According to free dictionary.com the term fishing is defined as: The act, occupation, or sport of catching fish. The key words in this definition are "act" and "sport", because as the definition states, fishing is about the activity itself and not about actually catching fish. I think often times people tend to forget this simple fact.
Why do I bring this seemingly obvious topic to light? Because, I headed out for a little spring trout fishing yesterday and something that almost never happens, happened. I got skunked, and for anyone who doesn't know what 'skunked' means it means that I didn't get as much as a nibble. Now, in fairness I didn't take any live bait, which is my trout bait of choice and went purely artificial, but the point is that I got skunked.
While this is something that doesn't happen very often it made me realize that to me fishing for trout has become much more than actually catching trout. Just being out there, standing in a flowing river, listening to the sounds of nature, smelling the smells, and feeling the breeze on my face is what fishing is really about.
While all of this is true, I do have to admit that catching a few trout sure does seem to heighten the experience to some degree as well, and is something that I sure would have welcomed after a long, cold winter. At the end of the day, actually catching a few trout does add to the experience, so here's hoping that the next outing produces a bit more productive result.
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