There's a time and a place for hard work, and there's a time and a place for just hanging out with friends and going fishing.

I've heard a few people I know claim that they've never understood fishing, and they can't seem to fathom why anybody would do it. To them, it's a lot of nothing. In this post I'm stepping well outside my comfort zone and addressing why this person needs to go fishing most out of anybody in the world.

Actual Work

The most obvious angle to take is that of tradesmanship. Learning to fish gives you a backup way to support yourself in almost any area that has a large enough body of water. Of course, this resource is not infinite, but it can be enough for a person to feed themselves in hard times.

Beyond this, though, there's a certain amount of patience and diligence that fishing will teach a person. It's not always easy to find the right spot to catch, and even if you do, fish are creatures too and can be just as wary of an ill-hooked worm as you would be. There are also just off days and spots where the fish don't like to hang around for one reason or another. There's nothing wrong with having a short patience, in many places fishing won't test it very much at all with the right combination of bait and available fish. Even this, however, can teach a person the value of attempting something they may not succeed at.

As recreation

There's a certain amount of connection that you can form with a person by fishing with them. Being patient with line and hook is a sign of a patient, collected person. When you hook a bush or snap your line, you open yourself up to the other person and show them who you are, too. Because it's a calm, relaxed setting, people will tend to let their guard down as they fish, and simply soak in the meditative atmosphere.

Even more so, fishing is a low-stress activity, something that anybody of any age can enjoy. A six-year-old and a 96 year old can both sit at the same shore and connect as friends or family just by sitting and letting the time pass.*

With a little patience, you'll succeed more than you fail. Maybe that's a metaphor for life?

* As an aside, who doesn't like the look on a kid's face then they've just caught their first fish?