Why do we do what we do?

[Perfect Drift]

List the reason we fish-hunt-camp-boat
the sunsets/sunrises
share with friends/family
I fish, there fore I am

[FishinMission]

I think for me... it's just being out there enjoying the usually fresh air, the elements, the water, the scenery, the company, the relaxation, the fish.......I always forget about life's "dilemma's" when I'm out there.

[ampersat]

i go to work on my casting and i like tieing the knots. it must be that because i haven't caught a one since february but i'm out there every weekend, sometimes much earlier than i really care to get up on my days off.

but seriously, somehow, i feel that's where i belong.

[Phish_on]

I like the places where fish live.

[alwyze fishin]

Well I guess it would be to get me way from the wife

Just joking

The main reason is I like to be out their and enjoy the peace and solitude

FishinMission has it nailed exactly! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Now yall' anchor somewhere else,
ya hear? Huh Mission? LOL.







[ 07-11-2001: Message edited by: ****** ]

[Salmonator]

I'd have to say I do it for the eats! Not just the edible critters in the fishbox but the early morning doughnuts and coffee [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Thumper]

I dunno why I do it. Fishing is a total waste of time. I am the world's lousiest fisherman. No skills at all. Rarely catch a fish, and only then when one is suicidal. It is ridiculously expensive. I would be better off taking up golf.....But I would die without it.

[pirk fan]

Totally different from the artificial world where I work. I like to think that what I experience when I'm in the out of doors is reality, and what I do for a living is just a way to support that reality.

[Catch 22]

When I was a kid, I never really understood why my father would get up at dark for the chance to catch a fish. Now I pull into his driveway at dark waiting for him to sneak out and go with me. It's a sickness; an addiction. Drugs I could kick, but fishing? Not a chance. Who'd want to? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[rob allen]

I fish cause nothing else in life really matters.
The traditional 9-5 5 days a week 1 week of vacation per year. worrying about your job worrying about making house and car payments. Working over time so you can move to a nicer neighborhood.
Thats insanity if you ask me. I am poor. And if the price of having money is what I stated above I thank God I am poor.
The way the world runs is stupid I only go along with that as much as I have to. The rest of the time in this single mans life is fishing. Nothing else makes sence.

[Deepslayer]

I fish becuse I love it. [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]
I love the taste of fish. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
I love the comraderie. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
I hate yard work and housee repairs. [img]images/icons/frown.gif[/img]

[Trick]

My wife tells me I have an illness??? [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[Sliderite]

Sunrise in the boat and the sound of the water..mmmmm!!!
There is nuthin'like the sound of water before you can actually see the drift in thee early morning darkness. Also knowing that at the worst, you are going to have a great boat ride.
The comraderie(?) sometimes when you go down and ask what is going to do it and what isn't.
Also the osprey that picked up a trout six feet from my left DB bow one sunny morning from a huge dive bomb and caused me to duck and drop the oars while plugging. Coooool!!
What a rush that was!
Mostly, to see the beauty and hear the sounds of silence other than the birds and the water current.
Beauty meets intensity of the moment!

I really couldn't give any one reason but I'll try to list them.
1.I love the water whether it's a river or the ocean I couldn't bear not to be near water. That's why I'm as far east as I'll ever be and my plan is to move ever west.
2.Comraderie! Just fish with people like RT,Mark Anderson, Marty Peterson, ******, Bev and Dot or Kim K. some time and you'll see what I mean.
3.The challenge! There are fish that are easier to catch than salmon,steelhead or trout but none as rewarding.
4.The opportunity to acquire new toys!!!!!
Stew

[ 07-11-2001: Message edited by: BIGSTEW ]

[local_hooker]

Just being out there. Even if I get skunked I still have a great day.

[ 07-12-2001: Message edited by: local_hooker ]

[IAMFORELK]

When I'm out on the water fishing, I don't have a job, I don't have bills, I don't have problems, I don't have.....(you get it)

[FEAR NO FISH!]

There is no better rush than having a tug on the end of your rod! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] I am trying to eradicate the species off the face of the earth [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] Will have to try the planet Mars next. I heard they have a huge salmonoid run on the underground rivers. Book now to avoid the rush! [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[Get Bit]

This quote seems appropriate for this thread: Hope you enjoy !

I fish because I love to.
Because I love the environs where trout are found, which are invariably beautiful, and hate the environs where crowds of people are found, which are invariably ugly.
Because of all the television commercials ,cocktail parties, and assorted social posturing I thus escape.
Because in a world where most men seem to spend their lives doing what they hate, my fishing is at once an endless source of delight and an act of small rebellion. Because trout do not lie or cheat and cannot be bought or bribed, or impressed by power but respond only to quietude and humility, and endless patience.
Because I expect that men are here for the last time and I for one do not want to waste the trip.
Because mercifully there are no telephones on trout waters.
Because only in the woods can I find the solitude without the loneliness.
Because bourbon out of an old tin cup always tastes better out there.
Because I might catch a mermaid.
And finally, not because I regard fishing as being so terribly important, but I suspect that so many of the other concerns of men are equally unimportant and not nearly so much fun.
Judge John Voelker
Mighigan Supreme COurt

[Pilar]

"And from the Sea each man may find new hope"

I go there because it's bigger than me. If there is a supreme being that's where it lives. When I say I'm going to church, I'm not kidding. Nothing will still your inner turmoil like dawn at sea. At that moment all the 'other' things that eat your life seem so trivial.

