There is an old saying, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime". I am not sure if that is accurate, but the point is taken. However, in my lifetime that saying has transmuted. It now goes like this, "Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he sits in a boat drinking beer all day". Cute? Yes. Clever? No doubt. Accurate? Well, sort of. Not all of us own boats.

The how and why of this change is quite practical. The way of fishing, at least in America, was to feed one's family. I grew up that way myself. It was a time when we harvested the bounty of nature and supplemented our diet, summer or winter. I remember extended family outings when men would spend time on the lake catching fish; return to shore and clean the catch. The "women folk" would be standing by with great cast iron skillets, deep with cooking grease, crushed crackers and bowls of egg mix. There was enough to feed everyone.

I too practiced such things. I taught my children to fish and at the end of the day, the fish would be cleaned and momma would cook. There came a time though, somewhere in the 1970's that something started to happen. It was called "catch and release". I didn't pay much attention. Those were my backpacking years when a few pounds of potatoes, some salt and pepper and a fishing pole were just about all I carried as I hiked the Rockies. 

Catch & Release? Hah! If I caught it, I ate it! However, over the years, I have seen this movement grow. I can even see the reason and the necessity for catch and release. The fish were starting to get smaller and fewer. Even harder to catch. My uncle Bob had a cabin on a lake in Northern Minnesota. By the seventies there were fewer and fewer fish in the lake. He blamed the state Fish and Game Department. They would come in the winter and net fish through the ice and transplant them to other lakes. This, of course, begs the question: what happened to the fish in those other lakes? Well, just like the fish in his lake they were being fished out. That reason was never broached. It wasn't his incessant fishing, it was the state taking away the resource. I am of the mind that catch and release was/is the single best thing that ever could've happened to fishing for a number of reasons.

The first is: that I (We) no longer have to show up with fish in our creel. We, fishermen, have excuses for our lack of a catch. "I only caught a couple" or "They were small and I threw them back". Standard responses. Now there is a new line of chatter, " I had a few on my line, but I let them go to keep up the population". That is, as all of the previous explanations, met with skepticism. But, if it is only your hands that smell like fish and not your crotch, your statements are accepted. Albeit with doubt.

Another advantage to Catch & Release (womenfolk wise) is that no longer does momma have to go to the trouble of frying the catch. No splattered cooking oil. No unused egg batter or bowls of crushed saltines. There is no sink full of frying pans or that lingering aroma of fried fish. A questioning look and a sigh over the lack of fish is the extant of the chief cooks involvement in a man's day of fishing.

In the mean time the manufacturers of fishing tackle have been busy producing new lines of fishing tackle to help us catch those ever elusive (read scarcer) fish. New lures and bait to entice the fish to our line. In fact, we now have newer lighter line to attach those lures. A fisherman will need a lighter pole and quicker reel to catch those smaller fish. We, fishermen, need lighter tackle if we want to get the same action from the six pounders that we are now catching as we used to get from the twelve pounders that once prowled the waters. I will admit that overfishing has occurred in my lifetime. This has led to a smaller catch, both in volume and in size. But, with the help of the fishing industry, we now have the tools to compensate. Smaller fish? The logical step is ultralite: lighter line, snappier poles and quick retrieve steel ball bearing reels.

There are four winners to this new style of fishing, this catch and release way of life. As I have mentioned: the first is that the man of the family no longer needs to come home with dinner. The second, the woman no longer needs to fry up the dinner, AKA; the catch. Third, the tackle industry can keep coming up with new scientific tackle (gimmicks) to catch the fish that men will continue to throw back. Lastly, the fish no longer need to worry, if they have such a consciousness, about dying at the hands of an unseen assassin.

That is, at least, how I see the ongoing effort of fishing. It is now for sport. We no longer feed our families. We just go out and drink beer all day.

Michael Sherer