Are you a fish snob?

See this fish in the picture? I was fishing in a redfish tournament in Orange Beach Alabama when I caught this fish. Can you believe that once I realized that it wasn’t a redfish, I told my tournament partner that I was going to cut the line? Thankfully my tournament partner, Capt. Frank Jackson, wasn’t a fish snob. He told me that I would be crazy to cut the line. We spent 20 minutes of our precocious tournament time to land that fish and I’m thankful that I did. I love this picture. It’s the biggest jack crevelle that I have ever caught.

Do you remember when you first started fishing? Do you remember when you used to take a picture of everything you caught? Do you remember when you used to tell all of your “non-fishing buddies” about the fish you caught last Saturday? It didn’t matter what it was that you caught. Heck, half the time you didn’t know what it was that you caught. You enjoyed it. Every minute of it. You enjoyed every fish that you caught and the experience you had catching it.

What happened? How is it that you went from enjoying catching anything at all to only being satisfied with snook, redfish, trout, tarpon, permit, bass, northern pike, muskie… and all other bites turned into a barrage of comments like, “Ahhhhh man… it’s a jack” or “ahhhhh… man. It’s a ladyfish”. What happened? Who told us what was fun to catch and what was a nuisance? Was it the talking head on the boob tube? Was it the “pro guide” in Florida Sportsman magazine? Was it your seasoned “fishing buddy” at the tackle shop?

How did we decide that it just wasn’t enough for a fish to jump and pull drag to be worthy of our pursuit? The fish had to be well regarded in our fishing circle for us to enjoy catching. I don’t remember when it happened but it happened to me too. Years ago I used to get excited every time I felt a bite or every time I heard the sound of the drag screaming. Then, like it was over night, the drag would scream but the fish would swim circles around the boat and I would start saying, “Oh man… it’s just a jack (jack crevelle)”. Like I was disappointed! Never mind that the drag was screaming and the line was approaching breaking strength.  It was just a lowly jack and it had wasted my time! What the heck happened??? Why did I decide this fish wasn’t worthy of my fishing prowess?

It didn’t take long into my guiding career that I “re-learned” that catching fish was fun. I knew that catching redfish was fun… I knew that catching tarpon was fun… But a few weeks into my guiding career I remembered that CATCHING ANYTHING was fun. At least to those who were pure of heart and hadn’t been defiled by the extremely smart, better than thou, talking heads on God’s curse to entertainment (T.V.).

Have you lost that love of catching anything… everything? Are you sick with the disease of “fishing” only for those fish we hold up on high? What happened to you? How did you (we) get here?

Anyway, I guess my point is this. Don’t let others dictate what you find joy in. I don’t know why we enjoy catching fish. It makes no sense to me why I love fishing. We throw a line out, a primitive creature bites our bait, we struggle to reel it in, we look at it and we let it go. Strange. But for some reason, God found it fit for us to find joy in this “sport”. Why must we limit that joy? Why do we willingly limit the joy we find in fishing? Anyway… this article isn’t intended to teach you anything or to share some great bit of knowledge but to get you to think. And maybe, just maybe, to encourage you to enjoy every chance you get at catching fish; no matter if “the talking heads on the boob tube” would be proud of your catch or not.