Go there and see what I'm talking about. Watch out, you might get religion.........

[THE REEL HEY_YALL]

Fobbman: aka Heywood nailed it on the head the other day over at Bob's.

Meditation

It is a form of soothing meditation for me. Becoming one with all that's around me: mentally, physically, and spiritually. How else could you truly appreciate it unless you think like the animals, put your butt in the location that the animal is at, and then to thank God for all the beauty around you. No matter how miniscule the scenery may be. This is the discovery channel, real-life.

[4Salt]

Because the voices in my head tell me to! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

I like what Pirk fan wrote; "Totally different from the artificial world where I work. I like to think that what I experience when I'm in the out of doors is reality, and what I do for a living is just a way to support that reality". I like it not only because of it's truth, but because it flies in the face of the an*l psychologists that tell us we do things such os fish to escape reality - bullsh*t!

I do it because I love the beauty of the outdoors, the camraderie of friends when they are doing what we love, and I like the thrill of catching (and occassinally eating) good fish.

I also like Michigan Judge Voelker's wisdom. And Fobb/Yall's take, and many other's reasons posted here. They are reflective of how I feel. This is part of why we have a fortunate community here.

RT

[Osprey]

I do it for the Chicks [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Chicks dig the Longball [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] ...Os


Lone Survivor Idaho Grizzly Artifical Insemination Team

[Hummingbird]

Everyone who has replied to this topic all have one thing in common. It is in your Heart to fish !! It is part of your character and part of What God's Message to us is. To enjoy Life to it's fullest.
I fish because it's a magnet, to feel my freedom and at the same time thank God for all the things in life he has given us. Don't mean to get all religious on ya but, it's out there where we find it and it put's us at ease and peace with ourselves. We all have it pretty good here in the NW and we should be thankful we have the opportunity to go out and fish. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] Peace and Tight Lines . Come on Big Blue!!!!! Tom

[Snapset]

Y'all have covered the Thoreau/Longfellow angle pretty well. This is my angle:
Conquest and Seduction, Lady Luck at the end of my line.

[Pete]

Every post so far hits part of what keeps me fishing ... the places, the gear, the friendships, the challenges. I see images and recall events that would never have occurred without fishing; a bald eagle swooping just 10 feet over my head while playing a steelhead on the Toutle before the mountain blew, catching a rainbow, a brown and a cutthroat from the same pool in a Montana stream, my first steelhead on a fly on the Deschutes, 4 steelhead on the first night of my honeymoon on the North Umpqua, my first journey into the salt on my own ... it's the experience.

[Mr. Fisherman]

Cause a bend in my rod gives me a tingley feeling that I just love! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Why? Why not! Because it is there!

I can't imagine not fishing and getting in to nature. Now I've found "Religon" Brother Pilar, can I get an Amen? [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

Ain't no way yer gonna get it from my blood now.

I just got back from a fantastic trip and now after all this talk I just want to turn around and go again.....

Hmmm....

How to forge a kitchen pass......

[ 07-12-2001: Message edited by: Mr. Fisherman ]

[DF]

I fish just to get on the water. I love the water and being out here on the Columbia. And I am love boats. I dont know why but I just love em. Most of the time I just sit out there and look at boats. This.. is why im going into the coast guard.

Great Topic [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Gone Fishin]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>O the gallant fisher's life,

It's the best of any!

'Tis full of pleasure, void of strife,

And 'tis beloved by many. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Taken from The River Why quoted from Izaak Walton.

Pretty much sums it up! [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

-Marty

[Crusin]

Fishing for me is like taking a walk down memory lane, I remeber all the things I havent thought of in years, some good and some bad, fishing lets me face another week in the world...

[HOGTIDE]

Maybe just an over all appreciation of, and admiration for, nature keeps most of us addicted. Watching mist rise off of an early morning river or lake.The purity of bubbling water that rushes past boulders and ledges. The anticipation of the power of a tide change and how it makes your bait spin or wiggle. Seeing gulls crash the salty surface and just knowing whats going on beneath, that makes that happen. Tuning into nature's clock of sunrise, sunset and tidal flow...and realizing how it has little connection with the clock on your wrist.
...watching a chrome fish hitting the deck, and choosing to sit and admire it's beauty rather than rushing to sack it. ...it's an appreciation.

[ 07-13-2001: Message edited by: HOGTIDE ]

[bait boy]

I am a believer in the church of the bent rod. I fish and will continue to fish until they have to pry my fishing rod out of my cold dead hands. I will have died knowing a life full of beauty and granduer and knowing that another fisherman will step up to take my spot in the good hole. Sometimes I ask myself why, I don't like that much fish. the answer never comes to me though. My answer is usually in the form of someone saying "hey ya wanna go fishin?" my steadfast reply will forever be, "what time, where, and what are we fishin for!!!!"

Ray, Here's your AMEN

[Pilar]

I second that, Amen!

Life is short, fish hard.

[WaterDog]

Gotta agree with whats been said. The sunrises, sunsets, friends, memories, challenge, nature. Getting "out there" makes this life worth living. Imagine if all you had to look forward to is going to work and watching TV.

AMEN!

[Sliderite]

The anticipation the night before for the day ahead. It is more than the trip itself...it is before, during, and after with the memories. Aside from the nature and beauty, the rush of the hit and the somewhat trembling hands when the fish is in the boat.
It is the enjoyment on the plate as well.
You almost never feel bad after a trip but usually will if you don't take that trip!

[ 07-18-2001: Message edited by: Sliderite ]