by Lane Palmer
One of the questions I get asked the most is, “Do you ever get tired of fishing?” Without hesitation, I nod side-to-side with a bit of a smirk on my face. “Naw, I never get tired of fishing. I get tired, and I get frustrated, but I never get tired of fishing.” Still not convinced, they press on with a similar inquiry. “Doesn’t it ever feel like a job to you?” I try to explain the best I can, but if one has to ask, they truly don’t understand the reason behind fishing.
Every man, woman, and child is born with traits and genes that separate them from the rest of the human genome, making them unique in their own special way. What we do share, though, is something that cannot be changed, nor taught in any school. It can be embraced, honed, perfected, or completely ignored, but it never goes away. We have been given an instinctual calling that pushes beyond the bleeding hands, the hell-bending wind, dehydration, lack of sleep, and the constant presence of failure. To live, we must eat, and to eat, we must fish. Our ancestors knew it, and though we are far removed from the perils of starvation, we still have to produce the bounty of the waters.
Fishing is not a choice; it is everything. Fishing controls our lives, our moods, our well-being, and frankly, we can’t live without it. If we don’t catch fish, we will not live life as we have come to know it. We will wake up every day. We will contribute to society, and we will sleep, but the space between point A and point B will be filled with very gray details. This brings me to the next and most common reason as to why we fish: happiness.
As Americans, we are granted the right to the pursuit of happiness. We are fortunate enough to pursue our prey with such passion and vigor, and we come to the realization that there is no life without fishing. In order to be happy, we must fish.
Think of the reasons you put yourself up to the mercy of Mother Nature. At best, you get an educated guess, a mere chance at success, and it all depends on YOUR ability and YOUR knowledge. A fisherman will do anything and everything to make a desired moment happen. Walk miles through the briars, post up on the bow with 3-foot rollers, stare aimlessly at a Coleman lantern on a full moon night in mid-March, cast one more time when you’re already too tired to care anyway. The bait is released from your hands, already chaffed from the cold and bleeding from a slice you took off the gills from a fish who just wouldn’t give up the fight. Always optimistic and always searching, we continue to pursue.
How many times must we fail? Thousands upon thousands of casts end up fruitless. We cast, we pitch, we shoot, we throw, we run lines, we cut bait, we tie lures, we make jigs, we purchase equipment, we take off work, we drive for hours, we put it all on the line. All of this for the chance to fail more times than we succeed, and all of this happens for the one moment we all lose sleep over.
A twitch of the line catches your eye, and your pole goes half-moon. A hybrid slaps your bait, sending a sensation through the forearms of the battle to be waged, tension in a handful of trot line cord tells your brain that in .003 seconds, you better have it together because you’re about to get tied in knots with a fish half your size. Failure has taught you so much, and now, in the moments of catching a fish, you will have been relieved of life for a few brief moments, and Heaven is truly on Earth. Grown men laugh uncontrollably at the sight of surfacing and chaotic silver trains. Death and sickness are forgotten instantly in the seconds after the undeniable thump of a slab. Divorce and heartache are nowhere to be found as a bait clicker signals the inevitable. When there is a fish on the line, there is absolutely nothing but the fisherman and the fish. As the greatest Fisher of Men put it when He had us all on the line many thousands of years ago, “It is Good.”
“Do you ever get tired of fishing?” Well, let’s see, yesterday I caught fish. Today, I’m going to catch fish. Tomorrow, I’m going to catch more fish, and I will continue to do so until the Lord says I have caught enough of these fish, and then I’m going to catch a LOT of fish! Join me, brothers and sisters of the water, in this constant pursuit we call fishing.
Lane Palmer wrote this article in 2012. His passion was fishing, and he was well known as one of the top fishing guides in Texas, the ultimate outdoorsman, and a gifted writer. More so, Lane was known as a man of God. He passed away in October 2023, doing what he loved…. fishing.
I’m certain he is catching a LOT of fish right now.
