Fishing is a pastime that has a deep history. It’s also a way for people to make a living. There are tournaments, competitions, fishing for relaxing, fishing for bonding with family, and just eating fresh fish you caught yourself.
If you are in the Texas area, there are plenty of places you can fish, but be sure to get your license. Texas boasts some of the best fishing, by boat, off the bank, freshwater, saltwater, lakes, and rivers.
Fishing in Texas
With over one thousand public lakes, there is no shortage of places to fish in Texas. The best part is that all these hundreds of lakes are known for their own things.
Largemouth bass is the most popular fish in Texas and it is available all year round. Catfish comes in at a close second. Catfish can be found in lakes, rivers, ponds, and reservoirs all across the state.
There are also 18 Neighborhood Fishing community lakes throughout the state, all in urban areas. These community lakes are stocked with channel catfish from April through November.
Benefits of Fishing
The benefits of fishing are long-reaching, much more than coming home with a fresh fish for dinner. There are also mental and physical health benefits of going fishing.
Stress Relief
The very act of fishing usually means calm and quiet. Whether you are out in a boat or fishing from a pier or the bank, it’s a great way to unwind. You are out on the water, there is breeze, sun, birds, and calm.
Build Relationships
Getting out for a morning or afternoon of fishing with your friends, your kids, your family, or even by yourself around other fishers, you are sharing an activity and growing out of your enjoyment and love of that activity.
Physical
While people who are not in the know might imagine that people who go fishing are just sitting in a boat drinking beer, there is much more involved. Someone has to get the boat ready, get the gear hauled in, even if it is beer and snacks.
You need to be able to reel that big fish in, walk around, carry your gear, even getting in and out of the boat can prove challenging for some. But even being out in the fresh air will be much better for you than sitting inside.
Support Your Community
From your fishing license to your hooks, and the snacks you take with you to the gas you need, you are supporting the local businesses in your community and that helps everyone.
Learn to be Patient
It’s a rare day the fish are actually jumping in your boat. It’s good for you and a good lesson for the younger ones to learn how to be patient, still, and wait for the reward.
It sort of forces you to relax, as there isn’t anywhere else to be or to go. Some days, you might catch one in a few minutes, others, you can wait hours. The sound of the water lapping on the boat, the birds, the quiet, they all help you become calmer and that is a life skill you can live with.
Get Back to Nature
Fishing is a great way to get your kids off their devices and their heads in Mother Nature. Let them breathe in the fresh air, take in the beautiful scenery, and get their heads up off their screens.
It will give them a better appreciation of nature and the beauty that can be found there. It can also teach them what is involved in catching a fish and taking care of that whole process.
Improve Dexterity, Balance, and Coordination
If you are meant to put the line in your rod, bait the hook, cast, reel in your catch, untangle your fishing line, all of these tasks require a lot of patience and the ability to enhance your fine motor skills.
It will help work on everyone’s eye-hand coordination skills and helps you find your inner balance when you are casting or trying to balance yourself while reeling in that big one and not tipping out of the boat.
Challenging
Every time you go fishing, it will be a new experience. The fish will react differently to the bait you used the last time, the fish may avoid you altogether, where last time you had a windfall.
There will be nasty weather, like wind or rain that just shows up out of the blue. Some days will be way better than others. There can be bad days fishing, too.
There will be great days, and some not so great. A day out fishing is better than most, regardless of the outcomes. But, as a rule, time spent fishing with your family or friends, is never time that has been wasted.
