AMERICAN IN AFRICA: Smart Fishing … No Bull!
WORDS: George Robey III* IMAGE: Supplied
Fishing people have long been associated with tall tales and fibs. It’s not a flattering image, but fishing ‘bull’ is not always about veracity – and that’s no lie.
The brass nose ring for a corpulent, unruly, male bovine remains an important piece of my fishing repertoire. The weighty nose ring serves as a lure retriever, more commonly called a ‘plug knocker’, and comes by way of a great family story.
The legendary tale begins half a century ago when my Uncle Jim, then the outdoor writer for a large metropolitan daily newspaper, introduced my father and me to a new-fangled gadget called a ‘plug knocker’. He wanted to try it out and report on its efficiency for an upcoming story.
The rudimentary apparatus, unheard of at the time was nothing he would have bought and tested on his own. Uncle Jim maintained a storied reputation for frugality, but quickly learned the simple device could pay for itself many times over.
The contraption was clumsy and unsightly – a black tube of about five inches with a clasped ring attached midway and an eyelet on one end. Uncle Jim sat on the dock of our favourite lake and provided instruction while dad and I leaned in to absorb every word. Fishing lures were equally expensive in the days of yore and we relished the prospect of recapturing snagged plugs.
We set out to conduct the first test, three of us in a small rowboat with me on the oars. Dad and Uncle Jim tossed heavy treble lures onto gnarly wooden structure attempting to hook-up. Cast after cast in the hot midday sun, but a great lesson learned – trying to get snagged is the best way to avoid it!
Eventually my father hitched onto a mossy laydown. He pulled hard and tight to imbed the hooks as I sidled the rocking boat close and my uncle gave the plug knocker its first test. He opened the clasp, inserted the mono line and lowered the knocker by a cord tied to the eyelet. It took precisely three bumps to dislodge the lure. Eureka!
We continued fishing and on several more occasions the plug knocker worked famously. At the end of the day Uncle Jim left the homely product in my possession for supplementary testing throughout the week. Several days later I showed the device to my grandfather, a simple farmer with a utilitarian mindset.
“Why do you need a big, ugly contraption like that? I’ve a better idea,” grandad said.
With that, grandad took me to the barn and pulled out a dusty box filled with the heavy, brass nose rings used to manage recalcitrant cattle. The circular rings were hinged in a way to accommodate fishing line. He knotted several lengths of baling twine, tied it to a bull ring, opened the clasp and demonstrated how fishing line could be inserted.
Dad and I tested the bull ring over several weeks and it worked every bit as well as the newly manufactured plug knocker. Grandad experienced great satisfaction at solving the fishing riddle and Uncle Jim was overjoyed because we had dozens at our disposal, free for the taking.
The simple, old-time farm implement became a big dollar saver for our fishing family. Today, many models of lure retrievers can be found on store shelves and some anglers choose to make their own. I continue to use an original bull ring from grandad’s barn.
If you are ever fortunate enough to come across a brass bull nose ring, pick one up. It will save you a pocket full of money – and that’s no ‘bull’!
*Like his grandfather George, and father, also George, before him, George Robey III is an accomplished and much published freelance outdoor photo journalist, bow hunter, angler and photographer. With many years of hunting and fishing experiences, he settled in South Africa with his wife Catherine some ten years ago as proprietor of the Venom Lures agency in Africa. Email him on info@venomluresafrica.co.za; follow him on Facebook/All Outdoors Africa.
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