Of all the hobbies that people can have, fishing has to be considered one of the most relaxing. As many people who indulge in the hobby will tell you, fishing isn’t just about catching fish. That’s just a by-product of the whole process, which is about spending a day out in nature and taking your mind off the everyday drudgery of work and gossip. There are plenty of people on hand to give you that advice, though – almost fifty million people go fishing each year in America alone.
If you’ve never given it a try, but you’ve always wanted to, there’s probably a reason for that. You might not know how to get involved, where to go, or how to avoid making yourself look like a complete amateur. Nobody wants to look a fool, and so it can be easier to avoid an activity altogether than to do it and run the risk of doing it badly. Everyone who goes fishing was new to it once though, and most people are happy to assist others. The best thing to do is to find yourself an experienced fishing buddy who’ll show you the ropes, but if you want to have a few practice runs on your own first there are a few things you might want to know – so we’re happy to point you in the right direction!
- Be Patient
It would probably be more accurate to call the hobby ‘waiting’ than ‘fishing,’ given how little of the time you spend fishing you’ll actually have a fish on the line, or even the hint of one. Fish don’t just start jumping out of the water the moment they see your line. When it first goes into the water, they’ll see the disturbance as a threat and swim away from it. It takes time to coax them back again.
Because of that, you need to be prepared to be very patient. If you catch a fish within the first ten minutes of putting your line in the water, you’ve been extremely lucky. The most important thing is not to get tempted to move, and cast the line again. Fishing is not like playing mobile slots, where success comes after you put money into the slot over and again until you get a win. Fishing and playing slots on mobile do have a lot of similarities – in both cases you’re putting a little something into the activity to get a larger reward in return – but fishing is more like placing a long term bet and waiting for it to pay off. Repeatedly casting the line like repeatedly playing the same stake on websites including Amigoslots.com isn’t a good strategy.
- You Don’t Need Expensive Lures
Many websites offer expensive lures to put on the end of your rod, and try to convince you that the lure has special properties which make it more likely that a fish is going to appear on the end of your line. We don’t want to call them liars, but there’s no evidence that spending more on a lure makes it any more effective than buying a cheap one. Not only that, but you lose lures all the time. They snag and disappear below the surface regularly. You’ll only be annoyed at the cost of replacing them when that happens.
You may want to consider not using lures at all, and using live bait. Granted, live bait is smellier – especially if you’re using something like maggots – but you can always take a shower when you get home! Popular received wisdom from experienced fishers is that prawns or shrimps are the best bait to catch most freshwater fish with.
- You Might Need A License
People get caught out by this all the time. Just because there’s a body of water near you and nobody seems to own it doesn’t mean that you can just turn up with a chair and a rod, and get to work. In the majority of locations, a permit or license is required before you can start fishing. This is usually because of rules about how many fish can be taken from a particular area on a particular day, and also ensure fair treatment to all the people fishing in a certain location.
The last thing you want to end up with is a fine for going fishing. Always thoroughly research the rules for any location before you go, and be prepared to apply and pay for a license if one is required.
- Wear Sunglasses
Nobody notices this until they’re told it, but most people who go fishing wear sunglasses, or at least some form of glasses. This isn’t because they’re all channeling their inner rock stars, and it’s not just because they want to be able to see what they’re doing when the sun’s up (although that does help). There’s a very important reason for it, and it’s to do with safety.
Fishing hooks are small, and casting can go wrong. We can’t even begin to imagine how painful and dangerous it is to get one in your eye, either from your bad casting or the bad casting of someone near you. We don’t want you to find out either. Wearing sunglasses eliminates this risk. On top of that, you’ll look cooler, and that’s never a bad thing.
- Know What You’re Fishing For
By this, we don’t mean ‘fish.’ Fishing isn’t just a case of putting the bait into the water, and catching a fish. The fish in one stream or lake are often completely different from the fish in another fish or lake, and two species of fish are no more alike than two different species of dog. You’d approach an Alsatian differently to a beagle, and so you should approach perch and carp differently, too.
Knowing what’s in a body of water before you fish in it is helpful – and thanks to the internet, it isn’t hard to find out. Your fishing strategy should vary depending on what you’re fishing for. What time of day are the fish most likely to be there? Do they sit high in the water, or low? Where do they like to gather? What bait are they most responsive to? These are all things you should know before you set off.
Above all else, enjoy the experience. If fishing is stressful, or disappointing, or unfulfilling, you’re either doing it wrong, or it isn’t for you. If it is, though, you’ll be surprised how quickly you fall in love with it. In fact, some might say you’ll be hooked!
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