When I lived at my parents’ home, Sundays were always a day of rest; there were few available outside activities with the exception of church (I fought tooth-and-nail to avoid going), the Botanical Gardens, or visiting with family and friends. This was still in the days of stores remaining closed by law on Sundays.

We always had a big family lunch on Sundays and I would head for the couch immediately afterward, hoping for a few zzzz’s to kill the boredom and to wait out the stuffed feeling in my gut. There were three things on TV that were guaranteed to have me asleep in a matter of minutes: Religious programming of any kind, golf broadcasts, and fishing shows.

So when I saw a review in yesterday’s Gazette of an iTunes app called Fishing Kings, it immediately brought back memories of soporific boredom. But the review was so glowing and the description sounded so downright fun, that I went to iTunes and downloaded both the iPhone and iPad versions. I played the game this morning and it’s not only a load of fun, but very instructive as well, if you’re a fisherman (I am, although I prefer fly-fishing and the program is exclusively bait oriented).

For the sake of full disclosure, note that I am not a gamer; in fact there isn’t a single game on any of my Apples (iPhone 4, iPad, and iMac). But even as a naive player, the graphics of Fishing Kings look wonderful; the choice of locations, equipment, and species are inexhaustible; and the action loads of fun. I especially liked the verbal coaching which helps you understand what you need to be doing as the fish reacts to being hooked (you see the fish underwater). Get this right away if you enjoy fishing. Hell, get it even if you don’t like fishing.

P.S. I just realized that Fishing Kings was only free for a couple of days, as a Christmas promo, I guess. It’s now $4.99. Still worth it IMHO. And there is a free version with very limited options for you to try out.