Fishing Is Many Things To Many People.

[Neil Maidment]

I've met quite a few members of this site, from many different backgrounds, covering a wide range of ages and both sexes. It's stating the obvious but fishing in it's varied forms unites all of us.

But why?

Many have fished virtually all their lives. Some, like me, have returned after a long period away. What is it that "hooks" us into this sport, or is it a past-time, vocation, passion or addiction?

I've had many hobbies and participated in many sports to quite a high level but none have "held me" like fishing. I find it difficult to explain to non-believers.

Any ideas?

 

[Peter Bishop]

Neil, I have fished on and off since I was 11 years old, 44 years ago. There have been periods when I hardly fished, or thought about it, but once an angler always an angler. I have never packed in as such.
Sometimes you lose a bit of interest and heart only for the spark to be rekindled-sometimes by a different style of fishing.
There are various factors such as courting, raising a young family,and simply available time which all impinge upon one's leisure time.
As a Football reporter for 30 years the game dominated my weekends, so angling became a solitary pastime for me midweek and thats when the slide in my angling fortunes happened.
It is contact with other anglers which invigorates us and keeps us in touch with the sport.
Not being of particularly athletic build ( a fat sod actually) angling was one sport where physical speed and strength mattered not. For once I was on a level playing field with the fast, thin and athletic.
Like you Neil I cannot explain the draw of it, I am just totally in love with the whole experience, a sort of spiritual connection with nature that satisfies my hunting instinct! I hope to God the magic never wears off.

 

[goody]

Neil,like Peter I have fished on and off in my case since I was 14. I have tried and enjoyed other sports but nothing has held my interest quite like fishing.

Even now, there are times when if i am off fishing for a day or even a two day session the anticipation and excitement are still the same after 44 years.

To be in the company of nature is a spiritual thing, the anticipation of what you may catch or not catch. To be by the lake or river and await the sun rise, have the time and space to free our minds.

Your question deserves a better answer than mine, but one thing I do know, fishing has enriched my life.

 

[Peter Bishop]

Disappointing response Neil to a very good thread. Perhaps if you posed the question to some of our female contributors the thread would be overwhelmed with responses from the 'dogs on heat' brigade that stalk their every post!!!!

 

[Les Clark]

Goody has hit it on the head ,to see nature when it is The good ,Bad and the ugly and to be part of it is great .
Put me on a building site for 8 hours in the freezing cold and i would jack it in ,put me by a lake or river for 8 hours fishing ,suberb !

 

[trev matthews]

To me it is a sense of belonging.

 

[Steve Spiller]

I've been fishing now for 35 years, I started at the tender age of 6. I haven't had a serious break from it in all those years, I've done all the sports, girls, cars and stuff and nothing has lead me astray. I've had some serious highs and lows though during that time! But nothing will ever stop me fishing. I can't explain it?

When I got married I told my wife "I fish and you won't stop me, ok!" She accepted that, but didn't understand why, until recently. My wife Wendi has started coming fishing with me and loves it, especially pike fishing. She sat biteless for 8 hours the other (chubbing) and didn't want to go home when it started getting dark! I think it is the feeling of being part of nature, I'm not sure?

But then there is the hunter that is in all of us, is it that? I don't know?

But "we" love it!

 

[EC]

It's a hard question to answer Neil. It means different things to me at different times.

Socially fishing sometimes allows me to get away with a few mates and meet new people. At other times it provides me with an excuse to literally get out of the house.

Occasionally the challenge is the over riding factor, and I have to get out and target a certain species or succeed using a certain method.

Then at other times I get the desire to go and sit out in the rain with my suit on and no brolly, or get down to the Mersey in winter and see the inky blackness of the sea.

EDIT

It took me about 35 minutes to come up with that, and I still haven't done the question any justice, or really fully explained, to myself at least, why I regularly travel 40+ miles one way just for a few hours by a lake!

 

[Jeff ( Lucky ) Spiller]

I don't think that there is one single answer to this question, but we all agree that fishing has magnetic like pull on us and I think the more you do it the more you want.
Chris Yates is very good at putting this into words.

 

[Dal (The merchant of Mennace & Don't mess with my]

Neil, good thread mate.
I started fishing with my Dad in the late 60's which was Eel fishing using a rudd "steak" on a plaice hook with Mk IV's. Laying all night on the damp grass watching the stars wrapped up in a parka coat, bliss! How can you explain to a non believer how good that is?
I think it could be the "boy" in us.
My last club season was in 1978 when booze and birds came onto the scene and money was short, well something had to go, but after a divorce (brilliant) I was back at it big time, I thought why did I ever stop?
Basically now I'm just a "pleasure angler" but whilst I'm sitting there waiting for the buzzer to let rip I drift away watching the shoals of rudd and roach fry or the kingfishers. Aint nature wonderfull!
Thats why I go...

