Warm weather comes, as usual, once a year and some seniors opt to sit around in retirement and play cards or knit. Others don’t. Some may want to learn how to get wet and catch fish and become involved in all the rituals and debasing situations it puts them in. Why do it? It has been said, half the fun of fishing is just relaxing outside on or near the water. Of course, the other half is maybe catching a fish. If there were a third half of the fun and an encouraging reason to do it, it would probably be a great opportunity to join friends in telling fish stories. And anyhow, what’s the difference between being laid back in a lounge chair in front of the boob tube, or laid back somewhere pleasant with a line in the water? It’s worth an examination.
For starters, don’t be put off by tackle shops full of incomprehensible equipment or the misgivings that you can handle all the baiting, casting and hook removal with the proper gear. A tackle box the size of a Buick filled with wondrous and magic objects is not needed … so they say … but will come when you start to suspect the fish are smarter than you. A simple rod, reel, line, hook, bobber, some worms, and a six-pack will suffice to go fishing: You know, just like when you were a kid and dipped a hook and line dangling from a broom handle into the local creek. It’s easier than it looks. Probably the best approach is to stop the time machine, become a kid again, and make it your whole new world.
Then you must consider there is fishing, and there is FISHING. So what method will you use, and for what kind of fish, and where? These are important questions to deal with. It looks so easy on TV. There’s the guy wading in the middle of a river snapping his rod and line and fly across the water like graceful painter; the Huckleberry-Finn-type kid seated on the end of a pier with his line just hanging down while he’s eating his sandwich; a well-tanned and macho chap positioned at the rear of a large craft with his line splitting the ocean in the boat’s wake; and the cool cat leaning back in a small boat in the middle of a lake or bay with his line following any current that occurs. Which one will be you?
This is where geography and economics factor into your fishy decisions: Salt water or freshwater? How far do you want to travel? Is this a once-in-while hobby or are you building an alter ego? Do you want to fish every-other weekend, 100-days a year, or every day? What kind of fish do you like to eat (assuming you bring home the keepers)? Do you even like to eat fish? Are crappies worth the trip? Can your freezer hold a marlin? Are there enough catfish recipes in the world? Will others in your household put up with the live butter worms or smelly bait you’re storing for future use?
If the mystery and seduction of the oldest woman in the world, Mother Nature, doesn’t drag you to the old fishing-hole wonderland, then the poetic and vibrant names of the lures, spoons and flies may do it: Twitchin’ rap, deep tail dancer, skitter pop and skitter walk, glass fat, pearl redhead, buck-a-boo, tiger tubes, flirty girty, black gnat, and so on. These are names that will stick to you like a fishhook caught in your collar.
The fishing rod has one quality it won’t fall under: short. They are long poles that must be strong enough to pull in the biggun’. They’re made of split cane, high-modulus graphite, fiber carbon, titanium, fiberglass, and materials so light you don’t even know it’s there. Reels come in styles for casting, flying, trolling, saltwater, and pulling your truck out of a ditch.
You don’t even want to get into the names and descriptions of the fish in the world without first having an acute dedication to this project.
Of course, what would fishing be without a few secret tips and techniques? For that, you must turn to a handful of experts, and they can be found everywhere and under any rock while looking for worms. Ask any of your friends, they will know.
Special techniques must be learned, like, tying the fisherman’s knot. How to bait a hook is an important thing to learn. They say, once you get past the slime and wriggling, the tricky part of baiting a hook is getting the worm to stay on. Good Luck! Knowing how to cast might be necessary. Everyone casts a bit differently so don’t be too concerned about form. An over-the-shoulder cast is traditional, but a sidearm cast keeps the menacing hook farther from your face and the seat of your pants. The point of any cast is to get your bait where you want it … near the hungry fish.
The last and most basic question that must be answered and implemented before this new venture, ‘The thrill of the first catch,’ is, ‘how much do you want to spend on a rod & reel, on a boat, or boat and trailer?’ Nothing is cheap except that broom handle and the fish tales.