4 Possible Reasons Bananas Are Bad Luck On Fishing Boats

Why Are Bananas Bad Luck On A Boat?

Superstitions run rampant in all sports, and bass fishing is no exception. Dusty Baker chews his toothpick in the dugout, guys routinely don’t change their socks or underwear, and Jason Kidd cemented his status as one of the weirdest dudes to ever play a sport by blowing a passionate kiss at the rim before he shot his free throws.In bass fishing, the most prominent superstition is just as weird, and anglers are just as passionate about it: no bananas on the boat. Why? And where does this come from?There are a few theories, all of which are equally insane, on how this started. Here's a few of my favorites:

1. Bad Fishing For Banana Deliverers

One rumor to the birth of this superstition is the poor fishing on banana boats. Most crews on cargo ships would fish in their spare time. But, those carrying banana boats had to move so quickly to avoid spoiling, the crew never caught any fish. And as we know, all skunked fishermen need a good excuse, so they blamed the bananas.

2. Floating Sad Bananas

Another (grim) rumor about bananas being bad luck on fishing boats comes from the visual at most shipwrecks. Since only debris would remain at the surface, a way for rescue ships to know when they were above a shipwreck was the abundance of floating cases of bananas. The association with floating bananas and shipwrecks led people to not want them anywhere near their boat.

3. Venomous Spiders

This one makes the most sense to me, because spiders are the worst. Venomous spiders would hide out in these banana crates, weasel their spidery legs into the crews quarters, and bite them. Because spider bites are much harder to treat in the days where bananas were still taken by wooden ship across the seas, being on a boat with bananas (and, in turn, spiders) was bad news. Therefore, no bananas on the boat.

4. LeBron James Ruined Banana Boats And Made Them Uncool

I had heard bananas were bad luck, but in my opinion the superstition didn't gain real steam until well after this weird picture was taken with LeBron James on a Banana Boat. This was such a bad look for Banana Boats, no one wanted to associate bananas and boats together ever again.Hey kid, why are bananas bad luck on a boat?