
Go Fishing - never-the-bride
http://theweek.com/articles/780681/fishing
======
hoorayimhelping
I grew up fishing, skateboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, playing baseball,
playing in bands and generally getting into trouble as a younger man. I still
surf and skate and wakeboard from time to time and I'm generally amazed at how
friendly, welcoming and uncompetitive anglers are. I very rarely encounter any
"get off my wave" type attitudes, it's mostly people asking how it's going or
telling me what bait is and isn't working. I've had more friendly
conversations with strangers with a fishing pole in my hand than I have with a
drink in my hand. What a relaxing way to get away from the computer and
screens.

If you're interested, there are some great youtube resources for learning how
to fish. I'm a bass fisherman so I'd recommend looking for videos and articles
from bassresource, tacitcal bassin, and flukemaster. For anyone interested,
bass fishing is a much more active form of fishing than most people imagine
fishing to be. You're actively casting and retrieving rather than tossing a
line into the water and waiting. Here's a video of a really great good ole
Alabama boy doing some topwater bass fishing:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvP0GBBiaLg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvP0GBBiaLg)

Edit: I live in New Jersey about 10 miles outside of New York City and fish
for bass nearly every weekend. I've caught bass in Central Park before. There
are fish in nearly every park pond across the country.

~~~
Trundle
Lure fishing "cast and retrieve" as opposed to waiting is very common and not
at all just a bass thing fyi. Maybe it has something to do with the particular
species here in mid east coast Australia but fishing stores have tons of space
dedicated to lures.

I remember fishing as a kid, my dad would be bait fishing while I lure fished
because bait was super boring.

~~~
girvo
Same in NZ. Cast and wait is what we did as 5 year olds, but once we were
older we had lures and better rods and reels and it was a lot more fun. Also
caught more interesting fish!

------
colordrops
I spent a lot of time fishing as a child, as my father was an avid fisherman.
Some of my best memories are of stream and lake fishing in the Sierras, tuna
fishing off boats in Cabo, and bass fishing of the coast near Del Mar.

And yet I can't get myself to do it as an adult, even though I have two young
children who I know would love it. It's with very mixed emotion that I decide
not to go. My social circle finds fishing repugnant, and while that's a
factor, I could just do it and not tell them. But there is also the aspect of
hooking a fish and dragging it in for sport. I eat meat and don't even find
the act of fishing particular offensive, but I guess I do have some buddhist
sentiments lurking in the back of my mind. It seems that if I wish to harvest
fish I should do so in the quickest and least painful way, and not as a sport.
I do wish I did not have this lingering concern as I would love to go fishing
without guilt.

I do not take offense to anyone else fishing for sport, so forgive me if my
comment sounds judgmental, as that is not my intent.

~~~
everdev
I grew up fishing as well with the same wonderful memories, but can't enjoy it
with my kids for the same reasons you mentioned. There is something beautiful
about the slow, patience of fishing that feels refreshing. I just can't
imagine someone stabbing a metal hook through my cheek and dragging me out of
my home. But I'd love to find an activity that feels similar to fishing
without enforcing my dominance over a wild animal.

~~~
te0006
Try sailing. No need to have an expensive yacht - a sailing dinghy or a humble
daysailer will do. (In fact, the smaller the boat the more direct and intense
the experience will be.) Older but perfectly usable small boats are
surprisingly cheap. What you do need of course is a quiet stretch of water,
preferably without too much other maritime traffic. Read up a bit and have a
try yourself, ideally on a smaller lake during a light breeze. Perhaps using a
rented or borrowed boat first.

And if fiddling with sails is not your thing, or your area has only rivers but
no lakes, canoeing can be very relaxing too. Today you can buy light but
sturdy inflatable canoes made from hi-tech drop-stitch material that take just
10mins to deploy.

Of course, even when the risks are minimal, always think about safety - life
vests etc., especially in case you take children with you.

------
clay_the_ripper
I think the author that captures fishing best is Hemingway. If you’ve never
fished, or never quite got why fishing might be enjoyable, I’d highly
recommend ‘Islands In The Stream” by Hemingway, or his collection of short
stories “Hemingway on fishing”.

