I’m going fishing today. The plan is to leave my place at a civilised 7.20am to go and pick Graz up before making the 45 minute drive to one of the local trout streams. So why then, am I writing this at 5.10am? Have I gone MAD?! I could have slept for another 2 hours, and still only been 10 minutes late!
I was lying in bed, woke up and started thinking about fishing. From then on, I became increasingly more awake and just had to get up. Strong coffee and bright lights later, it makes me wonder whether I should try to reclaim more ‘day’ more often. Although, ask me that at 3pm this arvo and I might tell you a different story.
Anyway, in my morning stupour, which is slowly disappearing and being replaced by the subtle and addictive buzz of caffiene, I thought I’d write a quick post about ‘fishticipation’. As a young fella, the night before fishing for me was always similar to the night before Christmas. Sure, my excitement happened to coincide with being at the coast, which was always a bit of a novelty, but it was the thought of jumping aboard a rocking boat, shivering on the beach as the warm sun poked its head over the horizon, feeling the sea spray crashing off the rocks, and the chance at hooking a beautiful, hard-fighting fish, that really got me going.
It’s amazing how easy it is to get up for fishing, but it can be so hard to get up for work…
Anyway, 20 odd years later and I’m still getting excited about fishing, and am no longer overly enthused about Christmas. I’d say that between Hamish, Dan, Graz and myself, we’ve spent more time over the last few weeks talking about fishing than we’ll actually spend on the water once we’re there. We can discuss locations, techniques, ideas, species, upcoming trips and so on, ad infinitum.
I guess that ultimately, this goes back to the question of whether or not you like fishing. It’s that simple. I think you either ‘get it’ or you don’t. To me, the anticipation is just one more of the many reasons we keep on coming back. It’s about learning, thinking ahead, imagining different scenarios, strategising, then trying to put it all into play once you’re finally out on the water. It’s also a nice thing to share with friends, and despite many of our similarities and differences in other aspects of life, it continues to bring us all together.
I’ve realised now that the night before fishing is better than the night before Christmas, and this is something I get to enjoy more than once per year. Better head off. It’s time to hit the water!
