By Cory Allen

Go play outside. Three words I absolutely abhorred hearing growing up, as I clutched the now poignantly nostalgic rudimentarily ergonomic controller of a Sega Genesis. Since I could push the button on a 303, I had never had the slightest issue with getting my skin tan or hands dirty wading into backwaters of Southern Illinois, chasing snakes and shell crackers with my grandfather…and then going to lengths at times that even as a 28 year old I doubt I’d still have the resolve to do.

Yet by moonlight, I burned wax far into the waning dawn by button mashing my way through the budding phenomenon of 2-dimensional cartographers, mapping the course of the future of what would become one of the most influential forms of media to ever exist: The video game. Where names like “Mario” and “Sonic” had become far more universally recognized than Hank Parker or Bill Dance… and they weren’t even real!

At the same time, in a completely different paradigm, still lagging in the land of LCD at that temporal point, was the world of angling, my “day job” if you will. I quickly began to understand that for the “old guard” of angling the advent of self-contained worlds interactive through a small window into an entirely different universe was a threat to the generational heritage of angling to many, an affront to tradition. But I never saw it that way. I recall growing up that puzzles I would encounter in a game would demand a level of intense critical thinking and look at things from a different angle or approach to pass the test. If you kept running into the same wall, or shooting fireballs at an enemy that wouldn’t even acknowledge them, then why keep doing it? Yet I saw such blatant hypocrisy in angling all the time, as if many of them had simply resolved that if the stuff that had worked at some point didn’t work today that “They just ain’t bitin’!”

Yet the lucky anglers are the ones who consistently, day in and day out, utilize creative consumption, problem solving, enhanced senses and reflexes both within the plane of reality and interpretation of the world beneath through lure probing and electronics, to hit the same problem from different angles figuratively and literally. For instance, the best gamers know that there is always a weakness to every “boss”, and that while once discovered it is usually fairly formulaic. As gaming technology evolves, the AI of the opponents continually becomes more and more reactive to one’s playing style to adapt and exploit its weakness, to the point where it becomes somewhat perturbing thinking of the day when such programming becomes integrated into the war machines of tomorrow.

Daily, the dinosaurs of angling find themselves less and less able to stand their ground in the wake of the upcoming Xbox generation taking a liking to the water. No matter what the species or location, the youth of yesterday brought up in an increasingly rapid-paced technological world take their rite at the forefront and it becomes evident that “experience” while valuable is only as good as its ability to be forged into different situations daily. Experience doing the same thing over and over despite it only being a successful tactic a portion of the time leaves an entire swath of possibility to the enterprising. In gaming, such tactics will lead to frustration, broken controllers, and a less than enriching experience, whether its PWNing an online squad of players from across the world or progressing to the next “level” in a linear storyline that rewards effort with more abilities, achievements, and the sheer knowledge of understanding another approach.

Even as the age of angling is brought further into the rabbit hole of the 21st century, with near-savant level electronics allowing photo-realistic mapping and GPS positioning. It goes without saying that most who possess these tools basically use them much as a Cro-Magnon man would a modern reel to beat a mollusk open instead of utilizing the maximum of its potential to gain the upper edge.

Due to its permeating presence in today’s society, and the constant barrage from special interest groups that “video games rot your brain” (and like anything abused, sitting on a couch for days doing ANYTHING will….), several studies have been done at academic institutions such as the University of Rochester trying to isolate the negative or positive effects of gaming. Taking information from both experienced gamers and neophytes, both were found to have an enhanced level of subtle reflexes, instinctual manipulation of intricate apparatuses to perform a task, able to process multiple stimuli of visual information simultaneously at a rapid pace, and overall be a sharper edged human being mentally and in the nature of sensitive controls, kinesthetically. Even the military utilizes technology eerily similar to modern gaming controllers in training simulations for both their man and remote operated technological devices.

Subtle manipulation, ability to interpret graphic representations of the world either real or entirely simulated, lightning reflexes….sound like appealing traits to possess in fishing? I sure as hell think so. While being an armchair warrior doesn’t give you immediately transferable skill sets into savant angling, I have noticed people who are “gamers” in my boat are MUCH more able to process complex fishing approaches and angles, free from the dogma of industry, and in general derive more “sense” from even the most unconventional of angling approaches. They don’t see the use of singular tactics such as trolling, casting, jigging, fly etc. as mutually exclusive, but simply circles of a giant Venn diagram all playing a role in the daily struggle of piscivorous problem solving. Such thinking and understanding led me to refer to the art of angling at its purist definition as nothing more than “bio-hacking” or utilizing tools to stimulate artificial responses in nature itself that otherwise would never occur.

Ironically, the SINGLE worst thing you can do for your fishing is to play fishing video games. While entertaining at times, most of them for lack of a better term, suck balls, and not only are terribly designed games but also create very unrealistic situations in angling both in attack and expectation, and are simply amplified version of the rather droll state of categorized angling. A bass game requires conventional bass tactics and nothing more and is ultimately destructive to the psychology of a person seeking skills to take personally back to the water.

If you’re seeking a good primer into gaming that will not only be a rewarding experience in and of itself but also help generate transferable traits, check into some of the many action adventure games that exist, preferably starting with the format of 3-D gaming. The Nintendo 64 is a great place to start with classics such as Zelda: Ocarina of Time, combining both intense problem solving and very tight combat demands with various tools required for each challenge… As well as probably the best fishing simulation ever made buried in the game itself (the Japanese fascination with fishing is no coincidence). Modern titles such as Bio-Shock, Gears of War, Halo, Uncharted, and Dark Souls, all combined many skills into one package with pretty compelling story lines to boot as well as adjustable difficulty settings to accommodate your level of entry.

I know many folks have closed seasons and ice that keeps them from open water fishing. Instead of just roughing it out staring at a hole in the ice, pop a squat in front of the great American boob tube and train your brain and reflexes for the upcoming season. I promise, have a joystick in your hands a bit will make you a better stick on the water next year.