Henry David Thoreau said, "many men go fishing all their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after.” Perhaps, but perhaps not... This sage observation no doubt is an intimation that anglers crave something deeper than the "fish." Since my hunch is that Thoreau had what's now called a "green" orientation, his conjecture was that the angler perhaps seeks a deeper communion with nature, often yielding a kind of perspectivizing serenity. My view is that Henry's observation was naive and so simplistic about the many motivations of why folks do things like fish.
Can you imagine Thoreau on a tarpon boat at Boca Grande? More psychologically astute theorists recognize that humans have urges to be alone (wilderness junkies), urges to congregate ( party boat and pier jockies) as well as urges to compete (tournament types). This view is far more explanatory about what drives an angler. So, these folks are seeking an emotional experience of some kind by the kind of fish and fishing that they choose. Does that mean that J-hook junkies are more aggressive than circle hook devotees, the former watching mixed martial arts while chomping beef jerky and the latter nibbling bean sprouts and chanting? Hardly!
I embrace the positon that it is EXACTLY the fish that I am after, amongst other things, as distant second-place factors. Through experience, I know what a five-pound bonefish will provide compared to a five-pound redfish. My feelings about bonefish have been so strong that the choice of an urban skyline or a mangrove shoreline has attained almost complete irrelevancy as I pursue a large grey ghost.
The important thing is to figure out what "rings your bell" about an angling experience and then pursue it, because you sincerely know it's what you like and even love to do. Granola bars and backpacks, sleek skiffs, or bamboo poles dangling live mullet into snooky shadows...it's all up to you!
Jan
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