No bananas on the boat: the fishing myth explained
Why do so many captains ban bananas from the boat? Dig into the history behind fishing’s strangest superstition, from sunken ships to hidden spiders.
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We bobbed in the middle of the ocean off the coast of Valdez Alaska for two days before the deckhand found them. “Who brought these?!” he yelled as he appeared from the cabin with a bunch of bananas. We’d barely seen a dip in our rod tips at that point and there was only one solution. The bananas had to go. No sooner did I eat the last banana pancake did the halibut start biting.
Bananas are a bad omen for any type of boating, but especially fishing. Let’s explore this age old superstition.
Where it started
Nobody knows for sure, but most stories trace back to Caribbean trade routes in the 1700s and 1800s:
• Fast ships, empty lines. Banana cargo had to move fast before it spoiled. Crews trolling off the back caught nothing at that speed.
• Floating evidence. When a ship sank, bananas were often the only thing left on the surface. The fruit became a calling card of disaster.
• Unwanted stowaways. Banana bunches hid spiders with nasty bites. Harry Belafonte even sang about it in "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)" with his warning about a black tarantula lurking in a bunch of ripe bananas.
• Spoiled cargo. Ripening bananas give off ethylene gas, which speeds up spoilage of other food in a closed hold.
Why traditions stick
Fishing runs on stories. The banana rule sits alongside lucky hats, never saying "last cast" and kissing your first fish of the season before you let it go. Plenty of these traditions started as practical lessons and got passed down long after anyone remembered why.
That's the point. Traditions connect you to every angler who ever fished. They give a new crew a shared language and a reason to laugh when the bite goes cold. And when a captain tells you to toss the banana overboard, you're getting a small piece of fishing history.
So respect the boat you step onto. Learn its rules, share your own and pass them on. Got a fishing superstition of your own?
Share it with the Fishbrain community. Post your lucky lure, your crew's weirdest rule or the catch that proved it works. Millions of anglers are ready to swap stories.
Now let's go fishing, but no bananas.
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