I think we sometimes take this whole fishing thing too seriously and that’s quite a statement coming from someone who is seriously addicted to that next piscatorial fix. I have spent years chasing fish of dreams and don’t get me wrong I love to get a big fish on the line and admire it before slipping it back into the watery dimension. But fishing is about far more than fish, its about the chase and as the lyric goes; “The Chase is Better than the catch”.
Last week we fished Anglers Paradises Lure Fishing weekend. The weather was generally dark and gloomy and fish hard to find. Looking through the pictures of the event I noticed something quite striking in the smiles of grown men clutching tiny fish. In amongst the egos and tales of big fish there shone that childish delight that true anglers never lose.
Close to fifty years ago I watched a crimson topped float bobbing optimistically about in Mill Pond at Berrynarbour.
I watched for hours in anticipation delighting in its disappearance as a tiny perch devoured my worm or maggot impaled upon my hook. Fortunately that same joy can still be found in the catching of a fish.
Bigger may well be better but in essence its all about the chase and the expectation.
A few weeks ago I stood waiting for the start of a competition; the fifteen minutes until cast off seemed to last an eternity the following five hours evaporated in a flash. The line in the water is connected to another world strange how this connection is so essential.
