The mental health benefits of fly fishing

The act of standing in a river, trout or salmon fishing, has mental health benefits, a new exploratory study has found.

The study was commissioned by Fish and Game, conducted by Centre for Pacific Studies at Otago University and recently published in Kotuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online.

It asked a a small group of regular anglers how getting out in the back-country with a rod helped them.

This initial study was part of a larger scale wellbeing research initiative by Fish & Game to be reported on later in the year.

Fish and Game chief executive Corina Jordan told Nine to Noon's Kathryn Ryan they received plenty of feedback from anglers about how good they felt while fishing on rivers and lakes.

"They come back reporting a sense of peace, and happiness, and a reduction in their stress levels."

The study was also probing nature-based solutions to mental health and wellbeing challenges in New Zealand.

The group saw wellbeing in a holistic sense, encompassing mental and physical health, as well as spiritual and social connections.

"All this was underpinned by being out in our beautiful environment that we have in New Zealand, enjoying freshwater and also the green scenery."

Fishers reported being in a "state of flow... anchored in the present", she said.

"And it lets all the stress and worry slip away, and you're just really focused on being in that environment, and catching that fish."

There were just over 100,000 licensed freshwater anglers in New Zealand, and women were increasingly involved in the pursuit, she said.

For cancer survivor Paul Catmur, it was an opportunity to escape the stresses of his treatment and recovery.

Previously a sea angler - "my fly fishing is a little bit agricultural" - he was drawn to a weekend Casting for Recovery course run by Craig Caldwell in the North Island.

"The interesting thing about fishing is that while you're... trying to outwit a creature with a brain the size of a small pea, it somehow puts the trivial matters - like when am I going to die? And will my family be all right? And what music should I have at my funeral? - gets put to one side as you try to outwit the trout."

The delicacy of casting or tying on a small fly was closely supervised and forced participants to concentrate, he said.

"You're washing your brain. Rather than your mind having nothing, you're replacing the issues of everyday life with something completely different, which is the beauty of your surroundings, and all you're thinking about is, 'What can I do to catch this poor little fish?' "

Anglers go into a "zone", and "you just wanna be there forever", he said.

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