Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques include hand-gathering, spearing, netting, angling, shooting and trapping, as well as more destructive and often illegal techniques such as electrocution, blasting and poisoning.
A fishing rod is a long, thin rod used by anglers to catch fish by manipulating a line ending in a hook. At its most basic form, a fishing rod is a straight rigid stick/pole with a line attached to one end ; however, modern rods are usually elastic and generally have the line stored in a reel mounted at the rod handle, which is hand-cranked and controls the line retrieval, as well as numerous line-restricting rings that distribute bending stress along the rod and help dampening down/prevent line whipping and entanglement. To better entice fish, baits or lures are dressed onto the one or more hooks attached to the line, and a bite indicator is used, some of which might be incorporated as part of the rod itself.
Bass fishing is the recreational fishing activity, typically via rod angling, for various North American game fishes known collectively as black bass. There are numerous black bass species targeted in North America, including largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, spotted bass or Kentucky bass, and Guadalupe bass. All black bass species are members of the sunfish family Centrarchidae.
Fly fishing is an angling method that uses a light-weight lure—called an artificial fly—to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. The light weight requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting. The flies may resemble natural invertebrates, bait-fish, or other food organisms.
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated via a fishing rod, although rodless techniques such as handlining and longlining also exist. Modern angling rods are usually fitted with a reel that functions as a cranking device for storing, retrieving and releasing out the line, although Tenkara fishing and cane pole fishing are two rod-angling methods that do not use any reel. The hook itself can be additionally weighted with a dense tackle called a sinker, and is typically dressed with an appetizing bait to attract the fish and enticing it into swallowing the hook, but sometimes an inedible fake bait with multiple attached hooks is used instead of a single hook with edible bait. A bite indicator, such as a float or a quiver tip, is often used to relay underwater status of the hook to the surface.
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing for survival and livelihood.
In angling, casting is the act of the angler throwing the bait and hook out over the water, typically by slinging a fishing line manipulated by a long, elastic fishing rod. The term itself may also be used for setting out a net when artisanal fishing.
Maine Guides are individuals certified to accompany travelers on a number of outdoor activities in the wilderness of the State of Maine, in the United States.
Fishing tackle is the equipment used by anglers when fishing. Almost any equipment or gear used in fishing can be called fishing tackle, although the term most commonly refers to angling tools such as hooks, lines, baits/lures, rods, reels, floats, sinkers/feeders, nets, stringers/keepnets/livewells, spears, gaffs, traps, waders and tackle boxes, as well as any wire, snaps, beads, spoons, blades, spinners, clevises and tools that make it easy to tie knots.
In Britain and Ireland, coarse fishing refers to angling for rough fish, which are fish species traditionally considered undesirable as a food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids — most particularly salmon, trout and char — so generally coarse fish are freshwater fish that are not salmonids. There is disagreement over whether grayling should be classified as a game fish or a coarse fish.
An artificial fly or fly lure is a type of fishing lure, usually used in the sport of fly fishing. In general, artificial flies are an imitation of aquatic insects that are natural food of the target fish species the fly fishers try to catch. Artificial flies are constructed by fly tying, in which furs, feathers, thread or any of very many other materials are tied onto a fish hook.
Fishing techniques are methods for catching fish. The term may also be applied to methods for catching other aquatic animals such as molluscs and edible marine invertebrates.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fishing:
A Concise Treatise on the Art of Angling- Confirmed by Actual Experiences and Minute Observations to Which is Added the Compleat Fly-Fisher is a fly fishing book written by Thomas Best, first published in London in 1787.
This annotated bibliography is intended to list both notable and not so notable works of English language, non-fiction and fiction related to the sport of fly fishing listed by year published. Although 100% of any book listed is not necessarily devoted to fly fishing, all these titles have significant fly fishing content. Included in this bibliography is a list of fly tying, fly tackle, regional guides, memoirs, stories and fly fishing fiction related literature.
Joan Salvato Wulff is a fly fisher, author and educator, also known as the "First Lady of Fly Fishing." In 1951, she won the national fly-casting distance title by winning the all-male competition and was a National Casting Champion from 1943-1960. She started the Wulff School of Fly Fishing along with her husband, Lee Wulff, in 1978, along the Beaverkill River in New York. The author of numerous books, Wulff was inducted into the International Game Fish Association Hall of Fame (2007) and American Casting Association Hall of Fame and is widely regarded as the architect of modern-day fly-casting mechanics.
A fishing license (US), fishing licence (UK), or fishing permit is an administrative or legal mechanism employed by local governments to regulate fishing. Licensing is one mechanism of fisheries management commonly used in Western countries, and may be required for either commercial or recreational fishing.
A sporting camp is an establishment that provides lodging, meals and guide service for hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation and usually consists of a set of “camps” or cabins accompanied by a main lodge. Some also offer primitive outpost cabins. Traditionally found in forests and on lakes in remote locations throughout the state of Maine, sporting camps are a popular lodging destination that have offered a unique outdoors experience to sportsmen across New England and throughout the United States for over a century.
Joseph White Brooks was an American fly fisherman and popular writer about the sport of fly fishing during the mid-20th century. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1901 and died in Rochester, Minnesota in 1972. He wrote for the leading fishing and outdoor magazines of the day and was the outdoor editor for The Baltimore Sun. He also wrote ten books about fly fishing, several of which are still considered leading authorities on the subject. He is listed by a leading online fly fishing publication, Fly Fishing Frenzy, as one of the 10 most influential fishermen ever. And the IGFA and others said he did more to popularize and expand fly fishing than any other individual.
Genevieve Kurilec McDonald is an American Democratic politician, lobster boat captain, and fisheries advocate from Maine. In 2018, she was the first female commercial fisherman to be elected to the Maine House of Representatives. McDonald represented House District #134: Cranberry Isles, Deer Isle, Frenchboro, Isle au Haut, North Haven, Southwest Harbor, Stonington, Swan's Island, Tremont, Vinalhaven, and Marshall Island. In 2013, she successfully led a social media campaign to prompt fishing gear producer Grundéns to produce commercial fishing gear for women. In June 2014, McDonald became the first woman to serve on the Maine Department of Marine Resources Lobster Advisory Council (LAC). McDonald resigned her House seat effective on May 10, 2022, the day after the last Legislative Day of the Second Regular Session of the 130th Maine Legislature.
