Angling

Angling (from

Angling is not to be confused with snagging, another fishing technique that also uses line and hook to catch fish. The principal differences between the two techniques are that angling often uses very small hooks and relies on the target fish itself to voluntarily swallow the hook to pierce internally into the fish's mouth; while snagging uses very large, sharp, multi-pointed grappling hooks that actively "claw" and pierce externally into the body/gill of the fish, and hardly ever involves any hookbait. Snagging also inflicts far more mutilating injuries to the fish and makes it very difficult to heal and survive even if the fish is released alive or manages to escape the snag.

Tackles

Hook

The use of the hook in angling is descended, historically, from what would today be called a gorge. The word "gorge", in this context, comes from the French word meaning "throat". Gorges were used by ancient peoples to capture fish and animals like seal, walrus and birds. A gorge was a long, thin piece of bone or stone attached by its midpoint to a thin line. The gorge would be baited so that it would rest parallel to the lay of the line. When the game would swallow the bait, a tug on the line would cause the gorge to orient itself at right angles to the line, thereby sticking in the fish or animal's throat or gullet. Gorges evolved into the modern fishing hook which is J-shaped with a loop on one end and a sharp point on the other. Most hooks have a barb near the point to better anchor the point and prevent a fish from unhooking itself while being reeled in. Some laws and regulations require hooks to be barbless, typically to facilitate catch and release. This rule is commonly implemented to protect populations of certain species, as a barbed hook could cause significant collateral lacerations (especially when it penetrates the gill) that can kill a fish even after released alive.

Line

Fishing lines are long, ultra-thin, flexible cords that may come in

Rod

A fishing rod is a long, thin stick/pole that acts as an extended lever and allows the angler to amplify line movements while luring and pulling the fish. It also enhances

Fishing reels are manually

A bite indicator is any device that can help to notify the angler that the hook has been swallowed by a fish. There are many types of bite indicators, the oldest and most ubiquitously used being the fishing float, which floats at the water surface with the hook and bait suspended below it. When the fish swallows the hook, the leader line between the hook and the float pulls the float deeper into the water, causing it to oscillates in and out of water in a bobbing-like fashion (hence its American English name, the "bobber").^[4]

Other bite indicators used in angling include:

• Fishing bell — an (often plastic) bulldog clip attached to a pair of small jingle bells, used often in surf fishing and bank fishing involving rod holders. When clipped onto the fishing rod, the bells will rattle when vibrations are transmitted onto the rod from the fishing line, and the sound can alert the angler.^[5]
• Quiver tip — a (typically removable) elastic extension to the distal end of the fishing rod, used in bottom fishing (which does not use floats) and often in conjunction with fishing bells. As the name suggests, the more flexible tip extension will amplify any vibration transmitted from the line to the rod, allowing the angler to see the tip "quiver" and be alerted to any changes along the line.^[6]
• Bite alarm – an
  LED lighting that can visually indicate in addition to the sound alert, in case the angler happens to temporarily wander away from the rod and cannot hear the sound clearly.^[5]

In angling, two broad types of baits are used:

to entice the fish into swallowing the hook along with the bait. In colloquial usage, the word "bait" refers specifically to hookbaits, which can be further separated into three main categories: natural baits, artificial baits and lures.

The choice of what bait to use is dictated mainly by the target species's diet, the habitat and weather conditions](which can alter the fish's foraging behavior), the angler's own personal preferences, and the local fishery regulations.^[8] Using an optimal angling bait can increase the chance of catching the intended fish, while conversely using an inadequate bait will greatly reduce the success rate, especially when there are other bait fishermen nearby.^[9]

Natural baits

Natural baits are food items that are present within the target fish's natural diet, which are usually animals at a lower

Crayfish, which are preyed upon by a variety of

The capture, transportation and culture of bait fish can spread damaging organisms between ecosystems, endangering them. In 2007 several American states enacted regulations designed to slow the spread of fish diseases, including viral hemorrhagic septicemia, by bait fish.^[19] Because of the risk of transmitting Myxobolus cerebralis (whirling disease), trout and salmon should not be used as bait.

Anglers may increase the possibility of contamination by emptying bait buckets into fishing venues and collecting or using bait improperly. The transportation of fish from one location to another can break the law and cause the introduction of fish alien to the ecosystem.

Artificial baits

Artificial baits are edible baits that are not directly acquired via natural means, but are made from other food materials via some kind of artificial processing. These can be

Lures

Some baits are not actual food items but rather just "fake"

Lures can be broadly categorized into hard-body and soft-body lures, although hybrid lures with both hard and soft components are also common. Soft-body lures tend to give a more flexible and realistic "swimming" posture when towed through the water, while hard-body lures usually rely on stirring up more noise and

Some fishing lures (e.g.

