You may be wondering why someone would like fishing. What is it that send thousands of fishermen to the lake with eyes full of wonder? You have several reasons that people like to go fishing, and I’m going to outline some of the biggest reasons for why people like to hit the water with rod and reel.
Being in Nature
A lot of fishermen like to be out in the boat and casting a line because it feels good. You have all of God’s glory all around you. Being on the water surrounds you with beautiful water and different surroundings depending on the lake you go to. The coolest thing is how every lake will be different. You don’t have a single lake that will be the same.
When I first started deer hunting with my brother, he told me, “Scott, getting a deer is only the gravy. The best thing about hunting comes from sitting out in nature and enjoying your time.” as an ignorant 15-year-old kid, I didn’t understand his words, but now that I’m 27, I’ve learned the real meaning of my brother’s wise words.
Being out in nature feels great, and one of the coolest things comes from how the scenery changes with every lake that you visit. You might have a lot of houses on one lake while another lake has a beaver dam out in the background and the glory of the American woods.
When you crank a beautiful fish into your boat, there’s something so exciting about it all.
The Mystery
You might be wondering why fishing is fun. It’s fun because of the mystery that comes with catching each fish. I like to fish for sunfish because of how there’s always been something so satisfying about watching my bobber go underwater. You never know what you might have hooked at the end of your line or how big it will be. While you catch a lot of sunfish when fishing for them, you also catch bass and perch and bluegill. You never know how big any of these fish will be.
That’s the biggest thing that makes fishing fun. You never know what will happen.
Doesn’t Cost A lot
You can make fishing as expensive or as affordable as you’d like. This awesome activity doesn’t cost much to get involved with. All you need is a tacklebox and a fishing pole. You can always choose to get a boat and other things, but you might choose this later once you have gotten started with it. Also, don’t forget to get your fishing license. You need to have this before you head to the water, but it doesn’t cost that much.
Not a Steep Learning Curve
When it comes to simple and straightforward hobbies, you can choose to make this as deep on learning or as simple as you want. You don’t have to do much to catch fish. In fact, all you have to do is cast out a line with some bait on it and wait for the fish to bite. A lot of this comes down to luck like playing the slots at the casino. Sometimes you will get lucky and other times, you won’t catch any fish.
However, the biggest lesson here is that you don’t need much to get started as a fisherman, and it won’t take you long to learn it. That’s one of the reasons that it has become so popular. While you have a lot of tips and tricks that can help you to catch more fish, I’ve known a lot of people who never got that deep into it, and they were still catching plenty of fish.
Time to Bond with Your Buds
Let’s say that you just started the sport of fishing. You don’t have a lot of experience with it. Your buddy has a boat and a lot of knowledge of the sport. You talk to him, and as you’re out on the waters, you’re bonding and learning more about how to catch more fish.
You set memories when you go fishing with your buddy. I like fishing because of how there’s something about being out on the water and having a good time with friends. You could take your son too for a family bonding moment.
Your Investment Lasts
Fishing acts as the type of sport where your tacklebox won’t go out of style anytime soon. In fact, anything that you have will most likely be good to use for years to come because this type of gear doesn’t get old. Your investment has a strong foundation to where you won’t have to go out and buy another one a year later.
In fact, it won’t have an impact on the function of the gear either. I know some fishermen who have tackle from back in the 1980s that they still use today, and it works just as good for catching fish.
Relieves Stress
A doctor once told my dad to take up fishing as a way to relax after he had received a diagnosis for lung cancer. That’s how my family got into the sport. I will tell you that several hours out on the water feels relaxing. You don’t have any worries in that time because you’re just out there focusing on trying to catch fish.
Throwing in a line and taking in the beauty of the surroundings never gets tiresome. It hands you an awesome escape from everyday life. Not to mention, if you head to the water early in the morning, you will most likely be the only person out on the water. That can be really peaceful.
In being out on the water, you can rebuild your personal reserves through interacting with nature in a way that will be a lot of fun.
Conserves and Preserves Nature
As a wildlife management tool, fishing helps to support fisheries and wildlife. When you take out some of the fish from the wildlife population, you help to conserve it over the long term. Not to mention, when you buy a fishing license, it goes toward helping to conserve wildlife.
Anglers have a vested interest in taking care of the environment and teaching people to take care of the environment helps to make it more beautiful for everyone. Over a decade ago, fish were getting over harvested, and they were suffering the harmful effects of pollution.
Today, people have taken an increased interest in taking care of the environment because we’re more environmentally conscious.
