I started fishing around two years ago with one of my buddies. What drew me into fishing was making friends, and also having something for the 9th grade Try Something New health project. My first experience fishing wasn’t the best, because I didn’t know what to do. It was initially more of a last ditch effort for my health assignment, because it was going to be late and I didn’t have anything planned for it yet. But slowly, as I learned more about the habits of fish and what they like to eat, I progressively got better throughout the weeks. 

An average day can go from really early in the morning, from like 6pm to 8pm. There are some cases where it is better to go out even earlier, say, if you want to go on a boat toward deeper waters, where fish mainly like to go out earlier in the morning to eat instead of the afternoon. I go fishing with my friend Diego Mateus—He was one of the two people involved in the health project that first got me into fishing.

One of my highlights would probably be catching a 75 pound bat ray. It was a bit of a downer because it wasn’t fighting as hard as I wanted it to, and gave up really fast. But during that time, my buddy Diego Mateus also caught a 50 pounder, and another buddy had a 43 pounder, which both fought a lot harder than the 75 pounder.

Usually when I catch a fish, I would, depending on the species, keep them or put them back. I wouldn’t want them to be less than a pound, or else the meat in them wouldn’t be enough for my family. I would also keep anything above six inches, and any lower is, again, not enough meat.

Common misconceptions are that when you hook a fish, it hurts them. If you hook it on the lips where you’re supposed to, they don’t have any nerves or blood vessels there, so they can’t really get injured by it, but mainly one of the most common ones is ‘fish can’t breathe out of water’. There are some fish, like trout, that are more delicate and need to be kept in the water most of the time. But there are also fish like catfish, who can stay out of water for like six hours at a time without needing any water to survive.

Something I like about fishing is the peace and calmness of being able to see the water, and being around nature. The main reason I continued fishing is because I really started to fall behind in sports, and it helped me find another way to bring out all that energy and anxiety I had from not doing the things I used to love.

I would definitely recommend fishing to other students, mostly because it is a great way to be outside and not in your house all day, on your phone. Moreover, it helps you better understand the nature around you.