Why do you fish

[Joe Angelucci]

It's funny, I've been reading the posts over the last few weeks and I'm amazed at the level of detail I've seen in the common pursuit of out favorite fish. What I have not seen answered or asked is why we fish. 

I fish for the simple joy of a pull at the end of the line. I don't care if it's two inches or two feet in length. The simple act of slowing down my life to fish is at least in my mind the important thing. I try to keep my fishing simple since the rest of my life is anything but....

Just a thought 

[Nathanael Deloach]

Great Question Joe, As I thought this one out I found it was actually hard to put it into words....

The initial driving factor to get out fishing is the passion that just burns inside of me. I can't drive by any body of water without trying to diagnose where I think the fish are located based on what I just saw. Sometimes it feels like a disease that I just can't get rid of... in some way's it's actually more like a cancer....

But what keeps that passion from turning into an obsession is being able to share my skill and experience with my friends, new folks who have never fished before and most of all my family.

 What keeps my head up and prevents my eyes from doing nothing but scanning shoreline for blue gill cover or studying my map to find the next under water structure is the beautiful warm sun as it peaks over the trees in the morning, or the magnificent Bald Eagle as it soars over head.

And most importantly what keeps me from worshiping the creation that I pursue with such passion is having a relationship with it's Creator. The desire I have ultimately points back to Him and His Glory, not it's own. I am grateful that he has given me this passion to play and share in His creation. 

It's hard sometimes to keep the priorities strait when this cancer of fishing runs through my veins but ultimately it surrounds me with so many good reminders of what's really important that it keeps itself in check with it's own cure.... 

If any of that makes sense, that is why I fish....

[carl hendrix]

EXCELLENT DISCUSSION JOE!!   and to add to my comment-- having to work like i did ---  time to relax-- take it easy and enjoy life!!   i dont care if i catch one- or a hundred--  but it sure is nice if i do!!  main thing is--  enjoying the day ;; hoping to meet new friends!!!

[Mike Martin]

Like several others here I started fishing, at my wife’s insistence that I start a hobby that was something other than working, as a stress reliever. 

I loved it and I enjoyed fishing with my wife. Again like others here I started simple, made it complex and have returned to simple in the past few years.

There is nothing like getting out in the morning on a quiet lake with your favorite fishing partner with a thermos of hot coffee anticipating that first hook set.  

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

     Genesis 1:28      LOFR

[Andy is OptiMystic]

It's my favorite "nothing"...

“What do you like doing best in the world, Pooh?"
"Well," said Pooh, "what I like best-" and then he had to stop and think. Because although Eating Honey was a very good thing to do, there was a moment just before you began to eat it which was better than when you were, but he didn't know what it was called. And then he thought that being with Christopher Robin was a very good thing to do, and having Piglet near was a very friendly thing to have; and so, when he had thought it all out, he said, "What I like best in the whole world is Me and Piglet going to see You, and You saying 'What about a little something?' and Me saying, 'Well, I shouldn't mind a little something, should you, Piglet,' and it being a hummy sort of day outside, and birds singing."
"I like that too," said Christopher Robin, "but what I like doing best is Nothing.” 

"How do you do Nothing?" asked Pooh, after he had wondered for a long time.

"Well, it's when people call out at you just as you're going off to do it, What are you going to do, Christopher Robin, and you say, Oh, nothing, and then you go and do it.” 
― A.A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner

[Jorge Betancourt]

Fishing has a lot to do with memories. From your first time out to the big one that got away. Make memories with friends or with nature but its something that will stay with us forever.

I remember being little I would go swimming in the streams in CA and would make a pole from a stick and some string. I would carry a small hook or 2 and use a rock has my weight. Using bugs on the banks and I would go at it. I would catch everything from small bass to bluegill to crayfish sometimes.

I will never forget those memories and with some time I hope to share those with my son has he gets older.