When the eyes no longer focus enough to tie a knot.
When the wind blows, the rain stings and the ocean rails against us.
What is it that makes fisher-folk keep going back time and time and time again.
COMRADERY is the answer we discuss in this feature. We will look more closely at the silent perfection of simply catching a fish, felt by the individual but experienced amongst company.
Ask yourself, what is the most vivid memory you have of fishing?
Inevitably that memory will involve another or others viewing the spectacle, offering free advice and helping wrangle the catch.
High fives, hand-shakes and some random little dance or ditty might have surfaced. That feeling of joy or bewilderment when something from the water is extracted through skill, intellect or blind luck. “Remember that time when the fish just chewed their heads off?”
I am tapping this piece amongst a group of fishing friends who span the globe, span differences in age, in time zones and fishing ability.
They come together annually, to reforge a bond cemented in a common pastime. These same crew are mostly retired, love travel and undertake all manner of activities around the world from scuba diving to photography.
Yet fishing and the comradery of feeding themselves in remote and fish filled locations keeps the chatter alive and the stories and wine flowing in equal quantities.
Welcome to the jungle
In a modern world, us fisher folk have far more opportunity to sample the world’s unique fisheries. Spanning the globe has been within the reach of many. Domestic fishing travel with friends and family has become common place.
Travel in remote locations has become far more achievable.
Despite Covid putting a dampener on international travel plans, thousands of Aussies used it as an excuse to get on the road, buy a boat or caravan and get out to see the great outdoors. Catching a fish is usually a bonus or accompaniment to travel more generally.
Companionship in fishing spans generations and surely goes well back to the rise of homo sapiens. It’s in my genes I tell you… I need to go fishing and hunting with family and friends!
I forget how many times as a kid and then as a teenager hurriedly walking home from a fishing excursion to display my catch and with some luck maybe boast a little. The environment and pastime stimulated my senses, but it was the ability to share these experiences with others that set fishing on fire.
What is it that keeps people coming back, year after year, generation after generation to enjoy the pursuit of fishing? How can some people talk and think and ponder endless fishing possibilities and future plans?
The answer often lies in comradery and the ability to share that lived experience with others in the great outdoors.
It has the tendency to forge friendships which stand the test of time. Fishing adventures live on in the memory bank and for those who are truly addicted, it keeps you awake for hours the night before a big trip! Anticipation is just as much a part of fishing joy as it is a part of fishing success.
Assembling a crew
It can be challenging to find the right combination of people, family and friends to pursue the pastime of fishing. Requirements in affordability, comfort and adventure swing wildly amongst individuals.
For all kinds of reasons, we often find ourselves fishing alongside other people with whom we have very little else in common.
But somehow it just works and the over-riding joy of reeling in a fish in a manner you enjoy is compounded by company. It speaks to the power of a pastime when all preconceptions of personality, culture, race and gender are secondary to it’s pursuit.
Where to go, when to go, what to bring and how to put the whole thing together are logistics that fuel the mind of avid fishers. Coming together to plan seems to jump up the excitement and anticipation. Planning a fishing excursion is cathartic in itself.
These days a plethora of Apps and technology make the experience more grandiose as tides, lunar movements, almanac, water temperatures, currents and Google Earth are all on the average persons mobile. Endless chats amongst close friends help refine the details as fishing adventures take shape.
Every year I fish with groups of mainly blokes who get together to forge new bonds, new friendships and new experiences. Blokes from board rooms to mining pits and every occupation in between suddenly galvanised by the great outdoors and fishing.
Weeks before the trip takes place the chatter starts up, WhatsApp starts chirping and the banter flies left right and centre. Once on board the boat the beers start flowing, tales of previous infringements are aired, recounted and told over and again.
That lived reality, bearing witness to an event no matter how fictional in nature. In most instances fishing gear starts falling out the cracks as the conversation goes downhill.
Throughout the rest of the fishing excursion, fumbles and dramas grow into future tales. Friends and even new acquaintances will laugh at you.
When you can’t see yourself, you learn to take yourself less seriously, helped by those who happily laugh at your foolishness.
That CEO or corporate billionaire will quickly be bought back to ground by the pack. It’s surprising how quickly it happens and how much they enjoy not being taken too seriously.
At the end of the day, if you can’t laugh at yourself, it’s all over. When fishing with friends, it’s like being transported back to your childhood. You even have permission to act like a kid, something hard to achieve in your own company.
Cracking a cold one
Right or wrong, drinking in Australia tends to forge comradery. It is almost a cultural tribute to fishing. Aussies tend to order their beer by the case or their wine by the carton. Even those who avoid the drink for the most part will feel it a moral responsibility to give their liver a good shake up during a fishing trip.
There is always one or two who get a bit carried away and hence the stories normally flow on from some irresponsible or clumsy act. Either way, pouring a little liquor down your throat tends to work as a social lubricant, helping to regale tall tales with little effort and plenty of grandeur.
For the ‘Gram
Social media by nature seeks the approval of the poster’s peers. All too often this is mooted as ill conceived. A sore point for those hardened against such wanton self-indulgence. But the ability of modern communication to allow fishers to share a story or brief window in time has helped propel the pastime into the modern era.
It’s why tackle stores and bass boats exist! A whole interconnected worldwide community lives within the pursuit of fishing! Many living moderns franetic lives find it difficult to cement friendships and fishing bonds. Plenty of these character cut to the chase, book a spot on a charter and make new friends live out in the blue yonder.
I’ve been lucky in my wanderings which have led me into quite a few experiences fishing with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders on their traditional country.
You can see the fabric of fishing and hunting woven into their right cultural tapestry. It is always a humbling and communal experience the act of catching a fish, cleaning it and cooking it to share. Something innate in many people from all walks of life. But at it’s heart and most fundamental nature, fishing is about subsistence and survival and living your best life. Or at least that’s where it all started!
It is the diversity of individuals from all walks of life that give such strength and credence to the pastime of fishing. Part of the reason why recreational anglers cannot simply be swept aside by an increasingly green-leaning agenda is their connection to and representation of the marine and riverine areas around Australia.
Even the most right leaning, green-hating fisherman still wants their little patch of paradise protected. However, regulations and sectorial change are threatening both recreational and commercial fishing sectors alike.
In a practical sense, fishing like all pursuits is changing and the dynamic of coming together has fundamentally changed.
The internet and all forms of media have heavily influenced fishing for a good while now. The narrative has always been pretty positive. But the winds of change are blowing and that narrative may become hard to define. As regulations lead to more people dissociated from the environment and interacting less with nature, sadly they are less likely to care for it into the future.
Wet pursuit
As a recreational lobby, fishers need to ensure they are not locked out or scorned for their passion. This also means that recreational fishers need to be viewed as custodians of the environment and an economically powerful lobby group within political spheres.
It is impossible to envision just how this might occur but at the end of the day, it all comes back to the magnetising pull of fishing. Despite many other fads and trends coming and going, fishing tends to hold a lofty position amongst the social fabric of our society. And it is up to us to ensure the Nay-sayers never get the upper hand in their quest to past fishing in the annals of history.
So wrapping up following another spectacular day on the water building a catch of wild barramundi, if warms my heart to hear the days festivities recounted.
A lucky capture, a horrible cast, a slip on the deck, a burnt thumb and unadulterated joy at having landed the biggest fish. The yellow jersey changes hands again, the insults fly in all directions and we prepare for bed, awaiting a new dawn to get out and do it all again amongst friends. Comradery and a pastime we all love is the glue that binds us.