He does an amazing job of making the reader “feel” what it feels like to fish.
Fishing is all about how it makes you feel (IMO). It’s less about the
technical aspects of rods and equipment and strategy (as it might seem to a
non fisherman, since fishermen tak about this stuff incessantly) more about a
state of mind that no other activity can emulate.

~~~
vram22
Another interesting book about fishing by Hemingway is "The Old Man and The
Sea".

I read it as a teenager.

Googled it now because of your comment.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_and_the_Sea](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Old_Man_and_the_Sea)

Only now did I get to know this about it - from the Wikipedia article:

[ The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel written by the American author
Ernest Hemingway in 1951 in Cuba, and published in 1952.[1] It was the last
major work of fiction by Hemingway that was published during his lifetime. One
of his most famous works, it tells the story of Santiago, an aging Cuban
fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream off the
coast of Cuba.[2]

In 1953, The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction,
and it was cited by the Nobel Committee as contributing to their awarding of
the Nobel Prize in Literature to Hemingway in 1954.[2] ]

~~~
thermalgobshite
A book I love (and that's saying something because I never got the whole love
of reading) is "The Young Man and the Sea". I have no idea the author or
relation to Hemingways work, as I've never read "The Old Man and the Sea".

~~~
vram22
Interesting. Will check that book out.

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brootstrap
Love fishing, slayin bass, rentin a crappy boat and drinkin zodes is an IDEAL
time for me. One of the best parts is that you can catch 'real' fish and have
a good time with crappy walmart rods. I think 50 bucks is probably enough to
get you started. It aint for everyone though. my love of fishing started as a
young buck exploring my neighborhood with other dudes, finding little ponds
etc and trying to catch anything!

~~~
abenedic
I can agree with most of this, but what is a "zode"? I grew up in the mid-west
and have never heard that term.

~~~
yurishimo
Maybe they got an autocorrect for “sodas”?

~~~
0xdeadbeefbabe
Nah, probably something out of H.P. Lovecraft.

~~~
dsnuh
Something tells me that "zode" will mean "beer" if we are talking about
fishing...

------
mlindle
No other activity settles my mind quite like fly fishing. Contrary to popular
belief, fly fishing’s primary objective is to catch fish, but I have to admit
that perfecting the cast sometimes takes most of my focus. If I’m catching
fish, great! If not, no matter, I’ll be enthralled with trying to gracefully
land a caddis imitation 40 feet away over and over and over again. Once I
picked up a fly rod I never looked back. The casting is pure poetry.

~~~
shireboy
Fellow HN reader/fly fisher here. I tie my own flies as well. As a friend once
said - you get to work on these flies through the year as a way to do
something fishing related when you don't have time to fish, then when you
catch a fish on a fly you tied you can tell it "I started catching you months
ago."

~~~
vanattab
You should try building your own rod as well. You can do it pretty cheap and
it's a he'll of a good feeling when you get that fish on your own rod and fly.

------
aphextron
My favorite part about fishing is that it has nothing to do with catching
fish. As a catch-and-release fly fisherman, the entire point of the exercise
is in matching the hatch, tying a perfect fly, perfecting your cast, having
the perfect presentation, and finding the exact right riffle. At that point,
actually hooking a fish is just a side effect of what you are already doing.

~~~
1996
Then why not practice without a fly - with just a pole and a line?

You would not bother any fish, and you would derive as much enjoyment.

(I am not into fishing so I may be missing something)

~~~
vanattab
I often do basically that. I love fly fishing the pond on my parents property
but the weeds and algae blooms make cleaning the hook annoying chore every few
casts. So I just cut the hooks off. I have fished that pond so many years I
just don't really have any need to reel in a fish there. I know exactly how
big of bass and bluegill the pond supports and simply love perfecting the art
and watching the fish slam the flies I learned to tie by catching the insects
I have seen there growing up.

~~~
1996
great! I do not know fishing (I just tried for a week with my grandfather) but
I can related to watching the fish almost jumping out of the water!

------
callmeed
Used to fish a lot in my teens and twenties. I liken it a lot to golf in that
its a great _waste-the-day_ activity that can be enjoyed alone or with
friends.

Fast-forward several years and I don't fish much now. Last Fall I took two of
my kids up to Central Oregon to camp for a week and watch the solar eclipse. I
had never taken them fishing as I figured they'd hate it in this age of
instant gratification mobile devices. Nonetheless I decided to drive to
Walmart, buy some gear and spend half a day fishing in the river.

