Why Go Fishing?

Let me set the scene. The year was 2015 and I was living and teaching on the Tiwi Islands. Being a ring-in from the south, I spent the best part of my three years up there in awe of the spectacular environment, incredibly beautiful culture and the most mind-blowing fishing I had ever experienced. Naturally, word quickly filtered back home about this piece of Utopia, and it wasn’t long before two of my best mates had their tickets booked, itching to experience what the island had to offer.

With six weeks until their arrival, I began to plot a plan. I eyed off the ‘perfect’ tide to fish on the Saturday in a system that saw less angling pressure than your household bathtub. The plan was set and screaming reels were virtually guaranteed.

With a month until D-Day, anticipation was sky high, but an email on a Monday morning was to change all of that. To my horror, the annual school fete had been announced, and yep, you guessed it, it was booked for that perfect Saturday! The plan was shattered and it looked like the lads would be turning snags rather than casting at them.

Given the whirlwind nature of their trip, we were left to fish a horrendously high tide in the creek closest to home — a scenario that had yielded very little in past attempts. It was about as far away from the ‘ideal’ fishing scenario one could conjure, but with no alternative and a desire to show off my backyard, we launched the boat and I offered the boys the consolation of a nice sunset with the chance of seeing a croc.

As expected, the first half hour proved fruitless and my hopes of a fishing miracle were all but dust. However, what happened next will be etched in our memories for life. Inexplicably, the dormant and uninspiring high-tide creek sprung to life. It was as if Mother Nature felt sorry for us and flicked the switch. All of a sudden there was activity everywhere you looked. Barra began boofing the edges, a school of small trevally and queenfish turned the creek junction into a boiling pot, and golden snapper moved in below them, picking up the pieces from the carnage. For no apparent rhyme or reason the system roared to life and, to this day, that session remains one of the most special I have experienced, both in terms of fishing and time spent with mates.

Looking back on that fateful evening, when conditions were about as far from ideal as one could conjure, I often think about what we would have missed out on if we simply didn’t go. More to the point, I wonder how often we miss out on these golden sessions simply because the tide, moon, wind, swell, barometric pressure or ‘gut feel’ apparently isn’t ‘quite right’. Sure, it’s important we as anglers take note of patterns to increase our chances of finding fish, however I’m of the opinion that perhaps we’re taking things a little too far if our theories and so-called intel’ begin to prevent us from picking up a rod and walking out the door. The purpose of this article is to challenge some perspectives on why we go fishing and give those suffering from Goldilocks syndrome (searching for the just right) a kick up the backside to just get out and go fishing.

You won’t know if you don’t go. The author’s P.B snapper came from an impromptu cast off the stones whilst clearing a New Year’s day headache!

While on face value this is a simple question that warrants no more than a three word response (to catch fish), if you pause and think about it for a while, I don’t mind betting that a myriad of other reasons float into your conscience. Yes, we all love catching fish, and it’s great to do everything within our power to do so. However, if this is our single purpose for wetting a line, we can open ourselves to disappointment or worse, reduce our time on the water as we wait for that perfect scenario and thus miss out on the additional benefits our pastime has to offer. From time to time it’s worth adjusting expectations and broadening our perspective – dare I say it, but there’s more to life than catching fish!

In addition to that magic night in a Top End creek, I can credit countless life highlights to a day on the water. Whether it be putting someone onto their first fish, sharing magical environments with those who don’t regularly frequent the outdoors, or splitting at the seams with laughter at the inevitable mishaps that go hand in hand with fishing, there’s rarely a dull moment when a rod and reel is involved. These moments simply would not happen if we opted to stay on the couch and stare at a screen.