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Why Do We Fish? 4
Blog by: Lloyd Tackitt , TX 2/16/2014 (Return to blogs)
Fishing has a multitude of elements of pleasure. Some of those elements are:
Being outdoors. It may be on a crowded public lake, or you might be miles from the nearest person, but it is outdoors, in the weather, surrounded by nature's finest attributes. Scenery may or may not play a role, you might be on a mountain stream with snow-capped peaks surrounding you, or you might be on a lake in the desert with nothing more interesting to look at than sagebrush. It makes a difference, but only a small difference. The pleasure is in being outside.
Fishing takes your mind away from your day to day worries. While you're fishing you're not worrying about how to stretch a finite pay-check to pay seemingly infinite bills. You're not thinking about that squeak in the wheel bearing in your car. You're not obsessing over the last meeting you had with your boss and what he said to you. You're not thinking about anything other than fishing, and those thoughts sit lightly on the mind.
There's that outstanding moment when you feel a fish strike your hook, that sudden pull that sends an electric current from your arms to your brain, that surge of adrenalin that always follows a hookup, and the release of endorphins after you take the fish off the hook.
There's that other outstanding moment when you hold one of God's - or nature's (depending on your own views) - creations in your hand, that wild and beautiful animal that rrived in your hands at the end of a fishing line.
There's that satisfaction of putting it on a stringer or letting it go. Either action is satisfying to a great degree. If you put it on the stringer you know you are going to enjoy world class dining on just about the last form of food that comes from the wild, hasn't been injected with hormones, hasn't been fed commercial foods loaded with anti-biotics, that has texture and taste that can not be approximated by store bought fish. If you release it you have the satisfaction of watching it swim away, to breed another brood, to be caught by someone else some day, to perpetuate the fishery in a sustaining way.
There's the satisfaction of coming home physically tired in a good way, and mentally relaxed in a great way. Of settling down into that favorite chair and feeling that warm buzz that comes from a day outside doing pleasant things.
And there's more, lots more.
Blog content © Lloyd Tackitt
Comments
Catman1979
02.17.14 12:53 AM
That was very well written Lloyd. I agree in regards to that feeling of harvesting a meal. Here in Colorado we have a continued need to respect our waters and preserve what we have. A lot of folks are adopting selective harvest, and that I respect as well. As someone that lives by those rules, I sometimes wish I could harvest certain fish more. When respected and prepared well, fresh caught fish is beyond a doubt the best you can have, and that too is a part of the overall picture. Now I just need to learn how to hunt duck, and I will be complete.
IceFishingFool
02.17.14 8:03 AM
Reading these words Lloyd, takes me back to when I was guiding with my brother in Montana's back country, While I was left in camp by my self for 3 days, I decided to go exploring (which could have been a big mistake) I discovered a high lake. The impression it gave me was, that I was the very first person to see it. It was later discovered it was not on a photo taken from the air.in 1943. Albeit small it did have fish in it. Truly a gem of the creator.
To this day I think there have only been 5 people to see it, The natural beauty is forever etched in my mind. I once said to my brother, it was too bad a road was not made to the area. His reply?, are you crazy ? It would be ruined !!
Upon the last visit we made sure to erase any signs that a person had ever been there.
opencage
02.17.14 12:09 PM
Well put as always Lloyd, thanks.
About the Author
I live on the edge of the Brazos River. I walk out my front door and into the river and - boom - I am fishing just like that. For me the river is fascinating. The mile long stretch I fish is a microcosm of the river, I have it all in that one mile. Trying to figure out where the fish are, what they are doing, why they are doing it, what they are biting, if they are biting - this is what keeps me in the river casting flys. I fly fish almost exclusively. It isn’t that I am a fly fishing snob, it’s that fly fishing works – it’s effective - and it has added benefits. I carry all my tackle in a vest, no tackle box needs to be dragged along. The casting itself is fun, even when I don’t catch fish I’ve enjoyed the experience of casting. Fly rods enhance the experience of bringing fish in. I like the hands on the line feel instead of the feel of line spooling up on a reel and muted down through a gear and crank system. Fish fight better and feel better on a fly rod. Fly fishing just feels better to me than other methods.