In keeping with the thought of making exercise fun, I’ll be taking my son fishing at the lake on Ft. Leavenworth this evening. It’s an activity that I’ve always enjoyed, largely in part due to some fond memories from my own childhood. It’s one that he loves, too, which means — if yesterday’s double exercise session is any indication — I’ll be doing more than merely dropping a line in the water and sitting around ’til the fish bite.

Turns out, fishing is actually a pretty good way to burn calories over the span of an hour:

Fishing from boat, sitting: 148-216 calories
Fishing from river bank, standing: 207-302 calories
Fishing in stream, in waders: 354-518 calories

Obviously, the more one weighs the more calories one burns. Whenever I recall that fact it’s one of the few times I’m glad I’ve got 40 pounds to lose, instead of a mere 10 or 15.

I doubt the calorie-burning stays quite as high if I use one of those Bionic Fish Finder gadgets: a device that displays not only the depth of the water but also detects the presence of fish. It blinks and sounds an alarm when fish are detected so anglers don’t have to keep re-casting in search of their prey.

Of course, as far as my son’s concerned, half the fun of fishing is watching his Chubby Mommy try casting her line without getting the hook caught in her hair. Thank goodness, then, that a 10-minute giggle fit (mine, as well as his) burns anywhere from 10 to 40 more calories!