Things you buy through our links may earn Vox Media a commission. Want to share yours? Email pitches to itscomplicated nymag. In a photo on his Tinder profile, John Prioli is standing on a pier in Greenpoint, the Manhattan skyline in the distance, holding a live striped bass slightly larger than the size of a standard pillow. After the photo was taken, Prioli released the bass back into the East River, as he does with most of his catches. For the past five years, Prioli, a year-old North Carolina native who lives in Brooklyn, has used a handful of dating apps off and on β Tinder, Bumble and Hinge β and built profiles featuring similar photos.
I first discovered the trend when my friend, over at her apartment for dinner, asked if she could play around with my Bumble app β and once she pointed it out, I started seeing fish everywhere. How had I missed the fact that another fisherman popped up seemingly every few swipes? Curious and a little amused, I started to collect some data β and by collect some data, I mean screenshot every Bumble fisherman I encountered and compile the images into a quickly growing Google doc.
After logging over screenshots of mackerel men, I was more intrigued than ever. But fish? I needed to know: why so many of them? The next stop on my research quest was the Tinder profile of a cute guy whose photo showed him wearing overalls next to a pond. What got you into fishing? All I do is fish. As a general rule, at least in my experience, out-of-towner Tinders are generally up to no good. Then I started a conversation with someone more geographically acceptable.
So I turned my investigation elsewhere, joining the Facebook group of a local fishing alliance. There, I met a something fisherman who told me met he his wife while working as a fishmonger. He gave her his number after she admired several pound fish he brought into a sushi restaurant where she was eating.
Eventually, Scheff matched with a woman who had fishing photos of her own. It makes sense, but surely not every guy with a fish pic is that dedicated a hobbyist. Fishing photos, on the other hand, can display strength and athletic prowess. But Prioli, who has 15 years of experience as an angler, has another theory: fish photos convey wholesome enjoyment. We never matched. I say he swiped left. He says he might not have seen my profile.
