TUTORIAL[1]: Why fish?

Have you ever seen a child in an excited state, after having caught a tiny weeny fish in the pond? Or a cricket in the grass? In a sense, there is a certain purity in that kind of joy, a brief moment of happiness. Fishing for us adults, is a return of that state of mind, the momentary achievement of an unexpected reward in the simpliest sense. It is a reminder of who we are, and how little things can truely make us happy.

Fishing is many things to others. Some find it dirty, smelly and only for the old and retired folks. To some, a rich man's hobby to go out on a big cruiser boat and fishing in the big ocean. Like many hobbies, fishing can be a cheap or an expensive one.

Some would even find fishing is a cruel act. But catching our food to eat cannot be any more cruel than what other predators do in the food chain. How can a predator eating a prey in the nature of life be cruel? In a very primitive sense, it is what we are suppose to do. The food we buy from supermarkets are all some form of killing. Where there is a need, someone will do it to supply for a fee. Being not the person doing it, does not make us an innocent bystander.

Humans are in no matter how we disguise it, a predator. Fishing connects us to this process of the hunt, getting the fish, and eventually eating it. In a sense, it makes us go through the very basic and fundamental role of a human being. This process is a basic building block of life, and if living things don't eat one another, we will all simply die. Every living creature subscribe to this law, and we humans are no different.

However, killing for food is one thing, but killing in a senseless manner, should not be encouraged. If we don't need, set it free. This is just being ethical when comes to fishing. It is part conservation, and part of being kind.

Fishing always give a good excuse to be near to the sea or lake, and be at places that are away from city living. That sort of alleviates our stressful lives around concrete buildings, and it is something that we should do often just to get away. As part of the "hunt", fishing folks are explorers of places to just find that good spots where all the fishes are congregating.

Another positive effect of fishing that I find is that it connects people, especially families together. It is great family fun, and fishing together can be a memorable and cheap activity, an alternative to going for expensive holidays. How would you ever forget the time when you landed the big one? A picture of this deserves a rightful place in the family photo collection. The other side effect is that there would always be plentiful of fresh fish to eat. :)

There is something nice about holding on a rod, and just waiting for that tap beneath the blue sea, underwhich you totally have no idea of what is below. It is the thought that just maybe, you would get something good, something memorable. As a friend said, "you never know what you will get". I think that aptly sums up what fishing is about. It is the part of casting out your lines and hope, and in return, a reward may be waiting. And for folks that do it often enough, every once a while, good things DO happen. Just as in real life.