Epic Battles Of Our Time

It is often claimed that former US president George W Bush once said “It is my belief that human beings and fish can co-exist peacefully”. While there is dispute over whether he actually said that, surely no-one disagrees that it is true.

However, you will come to question the truth of it when you have put a great deal of effort into the battle to land a 40-50 lb fish and feel nothing but anger and aggression towards the entire piscine kingdom.

At that point, you’ll feel ready to declare full-scale war against fish and, indeed, crabs too. Anything that lives in water will draw your ire.

Undoubtedly, though, the major lasting effect of a battle to land a big fish will be dependent on whether you get it in the net in the end. If you do, an overriding feeling of weary satisfaction will be the order of the day.

Fail to land it and you’ll nurse a sense of hurt frustration and either resolve to get the lucky fish next time, or want to walk away and leave it. Of such fine margins is made the life of a keen angler.

If we didn’t have those moments of satisfaction and frustration, fishing would just be boring.

It is as much a matter of getting the larger fish on the hook as it is getting it in the net. Any number of things can happen once it’s on the end of the line, and not every case where the fish gets away will be the angler’s fault.

In fact, getting the fish on the line and enjoying the battle is many anglers’ favorite part of the pastime. No matter how frustrating it can be to have a fish escape you, imagine how bored you’d get if they never even got on the hook.