ONE FACTOR that makes an angler enjoy the sport of fishing has to be the unpredictable nature of it. And that makes it a challenging task of sorts.
Fishing is unlike many other sports such as golf or bowling, for example. I’m not saying golf and bowling are easy, I know they are not as I’ve been crazy about them before, but fishing is a whole different ball game altogether.
There are the many variety of target species requiring all sorts of different tactics to target them. They live in all manner of habitats. Some inhospitable to humans.
The mind-boggling array of tackle or equipment to suit the fishing conditions let alone the myriad selection of baits & lures that catches both fish and fishermen.
Plus add to the fact that our intended quarry tends not to stay put in one place and has inborn survival instinct, I’d say that’s what gets us hooked and keep coming back for more.
Furthermore fun is a funny thing. If something we do becomes easily predictable then the fun factor decreases real soon. Some days getting the fish to bite can be hard. But on another day they seem to oblige ever so willingly.
Weirder still some days the fish seem to only bite one particular person’s bait! And that is precisely what happened to Alan last weekend during one of our quickie-fishing session.
No matter what the rest of us threw at them they just don’t seem interested. And here we have Alan casually walk up to the first spot and in less than 5 casts WHAM! a good sized fish chomps down his brand new Lucky Craft lure! The rest of us have not even started fishing yet.
Latest FAD “Fish Attracting Dude”
He caught & released another one about an hour later. When Ed & I were thinking of calling it a day, no prize for guessing who casually walks up beside us, put on a lure that he said he has never used and in 2 cast caught another fish where we had been casting without a single nudge let alone bite.
Ten casts later he caught and released another fish from the same spot.
We packed up and left after that. That’s fishing.
Thanks for the article featuring muah.
You are right on the money. The numerous variables to solicit a strike from the intended quarry are very alluring. In many ways, the fish is also ‘catching’ the fishermen and we are simply reciprocating. We hunt it with lures, and it hunts our lures. C&R is the only way to keep this viciously enjoyable cycle going.
I don’t feel so bad having to turn a fish into a meal if I get the chance to release a few back.