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I grew up fishing, skateboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, playing baseball, playing in bands and generally getting into trouble as a younger man. I still surf an

I grew up fishing, skateboarding, surfing, wakeboarding, playing baseball, playing in bands and generally getting into trouble as a younger man. I still surf and skate and wakeboard from time to time and I'm generally amazed at how friendly, welcoming and uncompetitive anglers are. I very rarely encounter any "get off my wave" type attitudes, it's mostly people asking how it's going or telling me what bait is and isn't working. I've had more friendly conversations with strangers with a fishing pole in my hand than I have with a drink in my hand. What a relaxing way to get away from the computer and screens. If you're interested, there are some great youtube resources for learning how to fish. I'm a bass fisherman so I'd recommend looking for videos and articles from bassresource, tacitcal bassin, and flukemaster. For anyone interested, bass fishing is a much more active form of fishing than most people imagine fishing to be. You're actively casting and retrieving rather than tossing a line into the water and waiting. Here's a video of a really great good ole Alabama boy doing some topwater bass fishing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvP0GBBiaLg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvP0GBBiaLg Edit: I live in New Jersey about 10 miles outside of New York City and fish for bass nearly every weekend. I've caught bass in Central Park before. There are fish in nearly every park pond across the country.

Trundle 8y ago
Lure fishing "cast and retrieve" as opposed to waiting is very common and not at all just a bass thing fyi. Maybe it has something to do with the particular species here in mid east coast Australia but fishing stores have tons of space dedicated to lures. I remember fishing as a kid, my dad would be bait fishing while I lure fished because bait was super boring.
- girvo 8y ago
  Same in NZ. Cast and wait is what we did as 5 year olds, but once we were older we had lures and better rods and reels and it was a lot more fun. Also caught more interesting fish!
toomanybeersies 8y ago
I've found the same thing with hunting, at least in New Zealand. Hunting is a bit different in NZ to the USA, you tend to walk the whole day, stopping at points to look with your binoculars, rather than sitting in a tree all day waiting for animals to walk by. Every hunter I've met when out has been happy to give tips on where they've seen animals or sign, and to give tips or suggestions on where to go. Of course, everyone has their "spot X" that they won't give up, but apart from that they're happy to share their knowledge and stories, especially when out in the field.
- wavefunction 8y ago
  We definitely have plenty of stalk hunting in the US as well, though it appears to be more of a Rocky Mountain thing than the rest of the country.
naibafo 8y ago
Did you have regular "get off my wave" encounters surfing or skating? My surfing experience is a bit limited, but barring a few wannabee edgy teens "friendly, welcoming and uncompetitive" very much describes my experience with skaters everywhere.

Trundle 8y ago

Lure fishing "cast and retrieve" as opposed to waiting is very common and not at all just a bass thing fyi. Maybe it has something to do with the particular species here in mid east coast Australia but fishing stores have tons of space dedicated to lures. I remember fishing as a kid, my dad would be bait fishing while I lure fished because bait was super boring.

girvo 8y ago
Same in NZ. Cast and wait is what we did as 5 year olds, but once we were older we had lures and better rods and reels and it was a lot more fun. Also caught more interesting fish!

toomanybeersies 8y ago

I've found the same thing with hunting, at least in New Zealand. Hunting is a bit different in NZ to the USA, you tend to walk the whole day, stopping at points to look with your binoculars, rather than sitting in a tree all day waiting for animals to walk by. Every hunter I've met when out has been happy to give tips on where they've seen animals or sign, and to give tips or suggestions on where to go. Of course, everyone has their "spot X" that they won't give up, but apart from that they're happy to share their knowledge and stories, especially when out in the field.

wavefunction 8y ago
We definitely have plenty of stalk hunting in the US as well, though it appears to be more of a Rocky Mountain thing than the rest of the country.

naibafo 8y ago

Did you have regular "get off my wave" encounters surfing or skating? My surfing experience is a bit limited, but barring a few wannabee edgy teens "friendly, welcoming and uncompetitive" very much describes my experience with skaters everywhere.