Is fishing escapist, or is it the other way?

[TurbineBlade]

Hey - I woke up super-early and was thinking about something - Do you guys consider fishing an escapist hobby?  I work in an office that is about to be furloughed, and my first thought was "man, I bet I can get in a lot of fishing this spring!" rather than the more obvious response shared by others.  Is this normal?  

Anyway - I'm pretty sure that I hate society at this point.  Well, mostly just 40 hour work weeks, people wearing Express slacks, idle chit-chat, Starbucks, elevator outages, and the little bell-tone followed by step back, doors closing.  All I do is think about where the tide is, if I need to tie leaders/flies, and where I might go fishing on the weekend with Beth.  I think, at least in my mind anyway, that I'm never really "at work" and am thoroughly useless for the most point.  Are you guys like this, or are you "go-getters" at work and "go-getters" on the water as an extension of this attitude?  More power to you if you are -- I'm just not one of those people ;).  

Someone was telling me that fishing is "escapist", apparently implying that typing on a keyboard and staring at a glowing rectangle for 9 hours a day = "reality".  I tend to think that fishing is reality and work is the fantasy, complete with colored sticky notes and "Hey Gene - Damn these pens in the supply room are terrible!  Have you tried these?" He was right though, those pens did suck I admit.  

Anyway - thank God I married a woman who loves to fish!  That's the only chance I have ;).  Maybe I should read something by John Gierach -- I've been told that before.  

Gene

[namfos]

Don't worry about escapism.  IMO fishing has more to do with reconnecting with our "feral selves," an inherited, vestigial memory of our hunter-gatherer forebears.  Robert Traver's Testament of a Fisherman is as good an explanation of "why" as any I've ever read: http://bit.ly/O1JPcl 

[Dave]

Turbine Blade, I'm with you. If I were to be furloughed I would have the same reaction! I too work in an office environment, thankfully a casual one and thankfully my coworkers are pretty cool, but it still involves a commute, a computer screen and a chair. The working world seems like a bunch of zombies biding time until retirement. Monitoring the levels of their bank accounts. Watching what they say depending on who's in front of them. It's not the absolute worst thing but I wish all this would have struck me harder when I started doing it twenty something years ago.

While I plot my transition out of here I, too, get sidetracked all the time. I regularly stop and think about tying flies and the many places I'm going to explore this week, next week, next month, next year. Maybe it is an escape, or maybe the next reality. I don't even care about characterizing it any more, since those who don't share this passion surely will.

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to springtime! And what a great passage by Robert Traver. That really sums it up well.

[Scott Stankus]

Gene - funny that you mention John Gierach... about halfway through reading your post, I was thinking the same thing:"He should John Giearach (or Dave Ames)." I recommend "No Shortage of Good Days" and "Sex, Death and Fly Fishing" by Gierach as well as "True Love and the Woolly Bugger" by Dave Ames. 

As for your question, I feel about the same way. I was not made to sit in a office all 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Though I'm not sure I would consider fishing to be "escapist" - I'm more of the mindset that work is merely a means to an end. I work to enable me to maintain the lifestyle I prefer. And that lifestyle contains a healthy dose of fishing!

Just my thoughts on the matter. 

--Scott

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"There are 10 types of people in this world, those who know binary, and those who don't"

[johnfarr]

I agree--it's not escapist, more like a way to feel more real. I feel more alive when fishing than doing just about anything else although skeet shooting and reading good books comes close. Try to get a copy of "Trout Madness" by Robert Traver (pen name of John Volker) if you can, I think you'd like it.

[Matthew Longley]

I'm with you 100% Gene.  I feel like the last year of my life has been a constant struggle to define the right balance between the professional drive side of me and the side of me that spent 100% of my free time as a kid running around in the Maine woods.  If anyone figures out how to manage those two competing things, please do let me know...  Well I guess Thoreau figured it out...

Until then, I'll be sitting at a desk 10 hours a day, dreaming about being on a trail or in a stream somewhere...

[namfos]

Agreed. Traver's Trout Madness and Trout Magic are two of the must have books in fly fishing literature.  Both offer ample rewards every re-reading.  Trout Bum and The View From Rat Lake by Gierach come pretty close.  Also worth checking out is Scott Waldie's Traver's Corners series.

[Aaron O]

I prefer Dr. Seuss's "Oh, the Places You'll Go!".  a quick read and reminds me that there's a Mad Mad world out there and I need to see more of it

 

The only line I edit is the part when it states

 

"Waiting for the fish to bite........Everyone is just waiting.  NO!  That's not for you!"  
 

.That part IS me....All Me.

