Fishing is an antidote to 2020 and more: It can help reconnect friends and family

The end of every year brings me to time reflecting on what I learned on the water that might improve the coming year. Out of all the chaos of 2020, I realized that it’s doing the basics that are the foundation of life and fishing.

Fishing provides a platform for building the kind of relationships that sustain us in chaotic times. The isolation most people currently feel combined with the continuous predominantly negative bursts of social media they are exposed to is a toxic environment. Few of us can withstand it alone.

In contrast, being with a friend or parent in a place of calm for a few hours and actually interacting with a person is something our society is getting away from.

Our children don’t tell us very often, but that same isolation and lack of relationship is many times worse for them.

Getting out in nature for a few hours, turning off the box glued to your palm and relaxing has a powerful effect. Seems it helps turn off the flight-or-fight response. When I’m out fishing with guests it’s hard to get them to relax, put the cellphone down and concentrate on the people in the boat. When someone answers the phone, they are mentally engaged somewhere else and are no longer interacting. The fog usually goes on for a few minutes after the person hangs up as they reengage their brain and focus back to where they are presently. You can only be one place at a time.

Yes, I know, things happen and need to be handled, but just a few years ago we actually all went fishing all day without one check-in. We hopefully got back after dark. And we didn’t die.

Kids are even more impacted than we know and they need more singularly focused attention from parents than ever before. Building your relationship with your kids on fishing trips may be one of the simplest and most effective ways to improve your home and their mental health. Giving them your full attention is telling them you love them with your time. We all need time to renew and regenerate in a very stressful environment.

I’ve been to many funerals and memorial services where the most cherished memories and remembrances that have been shared by the families were about adventures. Special trips, catches, hunts, funny experiences and disasters all make up the quilt of unforgettable and irreplaceable times that were the best parts of special relationships. Those key memories are what we take with us — not how many emails, texts and posts we made.

We all need time to relax, unwind, rethink and pause. In confusing times, the correct answer to chaos is almost always tied into going back to the basics. Spending time on the water with family and the folks you love while resetting your internal mental state might just bring all this craziness back into focus. Never give up!