Almost all recreational angling activities involve the use of fishing rods, which is used to manipulate the movements of fishing lines and to allow farther casting of baits/lures. The main rod fishing techniques are float fishing, bottom fishing, lure fishing and trolling, while the former two are often collectively known as "bait fishing" due to the exclusive use of conventional edible baits.

Float fishing

Float fishing is the most common method of angling, defined by the use of a compact light buoy attached to fishing line – known as a float (or "bobber" in the United States) — as the bite indicator. Due to buoyancy, the float remains at the water surface and suspends the baited hook at a predetermined depth. It can also drift in the prevailing current and carry the hook to areas of water otherwise inaccessible by casting alone. When the fish bites and swallows the hook, the float visually signals any forces exerted on the leader line below it, as the fisherman can then see it being pulled underwater and/or sideways.^[4]

Bottom fishing

Bottom fishing, also called legering in the United Kingdom, uses a weighted

Some sinkers are replaced by feeders, which is designed to contain and release groundbaits to help attract fish towards the hook.

Lure fishing

Lure fishing uses a type of artificial fake bait known as lure, which is usually made from inedible materials such as wood, metal and plastics. Unlike conventional fishing baits, lures do not emit any scent and thus cannot attract fish olfactorily, but instead using prey-like appearances, movements, vibrations, bright reflections and flashy colors to attract and entice carnivorous

Rod trolling is basically a simplified version of commercial trolling (see below), with fishing rods functioning as improvised outriggers to tow the baits/lures through the water, usually behind or beside a moving boat with the rod fixated to the gunwale. It can also be done by very slowly winding the line in (like "finesse"-type lure fishing) or even sweeping the line sideways, with the angler operating the rod from a static position (e.g. atop a jetty, pier or bridge).

A variation of trolling is drift fishing, which is usually done from an unpowered boat in faster-flowing waters. The line is not actively reeled, and the bait/lure is allowed to drift and react freely to the turbulences in the water current, much like how a tethered kite would behave in a wind gust.

Line fishing

Although all angling techniques use hook and line, the term "line fishing" specifically refers to those that do not involve using fishing rods.

Handlining

Handlining is angling with a handheld fishing line, baited with

Longlining is a

Droplining involves setting a longline vertically down into the water (instead of being more horizontally deployed like longlining) with a series of baited hooks. Droplines are weighted at the bottom and have a float at the top. They are not usually as long as longlines and have fewer hooks, and tend to be stationary.

Trotlining

Trotlining uses a longline that, instead of being tethered to the water surface only at one end, are fixed at/near the surface at both ends of the longline, with hooked snood lines hanging vertically down along the main line. Trotlines are used for catching crabs or fish (e.g. catfish), particularly across rivers. They can be physically set in many ways, such as tying each end to a fixed structure and span the line across the water in-between like a boom, and adjusting rest of the line with weights and floats.

Slabbing

Slabbing is a

Rodless trolling is typically used in commercial fishing, with one or more baited lines drawn through the water behind a slow moving

Pahila (literally meaning "pulled") is a Filipino traditional shoreline trolling, uniquely using baited hooks tied to a laterally flattened float called palyaw, which is shaped like a small outrigger boat, a catamaran or a fish. A longline is attached to the float, and set unto the water's edge and dragged by someone running or walking along the beach. The combination of the water resistance and the diagonal pull forces the float outwards into deeper waters, like a kite. Once the line reaches its maximum line length, it moves rapidly parallel to the person pulling it along the beach, and is pulled back to the shore intermittently to check for catches. It is also called subid-subid, sibid-sibid, paguyod, pahinas, hilada, or saliwsiw, among other names, in other Philippine languages.^[21][22][23]

Laws and regulations

Laws and regulations managing angling vary greatly, often regionally, within countries. These commonly include permits (licences), closed periods (seasons) where specific species are unavailable for harvest, restrictions on gear types, and

Laws generally prohibit catching fish with hooks other than in the mouth (i.e. snagging, or "foul hooking" and "jagging"^[24]) or the use of nets and hand hooks other than as an aid in landing a captured fish. Some species, such as bait fish, may be taken with nets, and a few for food. Sometimes, non-sport fish are considered of lesser value and it may be permissible to take them by methods like snagging, bow and arrow or spearing, none of which fall under the definition of angling since they do not rely upon the use of a hook and line.

