Did anyone else find it odd how in earlier episodes Pete hates camping and fishing.. but then later on he becomes an avid fisherman?

I know at the start of "Jack in the box" we see Mac and Pete returning from a fishing trip and Pete seems somewhat in two minds about the whole deal. On one hand he's complaining about the discomfort of nature, but then seems quite pleased with his catch. So it could be argued that over time MacGyver managed to sway Pete toward enjoying fishing and the outdoors.

I suppose that a person can own a cabin in the woods, and still dislike camping and fishing.
I like the activity of fishing, but I don't care to eat fish and I certainly don't want to have to handle and clean them. I can't abide waste or killing fish just for sport, so I don't do it.
Camping is uncomfortable for me, as all my broken pieces aren't completely healed and sleeping on the ground is painful, plus all the work of setting up and tearing down... I have no skill nor apetite for that.
But being out in the woods and enjoying nature... that sounds pleasant.

I suppose Pete is a little like me... I just need someone who is apt and eager to take me camping, cook for me, and clean the fish!

Do we know when he actually got that cabin? I don't think he owned it in earlier episodes.

If he did own it from the start. It could be argued that the cabin may have been for hideaway purposes, being a DXS agent, having a hideaway in the woods could be useful.

There's no mention of it (in my memory) before 'The Widowmaker'.
That would still have given Mac plenty of time (let's see... they would have known each other for eight years in S3?... check me on that) to show Pete all the joys of the Big Outdoors.

I know that Mac was heading out to the Phoenix Foundation's safehouse near Overlook Mountain in the ep 'Strictly Business', but I'm thinking that the cabin in 'Widowmaker' was Pete's own... though he could easily have used it for the purposes of a hide-out. It obviously wasn't public knowledge, as Murdoc had to suss out where Mac was by scoping his houseboat and following Nikki.

Well... I don't know that I picked up too much on Pete disliking the outdoors, but I could certainly see how MacGyver may have rubbed off on him and shared his enthusiasm for fishing with Pete, which Pete later grew to enjoy, as evidenced in "Unfinished Business" and "Brainwashed".
As for Pete's cabin in "The Widowmaker", he may very well have used it as a DXS hideout or whatever. In fact, perhaps it had once been a DXS hideout that was no longer in use and had been passed down to him. Or he may have inherited it from his grandfather or something like that. It could be something he owns but doesn't use much because he doesn't care much for the outdoors at first. (And he probably just doesn't have the time!)
Though if Pete went camping much at all, I think in a cabin would probably be his preferred method, rather than with a tent and sleeping bags and all.
But by the time of "The Survivors", he seemed to be okay with it. And yeah, it is possible for the character to change some over time.

.....(of course, it's probably more like a minor detail the writers didn't pay a whole lot of attention to and probably rightly figuring not too many viewers would pay attention to- except for the hardcore MacGyver fans that like to pick through every detail! )

I forget the exact wording of the scene, but in the episode "Early Retirement" when MacGyver asks Pete what he's going to do the conversation goes something along the lines of...

Pete: I'll take up fishing.

MacGyver: you hate fishing.

Pete: Camping.

MacGyver: You hate camping! I want you back Pete.

and I've just realized that this is even more odd.. because this conversation takes place after we see Pete proudly returning with a trout from his fishing trip with MacGyver in Jack in the box.

Pete never went fishing in Brainwashed. That was just part of the programming.

Now after remembering this I figured maybe Pete only likes fishing when he's with MacGyver or when he's around.

If he's alone and he's thinking, I want fish on my plate tonight but I don't like fishing on my own and Mac's not here and I got a million things to do, I'll get my fish in the store or on the market. It's easier.

As for camping is concerned, I'd say the same thing. Camping on your own must be indeed boring. Unless you want to be alone.

Peoples change over the years but Pete certainly isn't someone to spend days in the woods like MacGyver.

Than like Loth said maybe MacGyver learned Pete to enjoy the outside life.

There are many types of fishing. Just because he doesn't enjoy being in a damp boat with mosquitoes doesn't mean he wouldn't like to fish off a dock.

So, I don't see that as a contradiction.

Mac

but what about the conversation in Early retirement?

Well, then you would just say MacGyver was making a blanket statement in "Early Retirement" and Pete could have countered with- "I don't hate fishing altogether. I just don't like to have to do it in a boat with bugs all around me."

Well, that's true. But the people who brainwashed Pete had to give him some activity that they knew his friends would accept as normal and not question as to why he was gone all weekend. If Pete truly hated any form of fishing, MacGyver would have been questioning why "a weekend with Pete and salmon was like a dream come true".
So somewhere in the research, they must have determined that Pete liked fishing.

Well, they probably checked him out.