The Escape

The act of going fishing is, on a fundamental level, purely a practical endeavor. People go out and fish, and try to bring something home to put on the table. As every fisherman knows, however, going fishing is so much more than that. Fishing provides a valuable escape from the pressures and stresses of everyday life. Time spent on the water has a magical ability that allows you to temporarily forget just about everything else in the world. It is at this point, that actually catching fish really becomes a sideline for the day. Sometimes we fish to catch fish and recreate, other times we go fishing just to get away. Many authors have written about this, but I have always liked the quote from Thoreau. "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."

Recently, I have had to call upon these magical powers of fishing. It may seem strange to deal with a difficult situation by heading to the river, and in reality it may not solve a damn thing...but it does give you some precious hours of mental peace. Definitely healthier than the other alternatives.