Why do people love fishing?
- People Love Fishing for the Challenge
- It’s a Great Way to ‘Disconnect’ & Recharge
- Serenity & the Rush
- It Opens Our Eyes to Amazing
- Pursuing the Rare and Beautiful in Nature
- Fishing Buddies: Friendships and Family
- Focusing on a Singular Pursuit
The reasons are as varied as the sport itself. Almost anywhere you go on earth with water, you will find anglers trying to coax the finny tribe into biting.
Homer Circle said what fishing does for some best:
“Fishing adds years to your life and life to your years.”
There are many reasons this is true for anglers. Here are 7 great ones:
Why Do People Love Fishing? | The Challenge of the Catch
Fishing allows people to enter at all levels of difficulty. Starting out the challenge is timing your thumb release with your cast. Next, timing the setting of the hook when the sunfish takes your worm. It can progress all the way to hiking into the mountain stream, hunched down, and staying low behind rocks as you cast your fly into the current to catch a beautiful rainbow.
Each challenge is different and even expert anglers enjoy an afternoon of going back to the basics and chasing bluegill. The challenges of fishing can always be improved on. Anglers must learn where fish are located, what they are biting and how to imitate it, the art of making an accurate cast, understanding how the bait should move or how the fish are biting. The list goes on and on.
If we break down just one of these you can see how many variables come into play that can affect success. For example fish location: How will the current, wind, rain, and sun affect fish location? How do air and water temperature impact fish location? What is the impact of the forage species in the creek, river, pond, lake, or ocean? Where are the fish most likely to be as a result?
There is no limit to what you can learn and how deep you can go in pursuit of the finny tribe. For many, fishing is all about testing themselves against fish and nature.
A Way to Disconnect and Recharge
For many anglers, fishing is a pursuit of lonely places and peace. This world overwhelms our senses. The steady inflow of information and technology has become constant. The smartphone is a great tool but, make no mistake, it is a horrible friend.
The pressures of daily life: traffic jams, workplace stress, familial stress, and the constant flow of information can make all of us feel lonely.
I have been by myself in the middle of the woods or out on a lake, and yet I have never felt alone. Whether it is fishing or something else, everyone needs a place where they can be away from it all.
Moments of Serenity Interrupted by Rushes of Adrenaline
Some of my favorite memories of fishing are when the serenity of nature is interrupted by an explosive surprise from a fish. A sunset is interrupted by an explosive topwater strike. The bird songs in the trees are interrupted by a feeding frenzy. A talk with a child on a dock is interrupted by the squeals of a child reeling in their first fish.
These moments are special and we carry them forever.
People Love Fishing Because it Opens Our Eyes to Amazing
Again, this is an area where you can take the challenge to any level you want. There are fishermen who travel the world in search of unique species. It could be a trip to Africa in pursuit of the Tiger Fish. Maybe it’s a charter into the ocean in pursuit of sailfish. However, it can also be your local pond.
Fishing is an art. Those who excel find amazing all around. One of our favorite locations is a park bridge. It is usually surrounded by the sounds of people and cars. Yet, we have escaped there. The sounds of the park have completely faded away as we are completely amazed at the colors in a longear sunfish or the fight of a carp from a 20-foot bridge.
Fishing is a pursuit that allows amazing to happen anywhere there is water and fish.
The Pursuit of the Rare and Beautiful
Have you ever seen the sunset perfectly reflected in the glass-like water while gently floating in the boat? What about seeing the uniqueness of the colors found on a brook trout? Maybe you have heard the sound of a great blue heron’s wings pushing the wind beneath them as it flies just feet over your head?
These are the moments I pursue in fishing. Moments no one will ever experience in the same way again. This quote sums it up:
“Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.”
Henry David Thoreau
I would add the word “Just” before ‘fish they are after.’
I am definitely going after the fish, but I do agree, the love of fishing is about so much more than just catching fish! This brings us to one of my favorite parts of fishing.
Fishing Buddies
There is something special about a true fishing buddy. On the water, both of you sharing information, trying to unlock the pattern of where the fish are located. Riding to and from the lake together and talking about what you hope to catch or what you should have done differently.
There is an implicit trust that develops with a good fishing buddy. It’s the trust you give someone to net or lip your biggest bass yet. It’s the conversations about life. Sometimes, it is about sharing the silence at sunset. Other times it is about going as fast as you can to get off the water as the lightning drops all around you.
These are the moments you never forget. These are the friends that last a lifetime. For me, this has become my son. Netting his personal best over and over again. Sitting on the dock and hearing the coyotes. Arriving back at camp to see a bobcat sitting at our site. Swatting mosquitoes, catching mayflies, getting harassed by a bull, catching a new species… These are the moments that will live beyond me.
If you are fortunate enough to call a family member your fishing buddy too, you are among the luckiest in the world. I know I am.
It Combines All of These to Create a Laser Focus on a Singular Pursuit
The best way I know to explain it is to share my experience.
Wading into the Arkansas river I was walking past a bush when I heard movement. I looked to my left in time to see two eyes coming out of the bush right at me. The next 5 minutes is a period of time I hope to never forget.
Coming out of the bush in near silence a great-horned owl flew inches over my head and silently off into the sunset. As the adrenaline began to die down, I looked up to the collegiate peaks where the Aspens were full of color on this autumn evening. I heard rocks tumbling down the bank behind me and turned to see a deer making its way to the banks of the river for a drink.
I turned back to see an eagle fly in and hover over the river, eyeing its next meal. It laid its wings back and accelerated into the river, arising from the water with a nice brown trout in its talons.
Then, just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, my fly line jumped and the fight was on. The fish swam straight at me and went between my legs. I was stripping line as fast as I could, lifted my legs, and spun. The battle in the current was one I will never forget and the beauty and uniqueness of the colors in that trout I will never see in the exact same way again.
As I watched it swim away in the cold, crystal clear water, I looked up at mount Princeton as the sunset behind it. It was a magical, perfect moment. For me, that level of peace coming from such an overwhelming sensory influx is something only fishing could provide.
Why Do People Love Fishing? | One Last Cast
So why do people love fishing? These are just 7 of my reasons. I could talk about my love for fishing for days. If you have more to add to the conversation please comment below. More importantly, if you searched this query because you are looking for a reason to go fishing. I hope you have some now. Fishing is truly one of the most rewarding pursuits on this planet.
So we encourage you, pick up that fishing combo, take that trip, and don’t forget your best fishing buddy. Stretch that line and enjoy some fin time. We hope to see you both out there searching for thePerfectCombo Fishing.
