Searching for Christmas gifts on Amazon, I stumbled over an old used copy of “Bait for Trout, being the confessions of an unorthodox angler” by Jim Ure published in 1975. Not necessarily a household name among anglers or writers but I recognized the title immediately. For the whopping sum of $5 it was mine!

Bait for Trout was the first book or writings of any kind that I read on the subject of fishing. The book arrived today. The cover that was once bright yellow is faded to a very pail yellow almost white but my memories of book are vivid in my mind.

I remember being in the Centre County Library with my mother leafing through the handful of fishing related books in the small rural library. I was in 4th grade at the time but the fire for fishing was already burning strong. I remember seeing the word “unorthodox” in the title which is what attracted me to the book along with the bright yellow and blue colors. I didn’t even know what “Unorthodox” meant but for some reason, I thought that word was important so I chose to check out the book.

Later that day, I looked up the word in the dictionary… “contrary to what is usual, traditional, or accepted; not orthodox“. As I sat down to read the book, I remember the sense of excitement at the possibility of learning new things.. things that none of my friends would know. That book at that time, more than anything else, set the course of my angling career. The particulars of the book have long been forgotten but that word, “unorthodox” has stuck with me ever since and has become the theme of my angling pursuits. Experimentation, trial and error, thinking outside the box are my main goals every time I’m on the water. It has helped me hone my skills and develop new strategies as well as discover new ways of understanding fish behavior. Isn’t is funny how one word has the power change everything?