Fishing: Art or Science?

[Drakeblake]

I've been wondering about this for a while now. Some people will conceder fishing an art because of all of the effort that goes into preparing your whatever.. bait lure or fly and so much time is spent to become good at reading water and casting. But at the same time how and when we fish depends on the sciences... the weather and temperature play a huge part in fishing along with what scents to use or what to fish with depending on water level and clarity. To me the act of fishing is an art while all of the logic and thinking behind fishing is very scientific. What do you guys and gals think?

-blake

[David Johnson]

I know it's both. For the reasons you expressed.

[wannacatchem]

Depending on the day, its either scientific art or artistic science :grin:

[Mad Mikey]

The scientist probably goes home with more fish, the artist gets stuck with memories......

[Get Bent]

FUN THATS ALL

[crabbait]

Juju!

[steelheadslayer]

Do we have to examine the experience. Can't we just go out and enjoy the outdoors. Catching a fish is great, but being on the water is what it's all about.

And yes, It's both!!! :grin:

[Silver Hilton]

"The unexamined life is not worth living." Don't know who said it.

There are pieces of both. I'm a scientist, and a bad one. I've got experiments and tests and numbers and results, and I get a few fish. But I've got a couple of friends who don't bother with that. They simply go out and hoover fish. They're artists.

I also know a guy who ties flies because the ones in all the stores don't have just the right color, ot just the right angle to the fibers in the tail, or some other reason. But it's really simply because he didn't tie them. He decries the term "artist". "I'm a craftsman, maybe. This is low art at best". But his flies have a specific (and, tasty) look and style that pushes the notion of simple function. I don't think he's an artist - I think he's a crank. But I like his style, and his flies work. Well.

I think art, by definition, has a uselessness that most fishing acts seek to avoid. Art seeks to decorate, a non-functional addition. In fishing, if it doesn't catch fish, we avoid it. That suggests craft or science to me.

[stlhdr1]

Both by far... :grin: :grin:
Keith

[Mojo]

It's Mojo!

[Steelie Steve]

Originally posted by Get Bent Tackle:
FUN THATS ALL

<font size="2" face="verdana,arial,helvetica">I agree Scott. For me it is just FUN. It's something I do to enjoy myself and this world we live in.

Steve

[Snapset]

Fishing is a science made completely unpredictable by Heisenbergs uncertainty principle. (Heisenberg was a second cousin to Leisenring, who never learned to mend his line on a dead drift).

If you ever saw me cast, you would never confuse it for an art, I promise you.

[rola76]

It's better than work...that's what matters!!

[Mark Vickers]

IMHO, its 100% biology. The catching fish is all about understanding the behaviors and physical needs that fish have and then preying on those insticts.

Now all the stuff around fishing can be considered art (rod building, fly tying, etc.) But this stuff is really just ancillary to the actual fish catching process as can be shown with the snoopy challenges.

Those folks that take catching fish to a level where it appears to be an art are just (sometimes unknowingly) good scientists.

[ 03-01-2004, 10:59 AM: Message edited by: rknh2o ]

[lost_sailor]

It's a STATE OF MIND

[articulate leech]

Fishing makes we weep, like art, especially recently, when the fishing's totally without a practical side: when on and on I don't catch any fish. This makes me want to cry sometimes. Does this make me an artist?

[happybrew]

The answer is "yes".