We did. They loved it, proclaiming "Dad this is so fun. Why have you never
taken us fishing before?!"

We didn't even catch anything.

------
andrew_
"If it were easy, it'd be called 'catching'"

\- Papa, and every grandfather, ever.

------
kajecounterhack
I got hooked a few years ago and started recording information here:
[https://fishing.github.io](https://fishing.github.io)

Too bad the bay area doesn't have great fishing. You gotta go up to the delta
/ clear lake. Palo Alto even has a "Palo Alto resident only" lake.

Deep-sea/surf/pier/lake/pond/river/stream fishing each have their unique
challenges. Also contrary to popular belief some styles / quarry don't require
extreme patience.

------
opwieurposiu
A bad day fishin' beats a good day workin'.

------
Ocerge
Maybe it's because I grew up bass fishing and associate it with good times
with my dad, but nothing centers me quite like finding calm water and throwing
a jig or Texas rig for Largemouth. I'd suggest it to anyone; don't knock it
until you try it. It's my #1 de-stressor.

~~~
sumobob
100% Moving away from the midwest its one of the things I miss most

------
jboggan
Spearfishing fits into this narrative of escape as well, but to a greater
extreme. It's really changed my life since I started two years ago and being
thirty feet under the waves stalking in a kelp forest on the weekends affords
me an incredible reserve of patience in the workday world.

------
hashkb
> One thing that keeps many people from fishing is the simple fact that they
> have never done it. Indeed, I think it is probably the only reason, apart
> from vegetarianism. (If you do not eat meat or otherwise object to taking
> the lives of gill-bearing aquatic craniates, there is always catch-and-
> release.)

Fishing is one of the cruelest things I can imagine doing to an animal. The
closest way I can put it to a human is... imagine thinking you're about to
bite into an apple and then being yanked, naked, into outer space by a metal
hook through your face.

It's significantly more cruel than instantly ending the life of a cow or
chicken, even if you catch and release. Just go sit in a boat and do drugs or
something.

~~~
nurettin
Is it ok if other animals do it?

~~~
veli_joza
The "ok" doesn't exist, just moral/ethical standards we set for ourselves. We
could go by nature's standards but we can also do better (social care is nice
to have).

The practice of taking lives for pastime doesn't sit well with my ethical
beliefs for two reasons: the first is empathy for another creature, and the
other is I'm uncomfortable with destroying something so complex for no real
benefit to me. It's like a child destroying sand castles others have built,
amplified thousand times.

~~~
nurettin
A lot of people need fishing to survive (I've done it while living at a shore
village near armutlu) so I'm not sure how imagining being shot into space via
a hook solves that problem.

Sounds more like first world problems.

------
cloudkj
I've been fishing for a few years and learned mostly on my own by scouring
forums plus lots of trial and error. I've always likened the draw to be
similar to the problem solving nature of programming and engineering in
general, and have always wondered if there are other engineers that enjoy
fishing. From some of the comments here it looks like there are some, but not
many.

I've actually created several pieces of fishing software, for personal use,
such as a journal/logging app for recording outings (locations, conditions,
results, etc.), a crawler/scraper that extracts EXIF location info for good
fishing spots, a notifications app for ideal fishing conditions, etc.

~~~
wj
I owned a domain for a couple of years with the intent to crawl Flickr for
fishing photos and to link them on a map. Never got around to it though. A
shame as I feel like it would have got me fishing more often.

~~~
cloudkj
For me, I've never been able to get over the internal conflict of wanting to
build a useful tool like a map of fishing spots and releasing it openly, with
the downside of good fishing spots getting overrun should the tool become
popular. I also started working on a similar idea as yours a couple years ago,
but for Instagram instead. It turned out the GPS tagging on Instagram was
fairly inaccurate, and sometimes intentionally misleading, especially amongst
anglers who tag incorrect locations since the number one no-no is spot
burning.

------
buttercakes
Funny. Just saw this omw to bed before I totally blow off work tomorrow to
take a newbie floating down a PNW river in my driftboat in search of his first
steelhead.

------
PaulRobinson
Angling is the most popular sport in the UK based on participation numbers. It
is televised at least once a year as a legit sport.

However, The Compleat Angler is a different kind of fishing, and what the
author of the linked piece is alluding to is a little harder to come by these
days.

