Is fishing a sport or a skill?
Fishing is a sport. Fishing is a challenging but fun water sport suited for vacations, recreation, and sometimes, for competitive play. Anyone who has ever tried it knows that fishing can lead to success or failure. Catching a fish requires knowledge, skill, and physical ability.
Fishing requires lots of focus and awareness. This takes your mind off internal conflict and stress, similar to meditation. As a result, it helps to reduce anxiety, fight off depression, and promote relaxation. Studies have shown that fishing lowers your cortisol levels (otherwise known as the stress hormone).
Fishing now ranks as the 4th most popular participation sport in the country, beating out bicycling, bowling, basketball, golf, jogging, baseball, softball, soccer, football and skiing. Only walking, swimming and camping are more popular – in fact, fishing is more popular than golf and tennis combined.
Fishing is one of the most popular outdoor recreational activities in the United States. In 2020, approximately 55 million Americans flocked to the nation's waterways to engage in freshwater, saltwater, and fly-fishing activities, marking the highest fishing participation rate in over a decade.
Recreational fishing can advance fisheries technology and benefits related industries. Recreational fishing can also diversify and increase the income of fishermen. Recreational fishing promotes mutual understanding between urban dwellers and fishermen, which is important to “Harmonious Society”.
Fishing as a sport, however, is of considerable antiquity. An Egyptian angling scene from about 2000 bce shows figures fishing with rod and line and with nets. A Chinese account from about the 4th century bce refers to fishing with a silk line, a hook made from a needle, and a bamboo rod, with cooked rice as bait.
Wild fish is rich in protein and contains little cholesterol, making it a favorite food for many. Most people love fishing because of the thrill and the challenge involved. It really is a thrill sitting in a boat with the anticipation of of a fish snagging your lure.
Luckily, fishing is a great low-impact exercise that can help shed a few pounds. People who are actively fishing can burn an additional 200 calories per-hour - even more for kayak or fly-fishing enthusiasts. Studies have shown that almost 80% of American adults do not get the recommended levels of exercise.
| Fishing Pros | Fishing Cons |
|---|---|
| Nice nature experience | Littering |
| You can catch your own meal | Water pollution |
| Back to the roots | Questionable from an ethical perspective |
| May help to treat mental issues | May imply some dangers |
Unfortunately, there is not always going to be competition when it comes to fishing. Because of this, fishing does not always qualify as a sport. Of course, you could say that you are out there battling fish and competing against the sea, but there is no scoring system, and there is no organization to it.
Is fishing a skill or luck?
While the skills necessary to catch a couple fish might be easy to learn, they're still skills and there are so many levels of competency within fishing. Like anything, with practice, training, and experience, one can get really good at fishing.
Dictionary.com defines sport as "an athletic activity requiring skill or physical prowess". It goes on to specifically mention "racing, baseball, tennis, golf bowling, wrestling, hunting and fishing" as sports.
The Olympics have only ever featured fishing one other time: in 1900, the Games in Paris listed fishing as an unofficial sport.