Why do you fish?

[addy79]

TEH THRILL OF THE HUNT!!

 

[JohnF]

I fish because I love being near waters. It helps me relax and clear all the stress away.

 

Another few reason are, I think fishing is a survival skill and it takes a lot of skill and practice to catch that certain species of fish you are after.

It takes skills to catch the easiest type of fish which would be the sunfish. Sometimes when fishing around other fishermen, I notice there set up is totally wrong and there will be no way they would catch a fish.

 

In addition, another reason why I fish is to out fish other fishermen around me. Sometimes you like to showoff by reeling in fish with every cast, for me, it feels great knowing that I'm better than the people around me.

 

Also, I fish to educate others. It's nice sometimes to have a stranger come up to you and ask you questions about fishing. It's really important for people to understand the positive aspects of fishing and how it affects everyone and everything in life. Nothing can compare to sharing your experience and knowledge with a young child and seeing a happy smile on their face. Kids are the future and teaching them this wonderful sport and important knowledge of fishing will keep fishing alive for future generations.

 

Good ones that I forgot.

1. Knowing you at least have a chance of surviving if you ever find yerself with no one but you to depend on. I often say that my two summers spent slaughtering and butchering hogs wasn't a complete waste of time. Now I know I can kill pigs and fish if need be. I also learned to castrate pigs once upon a time but I'm not sure that's a survival skill.
   
2. Teaching. Near and dear to my heart. That's my semi-retirement gig, teaching aspiring real estate salespeople. Perhaps one day I'll know enough about fishing to pass some of that along too.
   

JF

Edited July 15, 2008 by JohnF

[JohnF]

TEH THRILL OF THE HUNT!!

 

 

Yup. There's quite a rush when you feel a big one take the hook. I'm not sure if that's due to our competitive nature or some atavistic gene that responds to scoring on the hunt. Whatever, it's a grand feeling, isn't it?

 

JF

[Anatz]

It's ironic how I'm totally against hunting with guns,bows and etc. But yet I find nothing wrong with fishing. Well the only difference is, I don't kill what I catch, I release it back..I guess I'm still a hunter.

[BillM]

1. It's relaxing..

 

2. It's time well spent with my oldman

[mkeyes]

The rush when............."FISH ON"......happens

 

Listening to my husband tell me what I should be doing, "teaching me", agreeing with him,then turning around...do my own thing and out fish him....gotta love that.

 

And the time with those I care the most about. My husband and I bought a pontoon fishing boat because my father had fallen a few times getting into our other boat (and mom just couldn't get in at all).......my father didn't have any sons, so it was me he woke up at 4 in the morning to go portaging to his favorite lake.

 

Plus they just taste so good

[Reef Runner]

Get away from the daily turmoil of life. Chess game and challenge of tapping into the food chain.

 

There is no adventure in golf!!!

[1northerner]

As much as I hate to admit it, everything in the first post comes into play at times. Usually it's just something to do after a long day of work, good way to hang out with family or just plain old interesting people. I like just rocking away in a boat, sitting quietly, watching the sparkles in the water...

 

oh.. sometimes it's necessary in order to eat. We don't pack much food when we go out in the bush.

[ccmtcanada]

A fellow board member, Jen, posted something last year that has stuck in my mind ever since I first read it. Here's an excerpt of a report from the past from her....

 

"The sounds I never heard ( birds everywhere - ducks, geese, black birds, crows...the hum of wings as they fly overhead. Fish breaking the surface of still water or waves crashing against shore)

 

The sunrises and sunsets I have never noticed ( dew rising off of the grass in the early morning hours or coating it as dark quickly approaches)

 

The smell of the trees, forests, lakes... not to mention the smell of a goose still warm after you have dropped it from the sky. ( I had never even considered that a bird would smell like something)

 

No wonder one yearns to fish or hunt. It isn't about the catch or the kill, it isn't about putting food on the table or in the freezer, it isn't about the competition...what I have discovered atleast for me is- it is about finding peace in yourself, understanding the world around you, and appreciating what is in your own backyard.

 

It takes a great deal of effort to slow down in life long enough to actually see the beauty that is all around us.

 

Pictures can not describe adequately what one has felt and learned from an experience however they allow you to share a little of what was. (some may find them too graphic and may not want to continue reading this post) I wish I could find the words to explain what I feel inside. The closest I can come to the perfect words would be AMAZEMENT, AWE and RESPECT for what I didn't used to see and now am trying to understand."

 

This came from her and her discovery of the outdoors. I haven't seen a report from her in a while now...hope all is well with her and that she drops by to say hi again from time to time.