Fun Way to Exercise and Lose Weight
When you’re out in the boat, standing up and casting a line, health experts estimate that it burns 200 calories per hour. Not to mention, you burn these calories without even noticing that you were burning them because it’s more fun to be out and active on the water.
After you have caught the fish, you have the added benefit of eating them. Eating fish can be exceptionally tasty, and it has some health benefits from the Omega-3 fatty acids. To sum up some of the health benefits of eating fish, they include:
- Healthy for the heart
- Healthy for the brain
- Prevents and treats depression
- Excellent source of Vitamin D
- Lowers the risk of autoimmune diseases
Memories: What Life is Made Of
Memories make up the content of our lives, and we want to set as many good memories as what we possibly can. Being out on the water and cranking in a walleye in the fight of its life can be one of the most exhilarating feelings.
The best way for you to set memories will come from having friends and going out on the water. In addition, these might be friends that you may not have spoken to in a while, which has the added benefit of letting you catch up.
The memories that you set will be fun, and they will last longer than any of the fish that you may have caught in the process. I still remember some of the awesome memories that I had from fishing with my parents when I was three or four years old. I loved everything about the lake including the smell of the water. I can still remember some of those fishing memories so vividly.
For Adventure
With anything in life, you can make things as much fun or as little fun as what you want to make it. I would always advise erring on the side of making things adventurous and pure joy. Fishing is no different. For example, when you go fishing, you might start a plan for taking an annual fishing trip to somewhere unique.
To give an example, you might go fly fishing in the Smoky Mountains, or you might head to Alaska to cast a line in the Great Alaskan Wilderness. Many fishermen have developed a reputation for being adventurers because of how they like to take great fishing trips to strange and exotic places. Nothing is out of the question. You could go fishing for giant catfish on the Mekong River, or you might head to the Nile in search of the elephant-snout fish or the water leopard. The possibilities are endless.
Great Joy in Self Reliance
Anyone who has never had the experience of self reliance can start to get a feel for it through fishing. You learn how to put food on your table. At the same time, you learn about the great struggle between man and nature for man’s ultimate survival.
At times, fishing has brought me closer to nature, but even writing on this blog has helped me to take a greater interest in topics like survivalism. Learning how to take care of yourself can add to feelings of competence and help your self esteem shoot through the roof.
When you master an outdoor skill and achieve your personal goals, it leads you to a wonderful type of fulfillment that you can’t get anywhere else. While many people have talked about how nature is scary and only the strong survive, one of the great things about surviving is that it means you were among the strong.
I also have to emphasize how few things feel more satisfying at the end of the day than bringing home some freshly caught fish to fillet them up, put them in the fry pan and cook them. Nothing feels better than knowing that you have succeeded.
Teaches Your Kids About Nature
You may look at the sport and wonder why fishing is fun. It can be fun for a lot of reasons like the thrill of the hunt, but it also has some wholesome benefits. Taking your kids along on a fishing trip can be an incredible experience because they bring a life to fishing that adults usually won’t.
In taking your kids along for fishing, you can teach them some of the most important lessons about life. They will learn how to put bait on a hook, and they will learn how to hook a fish and bring him into the boat. Not to mention, all the fun that you will have in between this. I used to do nightcrawler races when I got bored and play with the caught fish that we had in the bucket.
Gives You Time to Think
For anyone who has been out on the water with a hook in the water, they understand how fishing gives them the time to think deeply on subjects that they may not have thought much about otherwise. I like fishing because of how I like to think deeply on things. I might think about my life, I might think about some of life’s bigger questions. You have time to think when out in a boat.
Competitive Element
I almost forgot one of the most important elements of fun fishing, which comes from the competitive aspect of it. You can have a lot of fun through getting into the competitive aspect of fishing. When I’m out in the boat with my friend, I’m thinking of how I can catch more fish than him so that I have bragging rights about that time that I skunked my buddy fishing out on Lake Vermilion.
You can’t even overestimate this aspect of the fun because the competitive element seems to be present whenever you go fishing with a friend.
Get Some Solitude to Refresh
A lot of people don’t realize it, but they can use fishing to get some much-needed solitude. While you have lakes where you will have a lot of activity with other fishermen and leisure sports out on the water, you can head to one of the more secluded streams in the mountains of Canada for a great fishing adventure. A fishing trip like this can leave you feeling refreshed because of how you spent time having fun out in nature.
Fishing calls people to it for different reasons. You might have one person who likes this sport because of how it offers him time to relax out on the water. Meanwhile, you have another person who likes fishing because of how they can socialize with friends and family and set the memories of a lifetime. Long after you have picked the meat off the bone of the last caught fish, you will have memories with your friends that you can always look back on.