To spend their weekend, lots of people choose to go fishing. But isn’t it the laziest thing in the world? All they do is cast their bait and wait to get a bite. Where’s the fun in it?
With thousands of people going fishing on a regular basis all year round, no doubt fishing is popular. But why do so many people like fishing? There’s more in fishing than meets the eye.
Fishing is a great way to relieve the stress that you accumulated during the week. It is one of the sports that is perfectly compatible with family and friends. Thus, a way of socializing is also productive.
It is good for health, true. But some people like fishing simply for the fun of it. In a way, it is like a card-collecting, deck-building game of patience with the essence of gambling.
To be frank, It is not that easy to pinpoint why people like fishing. There are hundreds upon hundreds of reasons.
Reasons Why People Like Fishing
If you ask a number of people, chances are you will get an equal number of unique answers. Here are some of the reasons that are more common and widespread, and everyone can relate to a certain degree.
1. Stress Relief
No matter what you do for a living, over time, it will accumulate stress and start to fatigue you and burn you out. That’s just the nature of working. That’s why weekends exist.
While some people prefer to tuck into their houses and not worry about the world, some prefer to go out there for an activity that is interactive enough to distract them but not enough to require focus and attention.
Fishing is exactly that sort of sport. Fishing is not all that simple as many people think. You got to do some research on the fish you want to catch like, where to find them, when to find them, what kind of tackle and bait works for them, etc.
And not to mention planning the trip, getting the arrangements, and finally going out there. But at the same time, none of the parts are too tedious to create stress of their own. It is all worth it when you get the bite and ultimately pull in a fish.
All in all, it is a great choice of activity to sit back and relax most of the time with a seasoning of thrill when you get the fish you sought after. A large number of people choose fishing for this purpose.
2. Socializing
Fishing is a great sport for socializing as well. You can invite a friend or take your family on your fishing expedition. All of you can expect to not only have quality time talking, hanging around, or chilling together but also get something out of it at the end of the day.
We all want to see our loved ones at week’s end and have some quality time and quality conversation together. For that, we do need to meet somewhere. If you are all into fishing, you can arrange the hangout somewhere away from the city, where there’s not much to worry about.
Even if everyone is not into fishing, you can still introduce them to it. Chances are, they will enjoy the time and like the activity. And you’ll end up having a fishing buddy. In short, fishing is a way of socializing while being productive at the same time for many people.
3. Recreation
Okay, so fishing is enjoyable when you are burnt out and when you want to get along with buddies. But you don’t have to be burnt out to enjoy fishing. It has enough spices in it to be enjoyable at any point, at any age.
One can participate in the activity as soon as and as long as one is strong enough to manage a fishing rod. With the enormous options of gear to choose from and countless species to seek after, you will never run out of new things to do.
In short, regardless of your age, background, and personality, as long as you can make time for it, there’s a chance that you will end up enjoying the time you spent fishing. That’s what a lot of people do—the fish as a source of enjoyment, recreation.
4. Health Benefits
When you go fishing, you are always spending at least a few hours sitting by a lake or river, doing nothing other than looking at the surroundings around you or reading a magazine. You can also go for fishing with a kayak or boat.
The whole time, you are getting exposed to the open air, the freshness of the shore, and natural light. All of those are good for your health. More likely than not, you will be camping someway away from the city and away from any major road.
So, the time you will spend fishing, you will be resting away from the noise and pollution that you are used to. Your body could totally use the refreshment to boost your health and immunity.
As a bonus point, the fish that you catch will make a nice dinner at the end of the day. You can rest assured that the meal you will be having is safe and not treated with any sort of preservative or medicine.
Whether you fish or not, you cannot deny the health benefit of fishing. That is the driving factor for a portion of anglers to go fishing.
5. It’s A Deck-Building Game
In a sense, fishing is a game. Unlike the fishing simulators, real fishing is done in real-time. Even if you are not into gaming, bear with me here. Let me explain.
Fishing, as a sport, is a combination of games from multiple genres. For starters, fishing can be compared with card-collecting, deck-building games.
But instead of collecting all the different cards, you are collecting the different fishing gear such as tackles, lures, rods, and whatnot. The more you have, the more options you will get to build your deck/rig and the more types of fish you can handle.
The latter part of fishing, the actual fishing part, is like gambling. You are rolling a slot machine. Most of the time, you will get nothing, but some of the time, you will hit the jackpot.
After you cast your bait, you never know when you will get the next bite. It could take less than a minute; it could take an hour. When you do get a bite, you don’t know for sure what it is.
You pull it up blindly. And still, you don’t know for sure whether you can pull it up or not. But if you do hit the jackpot, which is a trophy fish, it could just be the fish of a lifetime.
To some individuals, it is the essence of why they love fishing. Whether for the deck building, or the thrill of gambling, it keeps them going.
Conclusion
The exact reason why people like fishing is not an easy answer. There are as many explanations as to the number of anglers. For professional anglers, it is simple; they do it for a living. Competitive fishers mostly do it for the competitions and the major tournaments. But casual anglers, that is where the reasonings go crazy.
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