That's why they call it fishin'...and not catchin'

We live a stone's throw from the water in Izmir and count ourselves lucky to be in such a pretty spot although occasionally we get inbound winds (Imbat) that aren't so pleasant. And rain or shine, windy or calm, there are dozens of fisherman lined up along the sea wall. Always. I go out running in the morning along the bay sometimes and haven't once been able to get up ahead of the fisherman. Likewise at night they continue to fish long after the sun goes down and we're heading to bed. Some use huge ocean fishing rods while others prefer using no rod at all, casting the line by winding up and slinging it lasso-style like their fathers must have taught them.

Now I have a lot of time for fishing and plenty of patience for days when the fishing is slow but what are these guys doing out there? I have yet to see a single fish landed or even come out of the water. We've been here nearly a month during which we drive, run or walk near the water at least 4x per day, often more. Malcolm Gladwell would probably have something to say about my calculations on this but I'd estimate that during each stroll or drive along the water we see (and I keep a sharp eye on) at least 20 fisherman and that each stroll or drive is a minimum of 15 minutes. By my calculation that's 5 fishing man hours per drive-by/stroll multiplied by 4 drive-bys/strolls per day which equals 20 fishing man hours per day. Remember, over the two miles of bay that we pass there are hundreds of these guys. We've done this every day for the last three weeks meaning that we've witnessed a total of 420 hours of fishing and have never seen anyone catch a fish. My conclusion is that either these guys can run in-between rain drops or the fishing is pure escapist fantasy. Actually never mind, I get it now.