Ayu fishing is one of the several narrowly defined styles of fishing in Japan.
Ayu fishing was practiced by Samurai as long as 430 years ago. It uses very long rods (7–11 meters) and fly, but fly-casting is not required. Ayu fishing originated at least 430 years ago [1] when anglers discovered they could dress their flies with pieces of fabric and use those to fool the fish. The art became more refined as the samurai, who were forbidden to practice martial arts and sword fighting in the Edo period, found this type of fishing to be a good substitute for their training: the rod being a substitute to the sword, and walking on the rocks of a small stream good leg and balance training. "Only the samurai were permitted to fish. So, the samurai who enjoyed ayu fishing would take sewing needles and bend them themselves, and make their own flies by hand."
Ayu fishing may be done with lures or with a live decoy. [2] As ayu fish are very territorial, they are likely to attack the live decoy fish used as bait. [3] This fishing method based on habit of strife among Ayu is called Tomozuri ( ja:友釣り friend fishing) in Japanese and deemed unique in Japan, but research is propagated from Korean Peninsula as well. [4]
Ayu are the second highest species of fish in Japan in terms of released juveniles. [5]
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.
Fly fishing is an angling technique that uses an ultra-lightweight lure called an artificial fly, which typically mimics small invertebrates such as flying and aquatic insects to attract and catch fish. Because the mass of the fly lure is insufficient to overcome air resistance, it cannot be launched far using conventional gears and techniques, so specialized tackles are used instead and the casting techniques are significantly different from other forms of angling. It is also very common for the angler to wear waders, carry a hand net, and stand in the water when fishing.
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.
A fishing lure is any one of a broad category of artificial angling baits that are inedible replicas designed to mimic prey animals that attract the attention of predatory fish, typically via appearances, flashy colors, bright reflections, movements, vibrations and/or loud noises which appeal to the fish's predation instinct and entice it into gulping the lure. Angling activities using lures are known as lure fishing.
The ayu sweetfish, ayu or sweetfish, is a species of fish. It is the only species in the genus Plecoglossus and family Plecoglossidae. It is a relative of the smelts and other fish in the order Osmeriformes.
Cormorant fishing is a traditional fishing technique in which fishermen use trained cormorants to catch fish in rivers. Historically, cormorant fishing has taken place in China and Japan, as well as Greece, North Macedonia, and briefly, England and France. Sometimes known as "duck fishing," it was attested as a method used by the ancient Japanese in the Book of Sui, the official history of the Sui dynasty of China, completed in 636 CE. Though cormorant fishing was once a successful enterprise, its primary use today is to serve the tourism industry. This artisan fishing method is no longer used anywhere except southwestern China, where it is also under threat from competition from more modern methods.
Nissui Corporation, is a marine products company based in Tokyo, Japan. Formerly known as Nippon Suisan Kaisha Ltd. from 31 March 1937 to 30 November 2022, it officially changed its name to its common abbreviation on 1 December 2022.
Fishing tackle is the equipment used by anglers when fishing. Almost any equipment or gear used in fishing can be called fishing tackle, examples being hooks, lines, baits/lures, rods, reels, floats, sinkers/feeders, nets, spears, gaffs and traps, as well as wires, snaps, beads, spoons, blades, spinners, clevises and tools that make it easy to tie knots.
Coarse fishing is a phrase commonly used in Britain and Ireland. It refers to the angling for rough fish, which are fish species considered undesirable as food or game fish. Freshwater game fish are all salmonids, particularly salmon, trout and char. Generally, coarse fish are freshwater fish that are not salmonids, though there is often disagreement over whether grayling should be classified as a game fish or a coarse fish.
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.
Fishing is a prehistoric practice dating back at least 70,000 years. Since the 16th century, fishing vessels have been able to cross oceans in pursuit of fish, and since the 19th century it has been possible to use larger vessels and in some cases process the fish on board. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping.
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.
The Salmon Fly - How to Dress It and How to Use It is a fly fishing book written by George M. Kelson published in London in 1895 by Messers. Wyman & Sons, Limited. This Victorian guide to fly fish tying built up the illusion that angling for salmon required feathers of exotic bird species.
A Book on Angling – Being a complete treatise on the art of angling in every branch is a work of angling literature with significant fly fishing content written by Francis Francis, angling editor to The Field and published in London in 1867 by Longmans, Green and Company.
Blacker's Art of Fly Making - comprising angling and dyeing of colours with engravings of Salmon and Trout flies shewing the process of the gentle craft as taught in the pages with descriptions of flies for the season of the year as they come out on the water is a work of fly tying literature with significant fly fishing content written by William Blacker, a London tackle dealer and first published in London in 1842 by George Nichols. The 1842 and 1843 editions were only 48 pages while, the 1855 edition was considerably expanded by Blacker with hand-painted, colored illustrations and 252 pages.
Tenkara fishing is a type of simple rod angling traditionally practiced in Japan. Primarily used for mountain stream trout fishing, tenkara is still a fairly rare method even among freshwater anglers in Japan, and was largely unknown outside Japan until 2009, when the company Tenkara USA, founded by Daniel Galhardo, introduced and popularized tenkara outside Japan.
The Japanese sandfish, also known as the sailfin sandfish, is a species of fish of the Percomorpha (perch-like) clade in the order Trachiniformes, being one of the two genera in the family Trichodontidae, the sandfishes. Known in Japan as hatahata, it is a commercially important fish especially for Akita and Yamagata prefectures. Its habitat occurs in sandy-mud bottoms ranging from the Sea of Japan to the Okhotsk Sea.
The Sakasa Kebari or reverse-hackle fly, is an artificial fly most associated with the Japanese style of tenkara fishing but can be used in most freshwater fly fishing. The Sakasa Kebari is usually defined by firstly, its reverse hackle and secondly, by its simplicity as compared to western style flies. This fly was originally created to be used in the small, high gradient streams in Japan while fishing for native trout and char.
This article describes the history of dolphin fishing and utilization in Japan. Dolphins capturing are sometimes referred to as hunting and sometimes as fishing. In Japan, the word fishing (漁) has traditionally been used instead of hunting (猟) for dolphin capturing, so this article will use the word "fishing" for convenience. The catch of dolphins is not stable every year; sometimes they are caught in large quantities, and sometimes they are rarely caught. Also, when a large school of dolphins arrives, a large number of workers are temporarily needed. As a result, dolphin fishing profits were often allocated and taxed as contingent. In many cases, there was also a rule that those with dolphin fishing rights could call in personnel when fishing for dolphins.