There is no need to convince the avid outdoors men and women, who get excited by reeling in a 20-pound salmon or seeing a beautiful brook trout rise to a fly, why they need to start making plans to head outside. But if for some reason, you need a little convincing, we have compiled a list to help you out.

Stress Relief: Ask most anglers why they enjoy spending time in the outdoors and you’re likely to hear the word “freedom.” Spending a day afield casting for trout on a cool mountain stream or bobber fishing for bluegills on a pond helps to release us from our highly stressful, everyday environment. Nothing brings on the sense of being alive and helps to rebuild our personal reserves like a day spent interacting with nature.

Social Bonding: Sharing a fishing experience helps strengthen relationships with family and friends. It also offers a person the chance to give back to society through mentoring others in the pleasure and importance of being good stewards of our natural resources.

Recreation: Having a bad day of fishing still beats a day in the office or tending to house chores. The most common reason you will find with people who like to fish is that it is simply fun, whether you enjoy trolling for stripers or outwitting a weary brook trout with a hand-tied fly that imitates an insect the size of a pin head.

Self Fulfillment: Fishing offers you the chance to improve your self-esteem through respect for the environment, mastering outdoor skills and achieving personal goals. Fishing can also play an important role in ones personal and social development. Fishing is a lifetime skill and activity that can be enjoyed at any age. Just ask a youngster who reeled in their first fish how much fun fishing can be.

The Thrill: Fishing has a way of fulfilling an age-old need of pursuing and catching. The thrill lies in the challenge, such as stalking an elusive wild trout or matching the hatch. But there are many who will be quick to profess that it’s not the catching of fish that’s important, but the immeasurable life lessons that you will experience along the way.

Enough said – lets go get our lines wet now and catch some of these trophy fish in our backyard.