Fishing is good for your health (a study)

[genesee_mohican]

"We were expecting to find that angling in general has positive effects on mental health — however, we did not expect that the more often you fish, the better the benefits are."

Well yeah, we knew that!

https://www.foxnews.com/health/fishing-health-benefits-more-men-go-fishing-better-their-mental-health-study-finds

[GreeneHunter]

Good article and very true !  Crazy as it sounds just mowing my lawn for 2 hours every week is also very relaxing !

[airedale]

There are few things more relaxing and fun than fishing, I get out when I can and wish I had more time to fish. Been thinking about getting another boat but I have been so busy I don't know if it would get enough use for the investment.

Al

[Four Seasons]

1 hour ago, airedale said:

There are few things more relaxing and fun than fishing, I get out when I can and wish I had more time to fish. Been thinking about getting another boat but I have been so busy I don't know if it would get enough use for the investment.

Al

Exactly where I am at. Heading to 300 Whitetails and all the land work keeps me busy but I always make the time for the granddaughter and a friends dock a few times a month. Even went to the boat show this summer but finding it hard to pull the trigger. 

[wolc123]

I can definitely attest to that.  I only got my bigger boat in the water (3) times this year, which is definitely an all time low.  I’m really looking forward to at least (9) more days out on the water with a little one though.  The size of the boat don’t matter nor is one even necessary, but the size of the fish does. 
 

I hope to get one, just a tad bigger than this one, from back in 2014.  I let her go then.  She should have put on a few inches anyhow, over the 22 that she measured then. 

Edited September 30, 2023 by wolc123

[genesee_mohican]

Nice fish Wolc. I stream fished for trout a few times, did some early season walleye fishing with no luck and had a lot of fun bass fishing catching over 70 fish and some real beauties. Hopefully in a few short years I'll have more time to fish and stay healthy. 

[wolc123]

4 hours ago, genesee_mohican said:

Nice fish Wolc. I stream fished for trout a few times, did some early season walleye fishing with no luck and had a lot of fun bass fishing catching over 70 fish and some real beauties. Hopefully in a few short years I'll have more time to fish and stay healthy. 

Smallmouth bass are definitely my favorite.  Pound for pound, I have yet to tangle with a harder fighting species of fish.  They also eat pretty good, if the fillets are still twitching, when you put them in the vacuum bags.  
 

I like largemouth bass a lot also.  Just a smidge better tasting than smallmouth bass and easier to fillet.  Only about half the pull of a smallmouth though, landing them firmly in the second slot,  well behind the smallmouth for my overall species ranking.  
 

I like walleyes, from smaller lakes ok, but not those from Lake Erie or the St Lawrence river.  I only like those when eaten fresh.  They just don’t keep well in the freezer, even if vacuum sealed (unless you like fish that has the flavor of algae). 
 

Another thing I really appreciate about the smallmouth bass, is that they always go nuts over bucktail jigs.  That makes my tackle cost minimal, since those are almost free to me.  

Edited October 1, 2023 by wolc123

[airedale]

I fished a lot when I was a young fellow, I had some great fishing spots back then as I lived a few hundred feet from a large river and the many oxbows that branched off of it. I believe I caught just about every species of gamefish out of those waters. Bank fishing in the oxbows on the bottom with sinkers or bobber fishing produced good catches of Panfish, Bullheads and Carp. In the spring there was a good run of Walleyes and a few weeks later a good run of White Bass. I had a small rubber boat that I would put in upstream two or three miles from where I lived and would drift fish all the way back down to my home. Ultra light gear and Mepps minnow Comet spinners, Mepps advertises that the Comet will catch any fish that swims and it is pretty much true. On those drifts variety was the theme, I would catch the occasional Trout, Walleyes, big Whitefish, both Small and Largemouth Bass, throw in a Northern Pike and Pickerel once in a while.

One Sunday morning I made the drift and got down to my home just in time to get into my house and watch a heavyweight championship fight on Wide World Of Sports. I tied the rubber boat to some brush on shore and left a nice  stringer full of fish tied to the oarlock in the water. A couple of hours later I went down to get the boat and fish and found three huge Snapping Turtles tearing up and eating the fish on the stringer, ruined most of them.

Al

[wolc123]

39 minutes ago, airedale said:

I fished a lot when I was a young fellow, I had some great fishing spots back then as I lived a few hundred feet from a large river and the many oxbows that branched off of it. I believe I caught just about every species of gamefish out of those waters. Bank fishing in the oxbows on the bottom with sinkers or bobber fishing produced good catches of Panfish, Bullheads and Carp. In the spring there was a good run of Walleyes and a few weeks later a good run of White Bass. I had a small rubber boat that I would put in upstream two or three miles from where I lived and would drift fish all the way back down to my home. Ultra light gear and Mepps minnow Comet spinners, Mepps advertises that the Comet will catch any fish that swims and it is pretty much true. On those drifts variety was the theme, I would catch the occasional Trout, Walleyes, big Whitefish, both Small and Largemouth Bass, throw in a Northern Pike and Pickerel once in a while.

One Sunday morning I made the drift and got down to my home just in time to get into my house and watch a heavyweight championship fight on Wide World Of Sports. I tied the rubber boat to some brush on shore and left a nice  stringer full of fish tied to the oarlock in the water. A couple of hours later I went down to get the boat and fish and found three huge Snapping Turtles tearing up and eating the fish on the stringer, ruined most of them.

Al

I had lots of fun fishing as a kid also, and I have never stopped.

 

A neighbor (2) doors down had a nice pond, where we would catch largemouth bass and bluegills.  There was also a small, slow-moving creek behind our house. That was fed by a limestone mine, that closed down many years ago.  It was loaded with bullheads, suckers, and rock bass.  Pike came up in the spring.  I also caught an occasional carp. 

 

The old guy, that lived across the road, made chowder with snapping turtles.  Us neighborhood kids would catch bluegills in the pond, and chop them up for turtle bait on treble hooks, attached to wire.  We caught snappers in the creek and pond and took them over to him.  
 

He was pretty well off, and retired as the top union man at the local gypsum plant that made wallboard from the limestone mine.  At that time, that plant was the largest employer in our town.  He would tell us stories of catching bucket fulls of blue pike at night out on Lake Erie.  He bought a brand new Ford 8n, to work his 1/2 acre garden, back in 1951.  
 

I ended up buying that “cherry” from his widow,  after he passed away.  I still think of him and those snapping turtles, when I’m running that tractor.