Hey, Fishing Fans!
If you love fishing then you’re sure to love today since it’s Go Fishing Day! Today is meant to be spent fishing and nothing else! So pack up your poles and tackle box; today encourages you to get some time off from your everyday and go catch a fish in the closest body of water you can find—be it a small, splashing stream or a rough, raging river.
Most people who go fishing enjoy it. It’s hard not to as it typically offers a quiet and peaceful setting out on the water or a shady shore. I fondly recall my first fishing trip at Crowduck Lake in Canada. It’s relaxing, recreational, and rewarding!
Fishing is in our bloodlines as it’s been practiced and taught continuously on down through the ages; so—whether you’re fishing for your dinner or for a relaxing afternoon—you’re doing something ancient when you cast your line!
But ‘ancient’ doesn’t even BEGIN to properly illustrate how old fishing is! Fishing is real old, like PREHISTORIC kind of old. Long before the ancient Egyptians caught Perch and Tilapia in the Nile, Stone Age cavemen caught fish. This is in what’s called the ‘Paleolithic Era’. It was around 40,000 years ago.
Of course, THIS ancient of modern man did not have the means (nor the brainpower) of constructing a fishing pole, so the act of casting is not 40,000 years old, but the act of hunting seafood is. Early man relied quite heavily on the seafood diet, using a large ‘fish hook’, carved from bone to catch fish.
Even as early as 4000 years ago, some Egyptian documentations point toward fishing being practiced as a sport as opposed to a means to a meal. It took some time for recreational fishing to catch on in more modern times. Around 1500s and 1600s popularity boomed for recreational fishing.
It’s popularity remains strong today with fishing shows, younger fishers, and days dedicated to fishing. Thanks for reading—now go catch a fish!
- John