Many people say fishing is not a sport and others say fishing is a sport. So the question is, is fishing a sport. I think fishing is a sport and many professional anglers agree with me. There are professional anglers that are definitely not in the same place of other professional athletes in terms of salary or lifestyle, but that doesn’t mean it is not a sport. 

A professional angler such as Jordan Lee of Guntersville, Alabama reveals much about the life of a professional bass fisherman and says that fishing is every bit of any other sport, a sport is something that requires skill, physical exertion, and is competitive and fishing has all of these. You may ask how does fishing have all of these? Well here are some examples: when you are fighting off a 600 lb fish in the middle of the Atlantic ocean you are obviously required to have strength almost everywhere in your body because you need strong legs to hold your balance and upper body strength to pull up the huge fish, and you can compete by competing in a tournament such as catching the biggest fish. Besides being professional fishermen there are also commercial fishermen and women who are fishing for a living, catching thousands of pounds of fish that are delivered to grocery stores and markets around the world, which makes the sport(fishing) good for the world.

Other professional anglers to consider are charter captain’s or fishing guides. They share their fishing knowledge and expertise with anglers of all skill levels and often walk away from lucrative careers to do what they love everyday, go fishing! Whether you have never gone fishing or have been fishing every day of your life, you can hire a professional to guide your next fishing trip. This shows that people can even help and guide you while you’re doing a sport. There are many professional fishermen and women, recreational anglers actually far outnumber the pros. In 2019 there were 41.4 million fishing licenses, tags, permits and stamps sold in the United States. Now that’s a lot of fishing! Overall, this proves that fishing is a sport and shows that millions of people are interested in it.