“Fishing is physical,” Al Lindner, local sportsman, tv and radio personality says. “You know, you’re moving, you’re up and down in a boat, moving around, jumping around a lot. And when you’re filming, you’re active, really active. You get the adrenaline going a little bit. I love it.”

Lindner’s passion for fishing started as a young child at his grandparents’ cabin in Hayward, Wisconsin. Eventually that passion became a career spanning more than 50 years and including everything from developing tackle to radio and television shows, all with the goal of expanding fishing access and education.

To this day, the 79-year-old Blue Cross member from Brainerd, Minnesota spends an impressive 180 days angling each year. Lindner still produces a show called Angling Edge for his business, Lindner’s Media Production Company, and also participates in fishing tournaments. He credits his lifelong love of the sport to maintaining his health and wellbeing.

A day spent fishing on the water can provide a low-impact workout for different muscle groups including your arms, shoulders, back, core and legs. Strengthening those muscles can improve balance and help prevent falls.

In addition to the workout he gets in pursuit of a good catch, he stretches and walks regularly, and maintains a balanced diet. While he has had a knee replacement and experiences some shoulder soreness, Lindner feels healthy enough to keep fishing and his doctors encourage him to do so.

“They say to keep doing what I’m doing,” Lindner says. “That I’m in awful good shape for my age, so don’t slow down, don’t change. And I don’t plan to.”

Fishing frame of mind

In addition to the physical benefits of fishing, Lindner enjoys the positive impact the sport can have on him mentally.

“It’s trying to figure out how to catch the fish,” he says. “I love fishing in different kinds of lakes, the lakes I’ve never been on. That’s the most exciting thing to me. Going to different water, trying to pattern the fish, figure out how to catch the fish. Once I get through with that and know that I can catch a whole bunch of fish, I’ll get bored really quickly and want to go to another lake or try another lure or something.”

Lindner credits that critical thinking with keeping his mind sharp. And while Lindner finds a great sense of personal fulfillment throughout his decades of fishing, one of the biggest joys in the sport comes from sharing it with others.

“It’s so much fun. You can participate at any level you want,” he says. “And the thing is, no matter what physical condition you’re in, you can fish. In fact, it’s like medicine for a lot of people. Just to be outdoors, outside, being in environments like that, it’s healing. It’s really a powerful thing.”

Learn more

Did you know fishing can help your heart and vitamin intake? Find out how in the latest issue of thrive. magazine.