P.S. Sorry to ramble on.

 

[Michael Howson]

Well where do we start?. The friendships made, the feeling of solitude, the anticipation, the beauty of the surroundings, the buzz when the float drops or the tip goes round, the puzzle to be worked out, the decisions to be made on venue choice. The list goes on and on. Great innit.

 

[John McLaren]

It is as you say, Neil, many things to many people. I have fished almost continuously since my early teens and tried all aspects of the sport available in the UK except deep sea. The thing that keeps me coming back is the anticipation - not really knowing what is going to come out next and always there is the frontier that has to be crossed - new pbs and new waters which add to the anticipation.

 

[pcpaulh]

When I was bout 8 I seem to remember my dad taking me a few times and I thought it was rubbish. Then about 3 years later he took me again and I loved it.
To be honest I'm not sure why I love it, I dislike blanking but then when you finally get one the feeling is undescribale and I never want to leave.
Although it's not just the catching fish, I love sitting in the countryside watching nature go about its buisness.
Even when I can't fish I'm sorting out my tackle tying up rigs etc and it all adds to the fun.
Although the feeling of just simply sitting on the bank is one you cannot describe and I think the reason we all go fishing?
I think I've rambled on a bit there about nonsense but it's hard to describe.

 

[Neil Maidment]

Peter B. It was meeting a couple of our female contributors that got me thinking about this! It was their enthusiasm and sheer joy at the simple (and not so simple) act of fishing that almost stopped me in my tracks.

I remembered that level of enthusiasm from long ago and would like to think I've regained it.

Not sure who coined the phrase "leisure angler" but I think that is very apt for me. "EC" hits it on the head: Great when socialising with mates old or new but also great to get out for the solitary sessions. I've also started to fish a few matches as well!

Les is right as well. I fished (but didn't catch) in the blizzards last week. Loved every minute of it and took some superb photos, But the following day I was moaning like crazy about the weather!

My wife of 32 years still doesn't understand me!

 

[Steve Spiller]

Neil drag her along with you, but then no, it has to be something that someone wants to do.

I'm amazed at my missus, all these years and now she wants to come with me, and fish! I'm not complaining, it's been great! The look on her face, the huge smile when she holds those fish, it reminds me what it's all about.

And it don't get no better than that ;-)

 

[Richard Farrow]

To me fishing is many things:-
A chance to escape the stress of work.
Nice fresh air.
The opportunity to see a wide variety of flora and fauna.
The thrill of seeing the float lift or sail away, or the sound of the bite alarm.
The thrill of the fight, admiring and perhaps photographing a lovely looking fish before returning it carefully and safely and seeing it swim off back to the depths.
Meeting and chatting with old friends.
Putting the rods in the alarms and settling down to a good book.
Food eaten out in the open always seems to taste better?
Although I like catching, a blank doesn't mean I haven't enjoyed the session.
A lovely season ticket venue with no officious 'hilter' like bailiffs, where rules are not needed as people respect the venue and the fish.

I have fished since the age of 11 and am now approaching 52. There have been odd spells where I haven't fished regularly. In fact I spent ?150 on my season ticket in March and have only fished 3 times. Although I often get as much pleasure walking around the lakes and stopping to observe all that is around. Also whilst walking round I get to pick up a lot of info from the other anglers.

 

[Terry Comerford]

Fishing, a child like pastime, only to be shared with mother nature.

 

[Peter Bishop]

Now thats better, slow to start but now gathering momentum...
This one of those interesting threads which makes each and every one of us question what angling means to us and with every new post it adds to the picture.
As I've read each contribution I thought to myself, yes, its the same for me...
And just like Chris Yates says, sometimes actually catching a fish is the least important element in the overall experience.

 

[Jeff ( Lucky ) Spiller]

Exactly Peter thats way it's called fishing and not catching.

 

[Clive Evans 1]

For most of the above reasons, and I'm particularly drawn to Terry's.

But for me, the over-riding thrill comes from that special feeling of life struggling for survival on the far end of the line.
It stirs some animal instinct in me akin to the wolf eyeing the rabbit.
Of course, I know I'm going to let it go free, but it doesn't. And just occasionally it's right!!

Not a terribly attractive reason to fish, I guess, but a true one.