Fishing seasons

Fishing seasons are set by countries or localities to indicate what kinds of fish may be caught during

Slot limits prohibit the harvest of fish where the

Minimum landing size

Main article: Minimum landing size

The minimum landing size (MLS) is the smallest fish measurement at which it is legal for the fisherman to keep a captured fish. The MLS depends on the species of fish, and allowed sizes also vary around the world, as they are legal definitions which are defined by the local regulatory authority.^[32]

The idea behind this limitation is that only the older, more mature adult fish get taken, leaving growing

selection pressure to the fish population (see Fisheries-induced evolution) unless the anglers voluntarily practise catch and release indiscriminate of sizes. As larger fish (whose survival has been more successful so far) get taken out of the population, the genes for larger size are reduced or removed from the gene pool, while fish that mature at a smaller size survive longer to continue breeding, and the average size of fish stock shrinks over time. This has led to a collapse in the amount of catchable fish in some fisheries.^[33]

Catch and release

Main article: Catch and release

Although most anglers keep their catch for consumption, catch and release fishing is increasingly practiced, especially by fly anglers. The general principle is that releasing fish allows them to survive, thus avoiding unintended depletion of the population. For species such as marlin, muskellunge, and bass, there is a cultural taboo among anglers against taking them for food. In many parts of the world, size limits apply to certain species, meaning fish below a certain size must, by law, be released. It is generally believed that larger fish have a greater breeding potential. Some fisheries have a slot limit that allows the taking of smaller and larger fish, but requiring that intermediate sized fish be released. It is generally accepted that this management approach will help the fishery create a number of large, trophy-sized fish. In smaller fisheries that are heavily fished, catch and release is the only way to ensure that catchable fish will be available from year to year. The practice of catch and release is criticised by some who consider it unethical to inflict pain upon a fish for purposes of sport. Some of those who object to releasing fish do not object to killing fish for food. Adherents of catch and release dispute this charge, pointing out that fish commonly feed on hard and spiky prey items, and as such can be expected to have tough mouths, and also that some fish will re-take a lure they have just been hooked on, a behaviour that is unlikely if hooking were painful. Opponents of catch and release fishing would find it preferable to ban or to severely restrict angling. On the other hand, proponents state that catch-and-release is necessary for many fisheries to remain sustainable, is a practice that generally has high survival rates, and consider the banning of angling as not reasonable or necessary.^[34]

In some jurisdictions, in the Canadian province of Manitoba, for example, catch and release is mandatory for some species such as brook trout. Many of the jurisdictions which mandate the live release of sport fish also require the use of artificial lures and barbless hooks to minimise the chance of injury to fish. Mandatory catch and release also exists in the Republic of Ireland where it was introduced as a conservation measure to prevent the decline of Atlantic salmon stocks on some rivers.^[35] In Switzerland, catch and release fishing is considered inhumane and was banned in September 2008.^[36]

Barbless hooks, which can be created from a standard hook by removing the barb with pliers or can be bought, are sometimes resisted by anglers because they believe that increased fish escapes. Barbless hooks reduce handling time, thereby increasing survival. Concentrating on keeping the line taut while fighting fish, using recurved point or "triple grip" style hooks on lures, and equipping lures that do not have them with split rings can significantly reduce escapement.

Tournaments and derbies

Main article: Fishing tournament

Sometimes considered within the broad category of angling is where contestants compete for prizes based on the total length or weight of a fish, usually of a pre-determined species, caught within a specified time (fishing tournaments). Such contests have evolved from local fishing contests into large competitive circuits, where professional anglers are supported by commercial endorsements. Professional anglers are not engaged in commercial fishing, even though they gain an economic reward. Similar competitive fishing exists at the amateur level with fishing derbies. In general, derbies are distinguished from tournaments; derbies normally require fish to be killed. Tournaments normally deduct points if fish can not be released alive.^{[citation needed]}

Motivation

A ten-year-long survey of US fishing club members, completed in 1997, indicated that motivations for recreational angling have shifted from personal leisure, outdoor exercise, experiencing nature and thrill of the catch, to the importance of family time and social bonding via recreational fishing. Anglers with higher family incomes went fishing more frequently and were less concerned about obtaining fish as food.^[37]

A German study indicated that satisfaction derived from angling was not dependent on the actual catch, but depended more on the angler's expectations of the experience.^[38]

A 2006 study by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries tracked the motivations of anglers on the Red River. Among the most often stated responses were the fun of catching fish, the experience, to catch a lot of fish or a very large fish, for challenge, and adventure. Use as food was not investigated as a motive.^[39]

See also

• Artisanal fishing
• Bamboo fly rods
• Bibliography of fly fishing
• Fishing
• Gaff
• Piscatorial Society
• Recreational fishing
• Rock fishing
• Tailrace fishing
• Trolling (fishing)
• Trout worms

References

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Angling.

Wikisource has original works on the topic: Angling

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: River Fishing

• Francis, Francis (1878). "Angling" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. II (9th ed.). pp. 32–44.
• Project Gutenberg: The Compleat Angler
• How to fish taken from the Boy's Own Book of Outdoor Sports (early 1900s)
• Carp Fishing Information