IT’S A FAMILY TRADITION
By Matt Soberg
Traditions, as defined, are born from history and will live forever. They are intertwined inside the soul of family and friends, hobby and work. They are passed from father to son as to say, “Here you go, boy. Take this and keep it alive . . . It has worked for me, and certainly will work for you.”
When you add fishing to the realm of family traditions, you certainly achieve the ultimate of infinite solidarity.
Fishing family traditions go to the inner core of how we approach the sport. When you are ingrained with what was taught by your father, it is extremely difficult to veer off course.
The tradition is usually something that has consistently produced for years and will continue to be effective for those to come.
That is so with what I learned about the Lucky Lure. I had the pleasure of spending an early morning on a Central Minnesota lake with my cousin Travis Michels. Travis is the resident guns and ammo connoisseur for the Minnesota Sporting Journal, and I found out he also knows how to catch fish.
He told an all too familiar story about spending an evening with his father, enjoying the peaceful sunset with the repeated tug-tug of a walleye bite. For him, the story finished with a dandy 28″ walleye, something that, admittedly, is quite unfamiliar to me 🙂
I caught on to the interesting part of the story, however, and it wasn’t the lengthy fish in the picture. Of course, I had to ask, “What were you using?” Travis, as a true-blue angler said, “I don’t know that I can tell you. It is a family tradition.”
He explained that he and his father had been using a Lucky Lure that was not typically associated with chasing walleyes. He said it was a tactic taught to him by his father and something they used religiously, for every species. As evidenced by the photo, it works.
He was extremely reluctant to tell me the morale of the story, but I couldn’t help but urge and urge. It was like someone leaking a teaser to the new Batman movie, but not finishing the end of the story. The anticipation is tough to take.
Finally, he let it slip after a strict precursur warning to never tell. He said, “Well, technically, since we are family, you are included too.” After he relinquished the identity of the Lucky Lure, I couldn’t believe what I heard. It was seriously surprising to me.
Now, it wasn’t so surprising because it was so outrageous or radical, but its identity was a lure that I too often used myself, but didn’t like to expose to just anyone. I guess blood runs pretty deep in these parts. Unbeknownst to us, we enjoyed the same Lucky Lure.
Now, I know all of you are wondering what that Lucky Lure is, and I sincerely apologize for stringing you along, however, as with all Family Traditions . . . they have to be kept secret to stay special. Sorry about that.
Let’s go fishing sometime.