Michael Pittman Jr. and Randy Moss find calm on water

NFL stars – Michael Pittman Jr. and Randy Moss describe fishing as a “flow state” and a rare pause from the noise of the NFL—while Joe Cummings has turned the hobby into a post-football fly fishing life. For them, the appeal is both therapeutic and beautifully simple: cat

When Michael Pittman Jr. isn’t making catches on the gridiron, he’s chasing them somewhere else—out on the water, where the chaos of the NFL gives way to the blunt rhythm of fishing.

The Steelers wide receiver describes fishing as “more therapeutic,” a place where he isn’t dealing with practice, pressure, or phones constantly ringing. It’s the kind of escape that can follow an athlete long after the final whistle.

Growing up in Southern California. Pittman said he and his cousin would raid their grandfather’s tackle box for poles and sneak off to a nearby lake. They “didn’t know exactly what we were doing. ” Pittman said. but they believed that if they could find hooks. line. and worms. they could catch fish—even if they got “caught most of the time” and were yelled at.

As he got older, Pittman used birthday and Christmas money to buy his own fishing gear. He fished lakes, oceans, even sewers, continuing through college at USC and then into the NFL after he was drafted. This offseason. he was on a fishing trip in Uganda with his brother when he found out he’d been traded from the Indianapolis Colts to the Steelers.

Pittman isn’t the only NFL star who treats fishing as more than a hobby. Hall of Famer Randy Moss said fishing is a mental reset.

“It’s more therapeutic for me,” Moss said. “You don’t have people screaming, wanting your autograph, wanting a picture. The phone is not ringing, things like that. You’re out there just really enjoying yourself. enjoying your day… For me. to retire from the game and find something that I love to do. that’s just being out there on the fresh water just trying to catch a bass.”.

Moss, a six-time Pro Bowl wide receiver, is now also bringing fishing to viewers. He is starring in a new unscripted bass fishing YouTube series called “Chasing 10.” The show follows Moss across the country as he attempts to catch a 10-pound largemouth bass. with the first episodes dropping in late May.

At the end of the season. Moss said he will donate his boat to a charity raffle benefitting the Children’s Cancer Research Fund in Minneapolis. Each episode features a different guest. many of them football players. and Moss said he’s seen first-time fishermen discover joy in a new sport and watched others reconnect with a childhood hobby.

For Moss, the pitch is simple: pro life can be all signal and noise, but the water offers “Peace.”

Peace is the word Pittman uses too—especially when he talks about the moments that still make him light up. He wouldn’t divulge his favorite Pittsburgh-area fishing spots. but he beams about proud catches including a 400-pound Pacific marlin and a 260-pound bluefin tuna in saltwater. and a 48-inch muskellunge in freshwater.

Fishing’s appeal, the players say, isn’t only emotional—it’s structured in a way athletes understand.

Pittman described fishing as something that lets him “get into a flow state.” He said he isn’t thinking about “Oh, I got practice” or “Oh, I got to deal with this.” Instead, he’s immersed in the moment and in nature.

Former NFL linebacker Joe Cummings, who after a major neck injury ended his football career in 2001 moved on to fly fishing, described the sport in almost football terms—defined outcomes and an immediate scoreboard.

“It’s a very exciting business with a very determined win and lose, right?. You either catch ‘em or you don’t, which helped me transition out of football,” Cummings said. “As you get better at it, it turns into hunting for large fish and that’s very exciting. The cheers in the boats are as big a cheer as you’d get from someone sitting in the stands.”.

Cummings founded Missoula River Lodge after his injury and transitioned full time into the fly fishing guide business. He said it was a resumption of a hobby he started as a kid growing up in Stevensville, Montana.

Guiding is a more social version of fishing, Cummings said—whether in the locker room with other guides or out on the water with clients. He added that a fair number of his clients are current or former NFL players.

For Cummings, the timing matters. He said that once the lights turn off, athletes face identity shock, and sometimes financial shock and ego shock, and that having an intense, structured solution for what comes next was useful.

Moss fishes three to four times a week. Pittman said he fishes as often as he can during the NFL season while balancing his football schedule with his family, and that he loves taking his wife and three kids out on his Lund 2075 Impact XS boat.

He said teammates are often surprised by how serious he is about fishing. since wide receivers don’t typically have reputations as outdoorsmen. Still, he invites people out anyway. Pittman said he already talked to Steelers rookie lineman Gennings Dunker about a fishing trip. and that several former Colts teammates previously took him up on the offer.

Pittman joked about who impressed him on the water and who didn’t. He said Tyler Warren is a better fisherman than he thought. He also called out Riley Leonard—a rookie last year—who he said claimed to be a big fisherman but “stunk it up. ” not catching one fish during a trip. so he’s “putting him on blast.”.

Fishing can also be all-consuming, Cummings said, but when it clicks, it changes how a person feels about their surroundings.

“It becomes really intimate,” he said. “There’s a term we use. we say. ‘He breathes the water.’ What that means is. you’re on it so much that (the bodies of water) start to have personalities. Trout don’t really move so the more time you spend around them. it’s like traveling through a banquet room of people with the lights out and the more time you travel. the lights keep coming on and you talk to more people.”.

That closeness to something living is part of what keeps Pittman motivated. He said the ability to cast a new line and start fresh matters, even when football ends another chapter on the schedule.

On their terms, though, the players stress that fishing doesn’t need to turn into another performance obsession. Pittman is sponsored by Lund Boats and said he wants to fish competitively after he retires. Moss and Cummings do not have the same ambition.

Moss said he and others enjoy the camaraderie and being out with nature. Cummings said fishing can become harmony and wonder—the longer you fish, the more you learn the personalities of the rivers and fish around you.

At the end of it, for all three, the water offers something football rarely does: a chance to slow down, focus on what’s right in front of them, and let “catch ’em or don’t” be enough.

NFL Michael Pittman Jr. Randy Moss Joe Cummings fishing fly fishing “Chasing 10” Lund Boats Indianapolis Colts Pittsburgh Steelers Children’s Cancer Research Fund