Cutting line

By Ian

  It's a nice, beautiful sunrise at the lake. You can already see the bass swirling at the surface of the water, surrounding a shoal of hapless bluegill. Your heart thumps with excitement, and you race towards the shoreline, rod in hand. 

  You spot a nice pile of structure, a log jam. You can already see 3lb+ fish cruising around, looking for anything to bite. Your heart feels like it's going to burst out of it's chest. You quickly pull out your rod and cast towards the structure pile. In your excitement to catch a fish, you got careless and made a sloppy cast, snagging your $15 jerkbait on a large pierce of wood.

  The first thing you do is swear. That's the natural reaction to these kinds of things. Then you tug on the line, hopping to pop the bait right on out. Unfortunately, it doesn't. Your heart drops, and that feverish excitement fades for a brief moment. You bite the line with your teeth, tie on a new bait, and make a more careful cast this time. You are promptly rewarded with a 3lber, and tat excitement once again returns. You continue fishing.

Above: Pretty much any sturdy knife can work as a fishing knife.

  However, a month later, when you show up at your dentist's office, he takes one look at your teeth an wags his finger at you. Your tooth is chipped. And that's just one of the more visible side effects of your teeth as an all-purpose fishing tool. Not only do you chip your teeth when you bite on fishing line, you also run the risk of swallowing/ingesting harmful chemicals that may have been in contact with your line.

  A better option would be to buy a sturdy knife to cut line with and cut up bait, or dig one up in your basement (everyone has a knife somewhere in their house). You don't have to buy a very expensive one, just about any knife will do the trick here.

Tight lines,

-Ian