I live < 5 minutes from the Thames. I'm about 30 minutes walk from Teddington
Lock where the Thames stops/starts becoming tidal. This area was once
inhabited by Alexander Pope and he referred to it as "Arcadia". There is a
corner in the river near me, the view of which from a hill on the opposite
bank is protected by an act of Parliament to this day.

I have never seen somebody fishing down there. What's more, it's way too busy
to be able to catch fish or enjoy the solitary lifestyle an angler might be
hoping for.

I'd love to know why anglers avoid it. I'd love to know where they go instead.
As a man about to turn 40, perhaps I would like to learn to fish myself, and
spend the odd weekend or even mid-week day (yay for flexible working), sat
next to the water, quietly awaiting a fish.

------
jhoh
I really love fishing. It has become something like a tradition for the guy-
part of my family to go on a fishing trip every year and spend some weekends
at a nearby river.

Fishing taught me many valuable lessons in my childhood and youth. I remember
countless hours of fixing my rod after casting into a tree, days without even
having something nibbeling when all you want is finally catching a fish and of
course loosing a fish right before you get it out of the water (some of these
memories are still painful today). But all that didn't matter when you finally
caught that huge beast.

Early on I learned the value of patience and delayed satisfaction, how to
manage anger and defeats, and using trial and error to solve problems (not
catching enough fish). It also gave me a perspective on what it really means
to eat animals. When you kill and evicerate your first catch, meat stops being
something you just buy at the super market.

------
bambax
> _One thing that keeps many people from fishing is the simple fact that they
> have never done it. Indeed, I think it is probably the only reason_

I have tried fishing a few times, and found that it isn't for me. I'm
extremely bad at it. The whole setup is very clumsy and difficult to transport
by anything but a car, and it's all quite boring. If the point is sitting on a
chair in nature while reading or having a beer then fine, but fishing doesn't
look like a useful addition to that kind of setup.

Also I don't enjoy the idea of hurting wildlife (I'm not a vegetarian but kind
of wish I would be).

~~~
gadders
"Fishing" isn't really one thing. There are a lot of different kinds to try.
My preferred kind is fly fishing for trout. You are constantly casting and
retrieving so unless you're in a boat there is no sitting down, and being able
to cast is an art in itself.

------
mirimir
OK, another way, involving nothing but your hands: tickling.[0] But catching
fish by hand is iffy where other animals might bite off bits.[1]

I first read about this in Abercrombie's First Law trilogy, about Logen
Ninefingers (not a fishing accident).

0) [http://www.cracked.com/article_19236_6-tricks-that-let-
you-c...](http://www.cracked.com/article_19236_6-tricks-that-let-you-control-
animals-like-beast-master.html) [#5]

1)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noodling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noodling)

------
cm2012
I'd rather play WoW with my wife if I have free time and want to escape.

~~~
throwaway080383
And hey, you can always go fishing in WoW.

------
jraph
"there is nothing better than being in or near water with a long stick
attached to some kind of cord."

Yoga or meditation could? (in a quiet area with water if you like)

I guess this is difficult to totally order set of possible activities by their
goodness. Activities each have their strengths. But I'm uncomfortable with
qualifying an activity that involves purposefully hurting or killing living
beings good. There must be better ways to spend one's life.

Instead of catching fishes, start catching ideas! Write, paint or draw near a
lake! :-)

------
dreamcompiler
I can't understood the appeal of fishing. I grew up fishing with my
grandfather which was a lot of fun, but since then I've always found it mind-
numbingly boring. When someone takes me fishing now (or to a baseball game,
which is equally tedious), I always bring a book to read. I wish I could tune
in to why people like these activities, but I seem not to have the gene for
it.

------
DyslexicAtheist
Whenever I hit a creative drought, I go fishing out on Black Lake. Yeah, with
the wind in your hair and the water flowing. It's perfect for inspiration.

It isn't about fishing, we ain't been fishing for years now. Old Neville over
there, he's never been fishing. It's about telling the tales. You got to set
the scene, spin the yarn. That's what fishing's about.

------
a-b
I like this Bay Area guy
[https://fishermanslife.net/](https://fishermanslife.net/)

------
AnimalMuppet
Steven Wright said, "There's a fine line between fishing and just standing on
the shore like an idiot." I was always just standing on the shore (or in a
boat) with a rod in my hand, like an idiot. So, yeah, fishing isn't going to
do it for me. Ultimate frisbee is pretty good, though...

