''Motivation''

Leaving aside the pleasure aspect, ''difficult I know'', but what motivates you to keep plodding on.

Is it a quest for a particular fish, size of fish, or bag of fish. In my own case it was always to catch the best specimen of any species that grabbed my interest.

I know there are some anglers that would say just being there is sufficient. But for me the icing on the cake would be a conclusion for my efforts.

I agree that it's nice to get a result Derek.

For me it's just being beside water and doing what I enjoy the most, the whole atmosphere and anticipation of it along with the variety of methods and species to go at.

I do have my preoccupations and nothing is more satisfying than netting that intended and hard won prize but I don't need it for motivation, it's often nice to break off from certain prolonged campaigns and just chuck a float out and get back to basics for a few bites.

I just love my fishing, no motivation needed

For me I think it is different things on different days.

Some days then just being there is more than sufficient for me whereas on other days it is the best success on the day given the prevailing conditions, and that can be anything from maybe just a few bites to a netful of gleaming Dace or vermilion-finned Roach with maybe a decent sized Chub thrown into the mix.

If I am fishing an all too rare match these days then the motivation is altogether different as the competitive spirit seems to get aroused as much now as it did 25 years ago . . . . . .

Nothing is motivating me at the moment. I'm having one of my periodic "cant be ar$ed" spells. I don't know why....it just happens sometimes.

It's a Buzz for me, at all times.

Like many others', getting the prize species you are after, is the cherry on top of the cake.

Said it before, IF i ever lost the Buzz, then it's time to stop.

Derek

I don't need motivation, as long as my health is okay I Go Fishing.

If people need motivation to go , they should look for another hobby.

Bob

Bob Hornegold said:

...I don't need motivation, as long as my health is okay I Go Fishing....

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Speaking of health, Bob - how are you getting on? - I remember you had to miss out on the LIF - hope you're able to get out and get some in!
Cheers :thumbs:

Bob Hornegold said:

If people need motivation to go , they should look for another hobby.

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Go to disagree with you there, Bob. For me its a hobby...its never been an obsession and it never has and never will rule my life. Doesn't mean I'm not committed when I do go but I have other things to think about and do.

I am like most of the respondents. I just enjoy being on the bankside, particularly if the weather is good. Also there is a big thrill in watching a float slide away or a rod tip or alarm signal a strong bite. I was away from fishing for many years, playing other sports or pastimes and I now know what I've been missing. Just love everything about this absorbing sport.

mike47 said:

I am like most of the respondents. I just enjoy being on the bankside, particularly if the weather is good. Also there is a big thrill in watching a float slide away or a rod tip or alarm signal a strong bite. I was away from fishing for many years, playing other sports or pastimes and I now know what I've been missing. Just love everything about this absorbing sport.

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True Mike, you say ''particularly if the weather is good''. But motivation is vital if you were stood on some remote Fenland drain in the depth of Winter with a searching, bone chilling wind that finds its way through any chink in your clothing, I know i've done it many times. That would be my definition of motivation, and perhaps a little madness. But it works for me.

Motivation implies you need it , motivation is was gets me up at 6 to go to the gym , you shouldn't need it to go fishing , unless you are trying to achieve something other than a sense of personal achievement.

Seeing the float go down is the hi spot for me that and just being outside and away from the office.

It's in the blood - that same buzz is still there after some 60+ years on the bank........

PS the buzz doesn't include snotties..........

For me it is as natural as eating, sleeping and breathing, I don't need a reason or motivation. I just do it because I can. Not very profound or exciting, but there you go. that's me

Just as barbleboi and bracket it goes right through me like the lettering on a stick of rock! I am an angler. Always will be.

It's great that now I'm retired, I can go as much as I want.

Still not going in this horrible weather though,

Roll on Spring.

It's a way of life, I have to be outside, it is not the catching it is the mystery beneath, being there.

S-Kippy said:

Go to disagree with you there, Bob. For me its a hobby...its never been an obsession and it never has and never will rule my life. Doesn't mean I'm not committed when I do go but I have other things to think about and do.

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S

It's nothing what ever to do with being obsessive or ruling your life, it's as other have said, just a way of life.

Motivation is reserved for something that is hard to do, going to work for 45 years needed motivation, playing golf to a low handicap and practicing regularly needed motivation, cutting the lawn needs motivation with a Flymo.

But it would appear there are some who need motivating to get themselves out fishing, in my opinion if it's a chore, then another hobby is the best alternative.

Bob

Getting out there in the countryside is my motivation - the restless sleep the night before,doesn't matter if its winter,summer spring or autumn - up while it's still dark,owls hooting when I get to the waterside,watching & listening to everything waking up and if I'm lucky I might even catch a few fish although the short days of winter & horizontal rain make it hard work for the first ten minutes or so then the anticipation takes over.

For me it’s the anticipation…someone once wrote that the appeal of angling was the continual anticipation of catching something elusive yet obtainable…or words to that effect and I think that’s true. Its what keeps us sitting there through the freezing cold and rain and makes us have an endless succession of “last” casts...the thought that the big one could be just inches away from taking the bait. I love the anticipation of fishing new waters too…I drive literally thousands of miles just to look at a water and walk round it trying to imagine were the fish might be. Google earth has saved me a fortune in petrol I can tell you …the number of times I drove around trying to locate a blue dot on a paper map only to find it was long since dried up I lost count of …now I can at least see if it still has water in it before I make the trip !…thank you Google !

I also need variety in my fishing and a sense of the unknown. I would get bored very quickly if I had to fish the same lake or bit of river each time or only fish one method. For that reason I am constantly swapping target species or methods or fishing different venues to add variety because fishing IS such a varied sport. It makes me laugh that non anglers imagine anglers are all like garden gnomes sitting in one spot holding a rod and contemplating our navels.

Having a challenge is also a motivator …I don’t want it too easy as if your guaranteed to catch every time I think I would again get bored pretty quick. Setting yourself different targets also helps to keep the motivation going and it does not just have to be trying to up your PBs …how about biggest from a specific river or lake ? or on a particular method ? or how about trying to catch as many species as you can in 1 day ? or perhaps trying to catch a Barbel or a Carp in each calendar month of the year ? …the world is really your oyster….

I go fishing simply for the pleasure I get from the sport.

I will often put my rod down and pour myself a drink and just soak in the atmosphere around me when I am fishing a local stream/river or lake (especially after I've already had a couple of nice fish) I don't need to catch everything in front of me like a lot of other anglers do (and like I did when I was a lot younger).

I do however soon tire of fishing overstocked and overcrowded waters where everything can seem a bit too easy at times, and I much prefer to fish waters that have very few anglers fishing it, and where the fish can survive on the natural water life without having to survive on anglers baits and supplemented food at certain times of the year when anglers are staying away..

I also get fed up too easily catching tiny silvers that only grow to around 3 to 4oz, but if there is the occasional 10oz Roach or Rudd or bigger then I'm as happy as Larry.

Although very rare nowerdays; blanks are just part of the sport and as long as I have tried everything I can think of to put a fish on the bank I will still be enjoying myself.

If I do ever get into a rut and stop getting a buzz from the fishing I am doing (which is rare) I just try different species and places to fish, and being in a couple of clubs which have dozens of different waters to fish; then my options are many.

I just love my hobby and I don't think I will ever stop loving it as long as I can still hold a rod LOL.

Keith