Winter, Fishing (or Lack Thereof) and Video Games

Every year I dread the end of trout fishing season in southern Ontario, but I always try to be optimistic about the possibility of getting out for some steelhead fishing during the colder months ahead.  It’s never really been my thing, but I figure there must be a reason everyone else is addicted to it, so it’s worth a try. Well, it’s all coming back to me now… the reason that optimism never turns out.

Dark, work, kids, weather and more dark… that about sums it up.  The much shorter days mean less opportunity to get out after work and less time spent outdoors with the kids (I have three of them by the way).  That basically writes off weekdays completely and when the weekends come, it’s a lot of catching up with the family.  For me, evenings are always prime fishing time and that just doesn’t work well this time of year.

It’s not all a loss though, since thankfully there are things other than fishing to keep me busy.  Like… tying flies, or reading about fishing, or playing fishing video games!  OK, just kidding (sort of) 😉

Seriously though, I’ve wondered for a long time why there are absolutely NO good fly fishing video games.  Just think about how great a fly fishing game would be on the Wii, done properly, where you cast using a realistic motion with a Wii Remote.  I’ve searched for fly fishing simulations and the only ones I could find are extremely outdated and not very appealing, at least aesthetically.

In case you weren’t aware (or it wasn’t obvious from my writing), I’m a pretty big geek.  I’m a software developer, currently on the gaming team at RIM (BlackBerry).  You know those really outdated BlackBerry games, Brick Breaker and Word Mole?  I made those, years ago granted.  Technically I did not create Brick Breaker – just took over it a couple years after it was created when I joined the team.  Word Mole though, was all mine (along with a couple artists and a co-op student).

Anyway, my point is that I spend a lot of times either writing games or playing them and I’ve been giving this whole fly fishing simulation a lot of thought recently.  If I can muster up enough motivation and free time, I am seriously considering starting a project working on one of my own, with modern 3D graphics, realistic environments and simulated casting motions using something like the Wii Remote.  Maybe then, my southern Ontario resident trout fishing can extend into the winter months (in my family room)!

If you’ve got a bit of geek in you as well and think this is a good idea, I’d love to hear your thoughts/comments.