Music on the water

“No life, my honest Scholar, no life so happy and so pleasant as the life of a well governed Angler; for when the lawyer is swallowed up with business, and the statesman is preventing or contriving plots, then we sit on cowslip banks, hear the birds sing, and possess ourselves in as much quietness as these silent silver streams, which we now see glide so quietly by us.”​

--Izaak Walton, 1653

There are so many rich sounds and stimuli in what most consider silence. I live where it's quiet and actually dark at night. No noise pollution, no light pollution. There are so many little sounds you miss if you are used to the cacophony of the city or life detached from nature wherever that may be. I'm convinced that a great many medical problems and mental health problems come from a life completely detached from nature. For me music in nature is noise. I love music but not when there is so much else to hear and be aware of.
 
I think a fair number of people find the feeling of being alone with nothing more than their thoughts uncomfortable and perhaps a bit frightening.

Without something to provide distraction they must confront the utterly pointless nature of their miserable existence.
 
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There are so many rich sounds and stimuli in what most consider silence. I live where it's quiet and actually dark at night. No noise pollution, no light pollution. There are so many little sounds you miss if you are used to the cacophony of the city or life detached from nature wherever that may be. I'm convinced that a great many medical problems and mental health problems come from a life completely detached from nature. For me music in nature is noise. I love music but not when there is so much else to hear and be aware of.
I have a song in my head nearly 100% of the time. I don't choose the song (or portion of song). It's ever present. The only way to stop the song, is to play music to replace the song. So for me the noise can only be replaced by noise.

There are only a few times in my adult life when I have been able to have a quiet brain. By that I mean that I notice their is no song in my head. This result in a feeling of a weight being lifted and a mental clarity that I just honestly don't get otherwise. There is a certain combinations of medications/ chemicals that can do it, and a few precious times when in the woods, hunting or fishing. It usually takes at least a week of being outdoors for it to be a possibility.

To your point above, I do believe that my mental health would be vastly improved with much more time spent in nature.

I don't listen to music while fishing at least in part becasue I am hoping to have that feeling of quiet happen.
 
I think a fair number of people find the feeling of being alone with just themselves uncomfortable and perhaps a bit frightening.

I am never alone. Let me introduce myself and my two friends. This is Me. This is Myself. I am I. We are best friends and are always together...
 
One of my favorite fishing buddies, now departed, (and RIP Terry). used to select reels for the sound they make. One of my favorite things to hear was his chuckle as he hooked a fish, and then hopefully the reel singing its lovely tune. He didn't make a big deal of it but you could share his enjoyment, and he caught a lot of fish, so even better. The splashy rises, parents coaching their kids at the busier lakes, people just talking amongst each other. All pleasant sounds. Nature is the best of all.
That's what I enjoy. Most people have (and I know this is grumpy old man talk) very poor taste in music, anyway no one should expect others to enjoy the same music they like. Folks who force share their tunes in the outdoors annoy me in a huge way. Those who use earbuds don't bother me at all, and I thank them for allowing others to enjoy what they want to enjoy.
 
Music is key, it's step one of the streamer bro playbook. You need to be blasting music LOUDLY when you pull up to the ramp. Wu-tang is preferred. It's an important part of the process as it establishes dominance and lets everyone know you're not there to fuck around. You can't pull out a gang of 7wts and a few boxes full of 6" gamechangers and have anyone take you serious if you skip this step.
 
Music is key, it's step one of the streamer bro playbook. You need to be blasting music LOUDLY when you pull up to the ramp. Wu-tang is preferred. It's an important part of the process as it establishes dominance and lets everyone know you're not there to fuck around. You can't pull out a gang of 7wts and a few boxes full of 6" gamechangers and have anyone take you serious if you skip this step.
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Apparently MRFC follows your (sarcastic) post.
 
One of my favorite fishing buddies, now departed, (and RIP Terry). used to select reels for the sound they make. One of my favorite things to hear was his chuckle as he hooked a fish, and then hopefully the reel singing its lovely tune. He didn't make a big deal of it but you could share his enjoyment, and he caught a lot of fish, so even better. The splashy rises, parents coaching their kids at the busier lakes, people just talking amongst each other. All pleasant sounds. Nature is the best of all.
That's what I enjoy. Most people have (and I know this is grumpy old man talk) very poor taste in music, anyway no one should expect others to enjoy the same music they like. Folks who force share their tunes in the outdoors annoy me in a huge way. Those who use earbuds don't bother me at all, and I thank them for allowing others to enjoy what they want to enjoy.

If it's blasting out of a Daddy's wake board boat it's always going to be shit. Bluetooth tube style speakers in a campground, electronic shit. Ghetto blaster in camp next to a pile of empty shitty beers, hit and miss.

Either way it's always inappropriate. This isn't the wake board rap battle challenge, Coachella, or a butt rock fantasy camp. Jacked up diesel with stupid under chassis lighting, mood hula hoop, and clapped out Camero not included.
 
I am never alone. Let me introduce myself and my two friends. This is Me. This is Myself. I am I. We are best friends and are always together...
And you should em all try and order one pie from the pizza joint. 😳😂
 
What about the motorcycle guys to poor to buy helmet headphones but willing to turn up the outside volume so they can listen to music with loud pipes
There's a guy down the street from us that has two Harley Davisons, some kind of tricked out chopper, a lifted Ram (diesel, of course that he "rolls coal" with). I'm sure he can afford helmet headphones, instead you can hear his lousy music minutes before he ROARS up the hill - pretty sure he just likes to piss people off. He's the kind of neighbor that if he had a boat it would be one of those God forsaken wakeboard boats with Hip Hop blaring.
 
What about the motorcycle guys to poor to buy helmet headphones but willing to turn up the outside volume so they can listen to music with loud pipes
You've been to Ohio. We're also too poor to buy the helmets out here.
I can barely tolerate my own music, I'm not subjecting others to it as well.
Winner. Guess no one will be blessed by our Kpop any time soon.
 
I haven't read all four pages of responses, so for what it's worth.

In my float tubes and boat I have either a horn or whistle to signal distress or gain the attention of a craft arrantly of course. Anything that would cancel out my ability to detect another vessel (even at great distance) trying to get my attention won't fly with me.

I too enjoy the sounds of nature, being alone with my own thoughts and even the sound of my lifting line off the water. I've detected a fouled leader in the air behind me by it's sound moving through the air and then dropped the cast, rather than making additional false casts, fouling it further. My drags make faint but fun noises when a fish is running, why would I want to cancel that out? I can't count the number of times I've detected the sound of a riser, behind me, slurping down a callibaetis or damsel and turned to make a cast - why would I want to cancel that ability out?

I don't go to the outdoors to isolate myself from the world, I go there in large part to immerse my senses in the natural world.
 
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