My parents made me do it!
Granddad moved to Portland from Nebraska for retirement just as WWII began. When WWII ended, most of his adult kids settled their families here and they adopted Oregon as the best place to live. Living in the cities and experiencing the Oregon countryside. And that meant fishing...
I'm still trout fishing with the Bretton 804 reel that dad gave me in 1968 (because he bought a couple of Cardinal 4's and a Mitchell for himself, LOL). Being all metal with a plastic spool, the Bretton is one tough little reel and the only weak point has been the bail spring which failed last year. I've since bought a couple spare reels off eBay, so I should have a lifetime supply now.
My big fish rigs have DAM Quick 440N's that dad bought for us back in 1975. The Quick 440N are rugged and serviceable, but not the smoothest reels. Gotta keep the slider for the bail lubricated or else they freeze up. Good thing is eBay has a steady stream of them and I've got a few for parts.
I really enjoy trying to figure out fish behavior and spreading the knowledge. Watching salmon pair up, then continue upstream. Seeing cutthroat trout rule their pool, stealing salmon eggs. Watching steelhead come back downstream after spawning in some unimaginably small water. Seeing crawdads pick a carcass clean.
So... fishing is a connection with nature, a connection with the past, and a connection with the future.