[soggy dog]

With 2008 going...I guess I'm getting a little introspective and anticipating the New Year

I used to hunt and sometimes play golf (hacker). If anyone wants a set of executive clubs let me know. I might save the sand wedge I won during a tourny. It might be useful on the boat...beating a nasty fish. Oh that's right, what about the gel-coat and deck

Why do we?

Buy all this equipment to catch a fish

Stay up late at night making sure evrything is ready to go

Get up early in the AM no matter what it takes to get out on the water (cold & wet doesn't seem comfortable)

Go from place to place burning fuel to catch, not fish

Put up with boat problems

Put up with tackle problems

Put up with inconsiderate Cpts.

Be always on the lookout for idiots and birds

Deal with the docking and securing the boat

Never get home when you thought you would (this might be because of the folks I fish with)

Any thoughts/comments would be welcome for my sanity

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 

[goinsfishin]

Cuz boys will be boys....gives us a chance to ride around in our shiny toys and BS with our buddies.

 

[arlington]

i fish because i am.​

b​

 

[crabby and son]

I fish because I can't dance!............Gary

 

[JimRockfish]

Because ...

- we have a short time on this earth

- the Chesapeake is a wonderful place to be

- the thrill of the chase... adventure

- a good reason to own a boat

- biology: in our genes (as men - survival trait)

- heritage; dad loved fishing; grandfather....

 

[smellslikefish]

The reason that I think I pursue fishing with a vengance is because:

When I was about 16, my (now wife) girlfriend and I started skiing.......after just a few seasons, it seemed I could'nt learn much more......I was shredding the slopes pretty hard, doing 360's off of moguls, ect and kinda lost interest.

After are skiing days, we got a couple horses, joined a horse club, and started riding with a fun group of people. We rode hard.......busting through the woods, crossing streams, swimming across streamed sometimes for 3-4 hrs. one way.......end up tying our horses up at a bar......hanging out for a couple 3/4 hr.s and then bust back to the campsite(the ride home was always quicker.........Still got the Nags, but our group has broken up, divorce, kids, serosis, ect and the fun is gone.

I've killed so many deer that they all look the same.........so hear I am......fishing.

Although I have fished all my life, the last few years I have hit it hard.......and there seems to be no end to pursuit. Different species, different techniques, different gear ect. And although, I know that I dont know all there is to know about skiing, horseback riding, and deer/waterfowl hunting, I think I could fish till I die and still only just begin to scratch the surface of the sport of fishing.

Bill

 

[trophypro]

I enjoy the freedom and the challenge. I like gaining knowledge and friends. I enjoy very much taking others out and being able to put them on fish so I can see the excitement on their faces!

 

[joemassi]

It is the thrill of victory (catching a fish) and the agony of defeat (getting skunked), the joy of being able to do something and show someone what you have done.

I enjoy the solitude and at the same time the company. I really enjoy getting out on the bay in my boat and setting my own schedule. I have found that if I want to talk with someone, they are usually only a radio call away, yet I always have the option of turning off the radio and enjoying what the Bay has to offer. I have met some of the friendliest and most interesting people while fishing. I have also seen sunrises and sunsets that rival sites anyone has ever seen, heard things I never expected to hear in my lifetime, and felt the sheer emotion of nature all around me.

I want to pass on what I have learned. My grandfather taught me well. I am now adapting to the Chesapeake what my Grandfather taught me on the ponds and lakes in Western Pennsylvania. I have taught those techniques to my son and at least twenty other boys in my son's Boy Scout Troop. Hopefully I will teach those same techniques to more boys, my grandchildren, and maybe a niece or nephew.

I love to play. Give me a new technique or gizmo and let me try to catch a fish. Ten years ago someone gave me a bobber with a brain to test. I tried that thing in several ponds. I had people looking at me like I was an idiot. The bobber with a brain is a foot long piece of plastic pipe with a ball in it. It is designed to put the bait about a foot off the bottom of the lake. Try throwing that thing from shore in a small pond while using ultralight equipment. I tell you what, it looks funny, but jaws dropped when I reeled in fish after fish from the center of that pond.

Leading to my last point. Stand on a beach at 8:00 in the morning while the tide is coming in to the beach. Tie a mullet that you caught in the surf with a cast net to a 4/0 circle hook strung from a 15 foot beach rod. Hook that 30 inch hammerhead shark and pull him into the beach while a crowd gathers behind you. Then go to dinner at 8:00 at night and listen to the coversations about some guy on the beach who pulled up a seven foot hammerhead shark. Tell me, who has to stretch the truth when you have so many people willing to do it for you.

