by weeds (partially or completely), the bass does not bite the bait. Old and tattered baits are difficult to use as the hook can easily get out of the bait and hook the weeds.

This type of fishing is better executed using newer and hard rub-bers.

Bass is caught by using two methods by artfully pulling the bait on top of the weeds then drop it carefully at the gap of pulling on top of the weeds carefully and only stop once the bass attacks the bait and let it have adequate time to eat it.

I caught handsomely on the two days I was bold enough to test the truthfulness of our long held hypothesis that one cannot catch fish when there is thunder and lightning. The results dumb-founded me. I caught at these areas handsomely only during the time when it was raining and the results were not inspiring where there was no rain.

Importance of this discovery
The first major lesson I derived from these two fishing experiences is that most of the things we think to be impossible to accomplish are actually possible if they are executed with due care and attention. If done properly, the pain of rain will be overshadowed by the joy of catching.

The challenge is for one to remain focused, concentrate in the face of adversity. Some opportunities are only found during what is commonly labelled as difficult economic or political times and cease to be opportunity when sanity prevails.

These opportunities only benefit those who are brave enough to ignore the fundamentals and take the bull by its own at great personal risk.

People who make fortunes on the stock market are those who boldly take the risk of buying selected stocks when stock prices are falling.

This is the period when most investors will be fleeing the market. They will only come back to the market when the prices start picking up and bargains will be very few.

Average human beings do not like to endure the pain of thoroughly interrogating issues which confront them. They are happier to accept the conventionally known wisdom without cross-checking the validity of information presented to the as the “truth”.

Most people refrain from utilising the opportunities that come their way by over relying on the “so-called truth” they get from newspapers and their peers. Some of it has been carried from generation to generation without anyone questioning it.