[Misha Gill]

I'm loving the book suggestions in this thread. I'll add my own: Jerusalem Creek by Ted Leeson. Very contemplative and starts out a little slow but I thought his reflections were well worth the time. To address Gene's initial query: I think that we fish to find "flow", i.e. a state of mind where everything becomes irrelevant except for the here and now, also known as living in the moment. So in that sense it is escapist: we escape our extraneous worries and hassles by concentrating on the moment. Any pursuit that gives the person flow becomes addicting - whether it's the detective hot on a case, an academic researching an interesting topic, or a flyfisherman trying to catch fish. Ted Leeson has this to say about when he took up fishing: "At the time, there was just catching trout or not catching them. We never considered ourselves as "learning" to fish, and put to us that way, we would have found the idea laughable. We weren't learning to fish,; we were fishing - wholly occupied by the thing itself, never considering ourselves at all. And perhaps this is why it all took root and grew in us, not because we thought about it, but because we didn't." (from Jerusalem Creek). Flow is what's missing from your job, Gene.

[Nedak]

Not to get too deep but short story on why I fish.  I love the challenge.  I am late to fishing, starting in earnest in my late 30's.  Started throwing bait into the surf in DE and progressively got better.  I can usually get something to bite.  I moved from spinning reel to a casting reel just because its harder to use.  A few years back I was on business travel and had some time to kill in Denver.  Met up with a friend of a friend and did some trout fishing with a fly rod.  It was cool but still I was not ready to jump in full bore.  Well, business travel started bringing me to CO and ID more frequently so I bought a rod, got waders, and am now hooked.  It took a bit but I am full tilt obsessed.  I just learned about this group a few months ago after attending a great presentation by Trent from Orvis on the local spots.  Got a lesson from Snowhite in anticipation of a tarpon trip in the USVI in April.

If you can swing it, business travel combined with fishing will keep you sane.  Those who are stuck behind a desk all day, I feel your pain but fortunately don't live it as I get out and about pretty frequently.

The simple way for me to describe why I fish took place last summer.  My then 9 year old and I were using corn on hooks to try and get some carp in Silver Lake in Rehoboth. 
He gets one on and the fish starts peeling line.  We were using light tackle, 4 or 6 lb mono.  He looks at me all wild eyed and says "Dad, what do I do?"  I coached him through the 10 minute fight and he gets the fish close to shore when the line breaks.  Rinse and repeat, same thing happens again he loses another fish.  Finally he lands the third one.  I asked him what it felt like to have the fish pull off line.  His instinctive, guttural response, "Dad, it felt like I had my fingers in the electric socket." 

That is why I fish, to safely stick my fingers in the electric socket.

On Wednesday, February 27, 2013 5:30:35 AM UTC-5, TurbineBlade wrote:

[Nedak]

The landed carp from below.

[Dallen Hall]

Thanks for the re-acquaintance with the Travers quote and the introduction to some new reading material. I think Travers might be surprised with the popularity of urban fishing today.

 

It’s an interesting topic to identify what is at the root of our choice to angle. What creates the deeply felt affinity with piscatorial pursuits?  Do other people find similar satisfaction in other interest and endeavors? I suppose they do in a dissimilar manner. I often doubt it provides the same fulfillment of that being in such direct intercourse with nature. A landscape artist must be inspired by passion too I guess.  I’m glad that other distractions and activities are there for them. I’m particularly glad for major sporting events that keep the numbers of people on the water down on a weekend. Aren’t you really glad that everyone doesn’t love fishing?

 

There seems to be a lot of legitimate conjecture about why we (sport) fish. At one time or another many things can be a trigger to go fish.

 

Escape from work, home, or routine. Check

 

Primordial urge to hunt and gather. Check

 

Quest for peace and solitude. Check

 

The addictive adrenal rush of a fish at odds with us from the end of our line. Check

 

 

Perhaps the most persistent underlying reason I fish is ‘Wonder’.

 

I wonder how the weather will treat me and how I will find the current or tide. Will my strategy to find the fish pan out? What new thing will I discover today? What unexpected species will I catch? Will I have total solitude or meet a new friend? Will I have safe passage today or encounter an unexpected danger?

 

I wonder most what unseen thing is below the surface. I wonder what dwells below the surface whether it is a pond, lake, river, bay, or ocean. I wonder at the brief glimpses into another world, observed or caught. I wonder with amazement at what could be within casting distance that I am unaware of. I wonder what sees me and how different a vision I am to it, than what I see in the surface reflection. I wonder why I wonder so much.

 

I don’t consider fishing an escapist hobby. It connects me to the world around me and to what is deeper in my subconscious mind. When I love something it is more than a hobby.

 

Nothing really pushes me to go fishing. I’m just pulled to do so… like I have a hook in my lip. I’m caught but feeling alive!

