Toggle Nav
Friday Funny... 10 Reasons To Go Fishing
1.) The Take This is that heart-stopping moment where the peace, tranquillity, and silence are broken and you become connected with something wild and raw, even if you almost wet yourself with excitement! It feels like an electric shock coursing through your body and all your senses become heightened, fuelled by pure adrenaline. Those first few moments when you respond to the shrills of your alarm or the dip of your float and pick up a rod that has a feeling of solid resistance – that’s pure magic.
2.) Your Health In a nutshell, I think it’s safe to say many of us would be dead if we didn’t go fishing!
3.) The Quarry Roach, tench, bream, pike, perch, mirrors, commons, fully-scaled, linears, and even koi! Our quarry comes in many shapes and sizes but they are all perfectly beautiful ‘prizes’. It’s a privilege to be able to observe and catch these masterpieces of nature. Each fish is unique and has its own character. Their grace and elegance, as well as the joy they bring, demand that they should always be treated with the upmost respect.
4.) Nature When we’re out on the bank we experience nature at its best and most pure. Those magical sunsets or the first few precious hours where night ebbs away and is replaced by the sun illuminating the sky – these are sights we are privileged to behold. As anglers, we’re immersed in the British countryside’s flora and fauna. From the iconic image of a kingfisher sitting on your rods to the first lambs of spring and the first snowdrops or bluebells, angling gives you the time to appreciate nature and escape from the sterile urban concrete madness, for a few hours at least.
5.) National Security To put it simply, without fishing I think many of us would have resorted to murder by now! Everyone knows there’s no fishing in prison, or so I’m led to believe.
6.) Achievement That feeling of finally landing the fish you’ve spent years chasing, driven hundreds of miles for, and spent hundreds of hours obsessing about. The sense of accomplishment and achievement can be enough to bring even the most hardened of anglers to tears. It’s like that feeling you had when you caught your first fish – the wonder, the excitement, and the amazement are all rolled together into a big ball of emotion. I liken it to how a caveman must have felt bringing home a kill to feed his family – a total and utter feeling of satisfaction and a buzz that lasts for days. Just don’t get too cocky because the next blank session is looming for sure and it’s a cert to make you feel like a total numpty again.
7.) The People We are all part of the same brotherhood of anglers. I have met some of the nicest, funniest, and outright craziest people I’ve ever met while out on the bank. I’m proud to say (I think) that most of my best mates are anglers. Every type of person from all walks of life can be connected by this wonderful pastime. As an example, a thirty-year-old half-Afghan/half-English lad is writing this piece for you now. Fishing connects people and, whatever stage you are at on your angling journey, you can rest assured that you’re bound to meet some true characters and lasting friends on the road ahead.
8.) Fishing banter Along with the people comes the banter, like having your bivvy turned around at night and only realising you’ve been stitched up when you run to your screaming alarm and are met with the back of your shelter instead of an open door. This is just one example of the sort of banter I’ve been subjected to in the past. Being ribbed when you’ve cast in a tree or gone over your wellies when netting a fish is all part of the fishing scene. Nicknames and jokes are never far away so never take yourself or angling too seriously and, above all else, enjoy it.
9.) Peace Work, family, and finance are three big modern-day stresses. Carp fishing takes you ‘back to basics’ and the stress of modern day-to-day living is replaced by an undisturbed peace. We’ve all been there: one minute you’re stressing about this or that but the instant you take the kit out of your car and head to your chosen peg your mind becomes totally one-track (maybe two-track if you know what I mean!) and you are focused on nothing but catching a fish. The sense of peace is amplified by the environment as well as your single-minded objective. A less fancy way to express this is there’s no bloody work and no-one to peck your head! It’s a Get Out of Jail Free card.
10.) There are too many fish and not enough time! A wise old carper said to me when I was starting out that “you never regret a second spent fishing but you regret every second you could have fished but didn’t” and, in my opinion, there was never a truer statement made.
I could go on and on but I’m sure you don’t need any more convincing!
