My Lures Don't Cost Enough and it's Hurting the Economy...

The other day I fished a local pond that had been stocked by Texas Parks and Wildlife with put and take hatchery rainbow trout. I did not catch any but I have great memories of benefiting from this program while I fished with my dad, my kids and now I'm making memories of fishing for trout with my grandkids. 

Par the course there were quite a few fishermen lining the banks of the pond and I could not help but notice one young man, all done up in camo like a true outdoorsman as he walked around the bank from us, unlimbered his rod and reared back for mighty cast only to hang his lure in an overhead tree, never reaching the water. I don't know what kind of lure he was using but I thought about all the times I had stood in a fishing store and carefully picked out a bait probably more designed to catch the fisherman than the fish using the consideration of all the knowledge of wind, tide, weather and water in my possession only to hang the careful purchase on the first cast and lose it. As they say about fishing, "tie any knot you want. It's going to break."      

I reflect on this because of two things. One, a New York Times article that says by all signs the economy is not bad, "but many Americians are not feeling it." The other thing is a website selling fishing lures, some of which cost $260 including one lure that is promoted as "showing up like a searchlight on forward facing sonar." It does mention this lure is not for everyone and checking the prices of FFS you will need to spend close to $7000 to be able to use this to it's best effectiveness. I judge that Americans buying these products do not feel bad about the economy.

Now I know that modern fishing lines, unlike the old cheap monofilament my dad bought are practically unbreakable but still I think throwing a $260 fishing lure out into what might be a watery grave would make me have about the same feeling that I would have if I paid that money to a Nigerian Prince to unlock the bank account containing my inheritance. 

Like old cheap mono line the economy is breakable. It can be broken by greedy men who want more which is the reason I suspect someone might buy a 4260 fishing lure. 

I don't know what kind of lure the young man hung in the tree. I'd guess a cheap one. That's all you need in a park pond. I was using a hook, a weight and a piece of canned corn and as I say times were bad. I did not catch anything but as I remembered those old trout trips through the years it was ok.