 

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[Matthew Longley]

Last couple of responses have led me to an interesting conclusion.

For me, fishing isn't an escape at all.  That implies the desire to get away from something (work/routine/whatever) is stronger than the desire to actually fish.  Fishing is rewarding on its own in a lot of the ways that people have shared above.  Being in quiet nature, feeling like you are part of the food chain again, honing a skill, always being surprised...

However, reading TPFR, or day dreaming about fishing, or reading free beer tie magazines from the 80s, that is more about escape.  Sure there's the element of bettering myself for when I'm actually fishing, but its also a way to pretend I'm out fishing when I'm not.  Breaking up the work day by reading all of your fishing reports is probably the greatest escape.

[Misha Gill]

Haha, way to bring it home Matthew!

[TurbineBlade]

Thank you for the reading suggestions -- I enjoy reading and used to do a lot more of it than I currently do.  Calvin and Hobbes reflects how I feel about most things in life, but I really like a lot of the writing from the fly fishing community as well.  I'll probably pick up some of this stuff used on Amazon and/or bother members if they have copies ;).  But I won't return them though just so you know -- at least not in good condition anyway ;).  I borrowed a coworker's 4-piece 8 weight combo the other day and told him I'd return it in at least that many pieces.  

I guess a lot of you folks tend to feel the same (at least to some degree) -- maybe that's what is great about fishing.  Honestly I don't mind my job and I definitely don't feel like I have a right to complain - it's just "any job" wouldn't hold a candle to this hobby.  

On a side note, I spend way, way too much time online looking up fly patterns and and checking this forum.  Is there a support group for this?  Like in Fight Club?  I guess there are worse things, like golf, heroin and being a NY Rangers fan.  BTW - Aaron, I've read that book.  I think that book was read to me when I was little, along with "too much junk food" with the Berenstain Bears.  Good stuff.  

Anyway - I appreciate the reading tips!  

Gene

[Daniel Davala]

I have absolutely loved this thread everyone!  Great musings, insights, and poetry all around!  Regardless of reason, in my opinion we are all super blessed and fortunate in that we have found a real passion in fly fishing.  We live in a time when people actually attend seminars to find out what they might be passionate about.  In fact, if you Google, "Find Your Passion", you come up with no less than 166,000,000 results, which roughly equates to one result for every 1.9 Americans.  There are a LOT of people out there that don't even know what they're in to.  At least the 966 members of this forum have already know, which really is a gift. 

 

Additionally, most studies on happiness (yes there are millions of them too) conclude that the happiest people have something they are in to, something to be excited about and look forward to.  Fishing is a great example of this, and for many it can and will last a lifetime.  It's not surprising then that other necessary activities such as work and chores seem pale in comparison to the activity we love and would chose to do instead if we could.  But if we really could do it all the time, 24/7, I think the activity of fishing would lose a bit of its luster (see "The River Why").  Simply put, the yearning for and desire to fish even when we can't is part of what makes it special every time we do.  Another commonality among the happiest people is a strong network of relationships. I've always said this club is more about relationship than anything else, and it has been a joy to see so many friendships emerge around a common interest and watershed.

 

So, let's take a moment to rejoice!  We have passion/sport/hobby we truly love and enjoy, people to share it with, and free and public access to many great waters across this country, some only minutes away.  We also live in an area with good jobs and good pay, and three International Airports that can take us to exotic locations anywhere on the planet at the drop of a hat - though not to escape of course!

 

I'm also super thankful that so many of you find TPFR helpful in getting through the work week by recounting past times and experiences, posting pictures and trip reports, sharing knowledge with others, and anticipating and planning for days ahead.  And Gene, if you find your piscatorial ponderings truly reach a level of counterproductivity at work, I know an industry where you might fit right in!  Same goes for the rest of you.  Great topic!

Dan Davala

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[namfos]

Thanks for mentioning "wonder."  A good part of the pleasure I take from fishing is that it makes me feel younger as I more or less re-enact parts of my youth, such as following a local creek to its source, or its outlet; coming home covered in mud, fish scales, etc. and late for dinner with mom and dad sore, but "oh boy, the stuff I discovered today!"  That and more is the "wonder" of it all.

Here's some interesting UK sites having to do with urban fishing: http://www.theopike.com/tag/trout-in-dirty-places/ and http://urbanflyfisher.com/

Mark

[namfos]

Gene: and now message about Tyler Durden: http://bit.ly/143DFRi  ;-)

[darbrewe]

This thread is the reason why I find this the best fishing forum I've been a part of. Good stuff.
BTW, fished Lake Anne in Reston today. Caught a cold.