FISHERMAN’S WORST NIGHTMARE, OR A CONSPIRACY TO DENY FISHERMEN ESSENTIAL POTASSIUM?
For centuries (or at least the past ten years or so), it has been considered a fact that if a fisherman brings a banana on his/her quest for the “big one” he/she is likely to return to the dock empty handed. My own first encounter with this ancient wisdom required me to scoff-down a dozen or so bananas or leave them at the dock. I had never heard of such a thing, and it only created additional questions in my mind, like, why is it okay for me to bring a banana along in my digestive tract? Do stomach acids neutralize the powers of the yellow skinned devil fruit? Or, perhaps it is only the skins that have power, and since you are not eating these, and are likely sending them to swim with the fishes, this might actually attract the fish to get out of the water and into the boat!
At any rate, I am feeling that the entire issue requires intensive research. I have decided to conduct such a study myself, starting today. If I am unsuccessful, I will be forced to refer the issue to The Mythbusters for consideration, but for now, I shall bear the tremendous burden myself. All research must be highly scientific. My study might involve experiments like hiding bananas on my commercial fisherman husband’s boat, without his knowledge and then analyzing the results (which I’m sure will at least prove the hypothesis that hiding bananas on my husband’s boat results in no fish for me). I may also need to carry a banana onto the Sebastian Inlet North Jetty and hold it in the vicinity of various fisherman in order to discover whether the mysterious powers work only at sea, or if they might be extended to fishing from shore.
Although my extensive study will take some time to yield results, I can share some results from my initial research already. First, I “Googled” the keywords banana & "bad luck" & fishing and got 76,600 possible sites to investigate. Since it is a beautiful day, I checked out three of them. The ones I checked mostly contained stories based on personal experience that supported the “bad luck” theory. There were also ideas about superstitious people associating rotting bananas with bad fishing, ship captains not wanting the vermin that might accompany the bananas on their ships, the possibility that banana oil residue might rub off a fisherman’s hands and taint his/her bait, but nothing at all about the potassium conspiracy. Therefore, it is important for me to share it with you now!
We may all know that potassium and sodium work together to balance the bodies water content, and we probably all associate sodium with salt. But have we ever thought of the consequences of floating out onto a large body of salt filled water without carrying its “balancing” component potassium? Well, I’d say someone has. That very someone that, harboring a great loathing for fishermen, invented this whole banana superstition. He or she knew that if he/she could cause fisherman to believe this abomination, and begin leaving that perfect potassium provider onshore, he/she might cause a great imbalance in the Fishing Force…… Well, either that, or bananas truly are bad luck.
I may need to do a little more work on my theory before commencing research, but, I certainly hope to be sharing a plethora of knowledge with you in the days to come.
Your devoted researcher, on a quest for the truth!
Allison Heater
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