The Bait-Robbers - [Fearsome Critters]

The Bait Robbers - [Fearsome critters]

• About this critter:  The bane of fishermen everywhere, tiny fairy-sized creatures with the consistency of a large bubble with arms and a face, they exist only to steal the bait off your fishing hook & feed the fishies at the bottom. – Ever cast your line & then immediately feel slight tug? – Nothing's bit the hook, but the bait has  vanished, the second you pull it back out, it keeps happening as fast as  you put it on, you start to feel a sense of otherworldly disappointment? Yeah, that's the bait robbers having a laugh at your expense. Best to try casting somewhere else.

•History: Yet another from "Yarns of the Bigwoods." [1925] – the article story goes as follows:

[source newspapers.com]

 

"Of all sad words of Tongue or pen, The saddest are these: "Baits gone again!!"

...When you pull up your hook and find that the bait is gone, and then it keeps on disappearing as fast as you put it on—well, the old fisherman in the North Woods will tell you that the bait robbers have moved into that piece of water.
    These bait robbers are round, light, airy creatures, almost like bubbles, only larger than the largest bubble. Another way in which they differ from the bubble is that they have arms, eyes, nose, mouth and horns. They haven’t any legs, but they don’t need them, as they live under water all the time.
    Their favorite trick is to catch your bait just above the hook, raise it so you can’t feel any pull on it, and then steal the bait piece by piece and feed it to the small fish that are unable to get it from the hook. Fine for the fish, but hard on the fisherman!
    When they have finished taking your bait they give a hard, quick jerk on the line and you haul it up, thinking you’ve lost a big fish. Then you rebait your hook and try again, but the bait robber is waiting for you, and like as not he’ll trick you again. "

 One step back from the sizzerbill and quite similar to the trapspringer in concept, at least they don't take your hook, only the bait. - Interestingly, the quoted poem is a parody of "maud muller": a story about unrequited love & missed opportunities, the famous line goes: "For of all sad words of tongue or pen, The saddest are these: 'It might have been!'" – in this case its expressing disappointment at not catching a fish. hah.

See also: Sizzerbill. Trapspringer.

please note: does not come with the rope/phone strap I don’t do charms yet. ( maybe someday if enough people buy the sticker :)

Art Sticker by @samkalensky, part of my fearsome critters/cryptids collection. Check the shop & follow for many more!