[JohnF]

There is no adventure in golf!!!

 

Hah! You haven't seen my game. No course ever looks the same to me.

 

JF

[1northerner]

Quick question.. why is the envelope beside this on fire?

[bpsbassman]

"The sounds I never heard ( birds everywhere - ducks, geese, black birds, crows...the hum of wings as they fly overhead. Fish breaking the surface of still water or waves crashing against shore)

I remember that post.

Sends shivers down my back just reading it.

 

I like just rocking away in a boat, sitting quietly, watching the sparkles in the water...

I thought I was the only one that did that

Edited July 15, 2008 by BPSBASSMAN

[Victor]

Quick question.. why is the envelope beside this on fire?

 

lol ... it just means that this is a hot topic. so hot that it's on fire ...

[Rich]

Hah! You haven't seen my game. No course ever looks the same to me.

 

JF

 

LOL! I hear ya!

[e-z-out]

3. Relaxation - giving the body & brain a break from the stress of today, or, as some might put it, changing your karma. We blow our brains out either with the challenge of our jobs or the mind-numbing experience of the same thing day after day and we sometimes really need to have a change of scenery.

[JohnF]

lol ... it just means that this is a hot topic. so hot that it's on fire ...

 

Or that too many bored people will read anything.

 

Look at the very bottom of the General Discussion page for a legend that explains all the little symbols.

 

JF

[1northerner]

I remember that post.

Sends shivers down my back just reading it.

I thought I was the only one that did that

 

I have to admit, sometimes I'll zone out completely and not realize I've had something nibbling away at my bait for ten minutes. When I was a kid my mom would make me tie my rod up to the boat because of it.

[1northerner]

Or that too many bored people will read anything.

 

Look at the very bottom of the General Discussion page for a legend that explains all the little symbols.

 

JF

OH!

[JohnF]

I have to admit, sometimes I'll zone out completely and not realize I've had something nibbling away at my bait for ten minutes. When I was a kid my mom would make me tie my rod up to the boat because of it.

 

I have that problem too. Did you by any chance drink a lot of beer as a young kid?

 

JF

[1northerner]

I have that problem too. Did you by any chance drink a lot of beer as a young kid?

 

JF

lol

 

Spent a lot of time laying across the seat, boat cushion as a pillow, nose in a book and rod between my feet. I always said I was multitasking.

[JohnF]

lol

 

Spent a lot of time laying across the seat, boat cushion as a pillow, nose in a book and rod between my feet. I always said I was multitasking.

 

Hah. Nose in a book. I can relate.

 

JF

[The Urban Fisherman]

I'm going to say all of the above - and unless somebody else already mentioned it - TIME WITH FAMILY. I see no better way of spending quality time with my daughter, fiance and father. My brother doesn't fish for whatever reason, I think it's because he's afraid of the sunrise! haha Growing up my Dad and I didn't always get along, but we loved time spent on the water together. He taught me everything that he knew, and now I find myself teaching him many new things I've learned from fishing with Pro Angler's all over Canada and the USA. I now live 6 hours away from him, and eagerly look forward to any time we're able to share the boat. (only I drive now) hehe

 

Good Thread!

UF

[The Urban Fisherman]

Also - it's my job. It's how I provide for my family. I work for a fishing show, for a man that know's a HECK OF ALOT more about fishing than me, and lives to educate other people in a real big way. Not to highjack the thread in any way, but people sometimes knock fishing show's for talking about what product's they're using, or plastering sponsor's logo's all over. But at the end of the day it costs money to produce a TV show - ALOT more money than people might think. So if it weren't for major companies sponsorships, Dave wouldn't have a means of teaching people what he's learnt over the years, and myself and a few others wouldn't have jobs. I wouldn't be able to put food on the table, buy a house or get my 2 year old her first fishing rod..heh

[NAC]

I quit fishing for 4/5 years after being hard-core for about 15 yrs.

 

I got back into it after buying my first kayak 6yrs ago and I find it takes away all my stress after about an hour of being on the water.

[doubleheader]

Some years back I was taking up fly fishing and I read a quote by a famous fisherman that went something like this. " I fish not because it is the most critical endeavor a man can do but because so many other things seem trivial by comparision". That about sums it up. I enjoy just about everything about fishing. My buddy and I have this ongoing debate about which is the best pursut, hunting or fishing. I argue that fishing has all the elements of hunting with the intrique of not knowing what you might have hooked or will hook next, and, one needn't kill the animal (don't get me wrong I'm a hunter) in the pursuit of the sport. It's a fabulous past time.