FisherWOMAN

One of the recent hobbies I’ve picked up is fishing. Yes….Fishing! It may sound a little odd and boring to most, but it’s actually the exact opposite. I’ve found that fishing is a great escape from the real world and all it’s worries.

As I mentioned before, I’ve only recently started fishing. I think one of the reasons I became “hooked” on it is because of my first experience. You may be wondering why I actually started fishing in the first place. Well, it all started with my boyfriend. He’d been trying to get me to go fishing for a while, but I was reluctant. Honestly I was a little afraid fishing would be boring. However, after he went shopping with me, watched the movies I wanted to watch, and came to so many of my volleyball tournaments I lost count, I decided it was my turn to do something he wanted to do.

We went to a lake not far from his house. Now usually when someone is just beginning to fish, they start out with a spinning reel. This reel is great for beginners because it automatically stops the line when the bait hits the water. This means the line doesn’t keep spinning and get tangled up.

Unfortunately in my case, my boyfriend decided to skip this step and throw me right into using a baitcaster. With this reel the person fishing has to have good enough judgment to know when to start slowing the line down. It’s also important to know to stop the line right as the bait hits the water. If the line is stopped too soon, it will be too short, and the result is a wimpy cast that only goes a few feet. This type of cast usually ends with an embarrassing splash likely to scare most of the fish away. On the other hand, the line will keep going and get in a huge knot inside the reel if it isn’t stopped just at the right time.

As you can see, there are a lot of things to think about with a baitcaster, and that doesn’t even include trying to make a decent cast. Casting is all about timing, and it takes a lot of practice. It took me about an hour or so before I could get a cast off without getting the line in a knot. In the first hour I wasn’t even focused on catching a fish, I was just trying to not create a huge mess of the line.

I’m not trying to give you the wrong idea about fishing. While it is a little tricky to master, it is definitely worth it in the end. On my first trip out I fished for over an hour and didn’t get a single bite, but once I mastered the important skills, I started having some fun. I finally got a bite, but I had no idea what to do next. My boyfriend kept yelling, “Set the hook!”, but I had no idea what that meant. Consequently, that fish got away from me. I was then given a lesson on setting the hook, which means jerking the rod in order to lodge the hook in the mouth of the fish.

When the next fish came along, I knew exactly what to do. From that point on fishing became fun for me. Yes, it is still frustrating at times. Everyone gets their line in a knot and has bad casts, but I think the good outweighs the bad. I’ve found fishing on a quiet pond is very peaceful, and it helps me forget about all the things that stress me out. Even if I don’t always catch many fish, I’m still able to relax and enjoy it.