Yes! We Have No Bananas!

The seemingly ancient Lou Costello and fruit/vegetable vendor Mr. Batchagalupe exchange at his cart from an Abbot & Costello TV show was brought to mind recently
when I heard a charter captain adamantly claim the “No bananas on my boat ever! It’s bad luck!”

Another captain present went even further, loudly boasting that “Not even Banana Boat tanning lotion is allowed on my boat. Nothing to do with bananas! Bad luck!”

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And so it went with tales of lost fish, failed motors, et al when it was discovered that a banana was on board.

You’re kidding, right?

Believe it or not, this superstition, which has more tentacles than a hydra as to its origin, remains incised in the minds of captains who have achieved their respective status through extensive and exhausting book knowledge and on the water performance and testing.

And yet, failures are blamed on an oblong yellow fruit?

From this corner, it sounds like an excuse should a banana be found among a client’s breakfast or lunch.

“The banana curse. That’s too funny,” opined a charter skipper while we were enjoying a dockside subs and suds after a morning bust ‘em up with sea bass, and a pair of keeper fluke added to the three limit larder. On the way in, while pulling a Wawa bag from a compartment that held two waters and two apples, two bananas spilled out. I’d forgotten I’d purchased the forbidden fruit for the simple reason that we like bananas as much as apples. The fishing was so fast that there was no chance to partake of the aqua or the fruit.

But success with a banana, much less two, on board?

Griped one anti-banana skipper when told of the experience, “You probably would have caught bigger fish if that thing (banana) wasn’t there!”

He wasn’t kidding. If memory serves, the veins in his temples were becoming all too obvious.

Absolutely respect the boat captain’s dictum when it comes to the yellow oblong fruit, the corollary being you have a valid question to ask should the fishing be, well, less than successful....with no banana(s) to blame!