Rickard Gustafsson | Saturday, 22 November 2025
Or more correctly headphones, why? If you use a loudspeaker I will definitely silently judge you, I haven’t seen a fisherman with loudspeakers on the water. But have been exposed to by other people. But the original question. Sometimes I have seen people fishing with headphones and I don’t really get it. What are they listening to? Isn’t fishing enjoyable and entertaining as it is?
We are all different and the ones doing it hopefully gets some enjoyment out of it. For me it just seems a bit contradictory. Getting out in the nature to get some peace and quiet. Listening to music might heighten the experience for some I guess. Listening to a podcast doesn’t seem right, I could do it on the drive to the fishing but never during the fishing. I often like it quiet during the drive there also. Then I plan the fishing and don’t have time to listen to a podcast. And during fishing I wouldn’t hear it. Then I’m so focused and lost in my thoughts at the same time. But I could do earplugs some days on the coast where the wind is driving you mad.
Then we have the safety aspect also. Where I fish there is no risk of running into some dangerous animals. I think about that our hearing helps us with information about the ground we are walking. An unstable rock we can sometimes hear before we feel that it can be a danger. I think we get important information about the ground we walk from our hearing. Like if there is loose gravel. If we have sand under our boots that can cause us to slip when we step on smooth stone.
Listening to something competes with our attention even if we don’t actively listen. You know how you turn down the radio in the car when you are trying to figure out where you should go? Or when you are going to parallel park. And when we fish we are using a lot of attention. Fishing the fly in we focus on the line, if we see something change, or if we feel something. Or following the fly drifting down the stream.
I rarely listen to something when I’m training either. I don’t really know why, I just don’t feel like it. Maybe I could enjoy it while doing accuracy, which is a bit contradictory as this is something that takes a lot of focus. But I find that our hearing gives us important information during casting also. We can hear some errors, like applying power too early. We get the wrong woosh sound then.
Cheers, Rickard
PoD: You also need to be able to hear the ghosts when it turns dark, so not a good time for headphones.