------
kbutler
>There is nothing worse than sitting at a desk all day. And there is nothing
better than being in or near water with a long stick attached to some kind of
cord.

Hiking along that water - that can be wonderful. Just leave the fishing pole
to people who care.

------
singularity2001
"once the most widely printed book in English apart from the Bible" I've heard
this distinction for so many books now, there must be a list somewhere.

~~~
mallomarmeasle
I'd love to see that list as well. I imagine that in different times and
places that this factoid has been true for a number of books. I read the same
thing, and find it very believable, about "Dr. Chase's Recipes"
([https://www.ebay.com/bhp/dr-chase](https://www.ebay.com/bhp/dr-chase)). I
tend to see copies of it more commonly than Walton's book in used book stores
in the US.

------
tomdre
Any recommendation for fishing around the Bay Area? I read that the water's
quality of nearby lakes and rivers is pretty low.

~~~
l4yao
All along the Bay Area coast, you can catch surf perch, striped bass,
dungeness crabs, and many more. Pacifica Pier and Half Moon Bay jetty are
popular spots that doesn't require a license, but please make sure to read up
on CDFW regulations.

I would highly recommend Kirk Lombard's "The Sea Forager's Guide to the
Northern California Coast" It details a lot of the species of fish around the
bay area, and also non fish species that are foraged like clams and seaweed.

Here's a summary of regulations for the Coastal waters of the Bay Area
[https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Fishin...](https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Fishing/Ocean/Regulations/Fishing-
Map/San-Francisco)

~~~
nanomonkey
I second the suggestion for Kirk Lombard's "The Sea Forager's Guide to the
Northern California Coast". One of the most entertaining books I've read in
awhile.

Kirk also does tours, sells what he catches and has an entertaining youtube
channel.

------
starpilot
It's kind of boring. Fine for a diversion to get away from a desk, I can't
imagine it as a lifestyle though.

~~~
wedn3sday
Im with you on this. Ive been fishing a couple times, caught some dinner, but
I've never felt the urge to go fishing. Lots of more fun active outdoorsy
things to do that satisfy all the wanting to be out in nature, but are also
active and exciting and fun. Might just be sampling bias, but all the people I
know who love to fish are in no shape to climb a rock wall.

~~~
cm2012
Being fit is not the most important thing in life (Overweight, but not obese
people, have a higher life expectancy than standard weight people.)

------
singularity2001
Counterargument: If you sit all day at the desk you should seek an _active_
hobby in your spare time!

------
jessaustin
It seems based on this thread that lots of HN people expect tastes (in
activities or in foods) to be universal? They're not! Everyone in my family
loves fishing; I can tolerate it if I'm spending time with them or if there is
boating involved. Yet I'm perfectly happy sitting for hours in the cold woods
waiting for a deer to wander into range. It doesn't mean that I'm right or
wrong or my brother is right or wrong or whatever...

If you have a strong opinion about eating or not eating fish or meat harvested
in one fashion or another, that _also_ is a matter of taste. You and everyone
around you will be happier from the moment you accept that.

~~~
curun1r
In general, I agree with you, but there are degrees of morality. I hope most
would agree that someone who's tastes include hunting endangered animals
should not be accommodated. Likewise, if you were to go fishing in someone's
koi pond or go hunting for a buffalo that someone was raising on their land,
you'd also be rightfully punished.

So it stands to reason that all of these "tastes" exist on a spectrum from
morally repugnant to the Buddhist practice of refusing to kill anything. And
while we all draw our own line on that spectrum between what we consider
acceptable and unacceptable, society will also draw that line and consider
some of those activities to be illegal.

~~~
jhbadger
I think the Western myth that Buddhists are somehow all peaceful people who
wouldn't hurt anything is debunked by events in Sri Lanka and Myanmar. Yes,
you can say "well, the Buddhists who attack minorities aren't True Buddhists",
but that's the "No True Scotsman" fallacy.

~~~
curun1r
Just because not all Buddhists live up to it doesn't make it not a Buddhist
practice nor a "no true scotsman" fallacy. The fact that it's part of Buddhist
teachings and _many_ Buddhists do live it does make what I said correct.