 

[allfish]

If I wasn't fishing, I'd probably be doing something worse!

 

[Popster]

To while away the winter months, read Blues by John Hersey. It answer your question as well as it can be answered. The Zen of fishing. You should be able to pick it up on half.com cheap.

From amazon review:

John Hersey's book is a treasure. It is conceived as a series of conversations between an accomplished fisherman and a stranger, who, in the beginning at least, is predisposed to dislike fishing as a brutal pastime. But Hersey, page by page, chapter by chapter, lures the stranger (and the reader) into the deep mysteries of the sea and the complex world of ocean life that so many of us take for granted. The detail about the habits of fish, particularly the bluefish, is fascinating, but this is also a celebration of life and the way that man and sea are inter-dependent. Without being sentimental, Hersey teaches us what it is to love oceans, fresh air, and even the brutal cycles of life. If that is not enough, the book is sprinkled with anecdotes, poetry and recipes. A book that cannot but help you appreciate our oceans and John Hersey's skills as a writer.

 

[mosgo]

I am a fisherman because I was was raised on the water and It brings a side out of me that I can't explain. If it's tuna or perch I get the same feeling that I got when I caught my first fish. I never get tired of catching anything. This past summer All I heard on the radio was how much people hated the blue fish. I didn't really care it was something to catch. It wouldn't be fishing if you caught what you wanted every time. The Unknown is what I think is a very exciting part of fishing.

As my lifestyle has been extreme riding professional bmx, touring in band, and doing what ever it takes to get a rush,Nothing has gave me a feeling that "fishing" does.

It's pure love.

moses

 

[Capt. SeaWeed]

For some of us its just in our blood. I too have hunted, drank too much,chased skirts, ect. all in the name of fun. Them one day (i was about 10 yrs. old) I decided to do something that only men do. I knew that it took a real man to go day after day, spending all that money,all the probs.ect and not catch anything.YEA to me thats manly. and you?

 

[Capt. SeaWeed]

For some of us its just in our blood. I too have hunted, drank too much,chased skirts, ect. all in the name of fun. Them one day (i was about 10 yrs. old) I decided to do something that only men do. I knew that it took a real man to go day after day, spending all that money,all the probs.ect and not catch anything.YEA to me thats manly. and you? See you out there.

 

[tinmantoo]

fishin why

Orgasim on a stick tinman bel air

 

[rocksteady]

 

[jason norris]

I have a very stressfull job . Fishing makes all that go away. The worst tangle on the boat is better than being at work.

Good freinds

Excitment

learning EVERY time we go out

Plus tackle is cool sh** and I will never have enogh

The fish we catch probably cost 600 per lb after everything . I don't care the fishing is in my blood & I can't wait till my boy is old enough to go with me .

Lifes short fish hard

 

[mackaroni]

I think its in your blood or its not. If its in your blood and your Dad or a Friends Dad or a friend exposes you to it you are going to be doing it for the rest of your life to one degree or another. Same w/ hunting. Awful lot of satisfaction in running your own boat, finding, and catching fish.

 

[JimRockfish]

Many people spend their entire life working for and dreaming about owning waterfront property. Few get it... unless you fish.

 

[AIK68J]

I was lying in the hospital 40 years old waiting for the dx of C (I never had the chance to do what I read about everyone saying when I was 10 or my dad uncle etc.. took me or I went or in my blood) My son (one of the toughest kid I know no one I mean no one is born 1lb 11 oz 13 inches and lives without a determination streak) said to me "hey dad why don't we go fishing??? I said "WTF why don't we go fishing. "
So I met with some cool people WAF, UBBB Countless people on the board and now I know people. I grew up alone and would be damned if my son would have to go thru it. When he is on the water he is totally diffrent the disablities are gone and his dad is so proud. Maybe one day he will write my dad took me fishing because I asked or even tell his son your goofy grandpa took me fishing just like I am taking you.

 

[joemassi]

Some have the desire, some do not. I see that in the Boy Scouts. I try to do three or four boys at a time. A lot of times the ones that have it help the ones who do not have it. Of the ones that have it, I usually get them on my boat in the summer. I never see the ones who do not have it again.