People often tell me that fishing is a mystery to them because they have no clue where to start or what to look for.

Fishing, I explain, is just another slice of life, plucked from the loaf of activities that define the human experience.

That it happens on the water is part of what distinguishes fishing from, say, going to an amusement park, a ballgame or a book club meeting, but the reality is that fishing is more like the other slices in the loaf of life than most people realize.

Consider our current relationship with the place we call the internet (not sure whether the ‘net is a place or thing, but bear with me). Everybody — pretty much the whole world these days — enjoys the sport known as surfing the internet.

It’s really a lot like fishing.

In web surfing and fishing, we go to a place, prepare for the experience and proceed to explore for the rewards of our efforts.

In fishing, the rewards are tangible and intangible. We catch fish, but we also gain satisfaction in a number of ways.

Internet surfing’s rewards also are tangible and intangible. We obtain information and answers, but we also gain satisfaction that our time was productive.

At the lake, we cast, we move, and we move again, and we move again and then again.

On the web, we click, we click again, and again and again.

Fishing has the bait shops and boat docks, the places where anglers get the scoop on where the fish are biting and which baits are working best. Some of the information is reliable, but, of course, some is far from the truth.

The internet has its social media — Facebook, X or whatever. We mosey on into our favorite medium and soak up good information and juicy gossip along with a healthy dose of misinformation. Go figure.

Fishing is an activity for passing idle time, as well as an itch that must be scratched as often as possible.

Web surfing helps relieve the tedium while awaiting the next big thing, but it also is an addiction that many cannot resist.

Fishing can be done close to home on Mosquito, Pymatuning, Berlin and Lake Milton, just as you can point your browser and cherry-pick the ‘net from your living room, office, corner coffee shop or tavern.

Casting and clicking — it’s all fishing but with different catches in mind.

To those who say fishing is a mystery around which they cannot wrap their arms, I say next time you’re roaming the internet, consider that you are fishing for information. Then you will understand the essence of fishing.

Trib and Vindy columnist Jack Wollitz has been working on the riddle of fishing since age 5. Contact him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.