I was out walking beside a particularly long lake at the weekend (bet you're not surprised), and I noticed a heck of a lot of people out fishing. Every few yards another chair, another rod and another sprawled-out display of angling paraphernalia. And I thought two things. Why do people fish? And why are they all male?
I have never quite understood the appeal of fishing. You sit beside water, which is nice. You get to interact with nature, which is nice. But you also spend ages hanging around while nothing much happens, occasionally standing up and flinging your line back into the water, waiting for a bite, waiting a bit longer for a bite, fiddling with maggots, the view's not changed has it, very occasionally feeling a distant tug, reeling it in and discovering a tiny fish on the end of the line maybe, maybe not, despairing of its miniature size, throwing it back in, waiting some more, waiting a lot more, wasting the day away in silent contemplation, then stopping off at the fish and chip shop on the way home. Or maybe it's not quite like that, I don't know, I've never understood the appeal.
But the really strange bit is how almost every fisherperson is a fisherman. I walked past young blokes, older blokes, dads with sons, track-suited blokes, blokes in shorts, solitary blokes, paired-up matey blokes, every last one of them a bloke. Actually I tell a lie, the very last reedy inlet I passed had two chairs, the first filled by a bloke, the second filled by a female. He was staring intently at the water, rod poised, engrossed in all things piscatorial. And she was most definitely not fishing, not dangling any lines into the water, not interested in anything other than being with her bloke. She had her mobile out and was tapping away on the buttons, maybe texting, maybe surfing, anything to keep herself entertained during the long hours while her other half was awaiting fish. An overflowing handbag was by her side, and a thermos and a couple of pink cups, but it looked like she was fighting a losing battle. My lakeside straw poll had confirmed 100% fishermen, plus one female hanger-on. And I wondered why.
What is it about fishing that makes it such a male-dominated pastime? It's not like there's any physical reason. You don't need huge muscles to fish, neither is brute strength important. You could argue that stamina is required, or maybe it's a battle between man and beast, but quite frankly there's nothing in angling which outlaws members of the opposite sex. Anyone can hold a rod, it's just that females choose not to. Is it perhaps that they're more sociable creatures and rarely choose to waste their time in self-imposed solitary confinement? Is it that men are much better at sitting doing nothing, while females prefer to avoid pointless non-productive activities? Do women have better things to do than get excited about some bloke on the front cover of a fishing magazine holding a giant chub? Or are these all appalling generalisations? I'm not sure.
I'm not saying that most men like fishing, nor am I saying that no women ever fish. But I am saying that there's an innate gender divide here, for some mysterious reason, and that almost everyone who goes out fishing is male. Can anyone explain?
But the really strange bit is how almost every fisherperson is a fisherman. I walked past young blokes, older blokes, dads with sons, track-suited blokes, blokes in shorts, solitary blokes, paired-up matey blokes, every last one of them a bloke. Actually I tell a lie, the very last reedy inlet I passed had two chairs, the first filled by a bloke, the second filled by a female. He was staring intently at the water, rod poised, engrossed in all things piscatorial. And she was most definitely not fishing, not dangling any lines into the water, not interested in anything other than being with her bloke. She had her mobile out and was tapping away on the buttons, maybe texting, maybe surfing, anything to keep herself entertained during the long hours while her other half was awaiting fish. An overflowing handbag was by her side, and a thermos and a couple of pink cups, but it looked like she was fighting a losing battle. My lakeside straw poll had confirmed 100% fishermen, plus one female hanger-on. And I wondered why.
