Fishing can be addictive. I don’t think it is a chemical addiction. Thrilling moments are too short and too few to qualify fishing as an adrenaline rush, and it is simply not aerobic enough to produce a “runner’s high.” Instead I suspect that the addiction is more cerebral. Like an obsession with golf, catching fish is a physical and mental challenge with many uncontrollable variables. It is the desire to overcome the challenge, to solve the puzzle, that compels us to fish constantly.
A friend of mine, Haichao, has recently experienced the challenge of fishing and I have a feeling that he is now, and forever will be, an addict.