It seems to be understood that you don't bring bananas on fishing trips. I really don't care for them much anyway, so it's never an issue with me, but when I ask people why they are bad, I always get different answers. Is it just bad luck, the smell? Is there any other produce I should stay away from while fishing?

My understanging is that it's just bad luck, but I don't have any supporting data.

I do know that it's apparently widespread. Our guides for a deep sea trip out of Puerto Vallarta made my b-i-l give a bunch of them to a passerby as we were boarding our panga. It paid off with two 100+ lb. sailfish!

Prunes, defiantly nooooooo Prunes !

They're considered bad for the same reasons why it's bad to walk under ladders, cross a black cat's path, spill the salt, break a mirror, fart in church... Wait a minute, that last one really IS bad JuJu!

The Banana phobia was created from stories of long-ago fisherman and sailors who believed that bananas brought bad luck. The story is that many, many years ago a sailing ship entered port with supplies bound for a fishing fleet. Among the supplies were bushels of bananas. After loading their supplies the fishing boats raised their sails and headed for the open ocean, unaware that the banana bushels were infested with black widow spider nests. Many aboard did not return alive!

Henceforth, bananas have been considered taboo on sailing and fishing boats, and became associated with bad luck. It is forbidden to have bananas on board my boat!

If you had em on board, best way to cure the hex is to have a n***o lady piss in the bilge (this according to an old New Bedford dragger captain I worked for in college.)

More info on this older post...
http://www.piscatorialpursuits.com/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=010472#000003

Was out fishing Canadian Swiftsure and there was a Canadian guide boat out of Port Renfrew---No Bananas Charters. And here is a company that also subscribes to the no bananas theory www.nobananas.com Type in a google search for no bananas fishing charters and you will see that alot of the charters believe in the no bananas theory.

No Bananas on our boats!!!!!!!

I've heard several stories of the origin of the superstition, most often of Hawaiian Kings and bad luck fishing.

Very widespread belief amongst anglers, but what do we know. Let's ask the expert:



Need we ask any more??

I have seen some pretty upset guys before when I have brought bananas (did it just to prove the point). I don't really buy that superstition... Once a guy loses confidence in catching fish, he usually goes fishless.

hawaiian fisherman believed bananas were one form or 'kino lau' the god Ku'ula (fishin' god) would take and that it was disrespectful to take bananas with you fishin'....though some thought it was a form of respect..they also believed that no one should ask a fisherman where he was going because the fish would hear and know the fisherman was coming...actually ..a lot of hawaiians still practice these beliefs...

these june i was on a charter sturgeon fishing out of ilwaco 3rd day of five we had been in fish the first two days on the 3rd nothing for 4 hours. i do not remember how many times we moved. i Finlay asked if anyone had any bananas with them. 1 person had 2. we made him throw them overboard within 2 minutes we had 3 fish on and limited out. NO BANANAS

Check out this site.....www.baddayfishing.com. It gets into the whole banana deal.

if you eat bannanas you will also get alot more mesquito bites because they are attracted to the pottasium !!!

I still dont want any nanners in the boat!!!

I don't take em' fishing......not because I'm afraid of any bad mojo. But, have you ever seen what a banana looks like when it's been bangin' around in your lunch sack? Yeah, just what I want in my lunch.....some bruised up POS banana.

I really hate to relate this, but yesterday while at Sekiu, after taking half my relatives out and limiting on humpies and coho before 8, eating breakfast, and taking the other half out and limiting before 11 (yes, that's 32 keepers in 5 hours of fishing ) I noticed my youngest brother, who lives in San Diego, works in software, and doesn't know any better, eating a bananna on the way in. Now I probably HAVE to take bananas on the boat