Coarse fishing (Irish : garbhiascaireacht, Welsh : pysgota bras) is a phrase commonly used in Great Britain and Ireland. [1] [2] 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. [3]
Fly fishing is the technique usually used for freshwater game fishing, while other angling techniques are usually used for coarse fishing. [4] The sport of coarse fishing and its techniques are particularly popular in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe, as well as in some former British Commonwealth countries and among British expatriates.
The distinction between coarse fish and game fish, terms that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 19th century, has no taxonomic basis [5] Before that time, recreational fishing was a sport of the gentry, who angled for salmon and trout and called them "game fish". There was a view that other fish did not make as good eating, and they were disdained as coarse fish. [6] [7] Coarse fish have scales that are generally larger than the scales of game fish, [5] and tend to inhabit warmer and stiller waters.
When fishing on rivers for game fish (i.e., brown, rainbow, brook and sea trout, salmon and in some cases grayling), artificial flies, small spinners and lures are a popular choice for many game anglers due their ability to mimic prey items, (such as small invertebrates), on the surface and top layers of the water, enticing the fish into feeding. [8]
Both floating and sinking flies and lures can be used to fish either on the surface or in the upper layers of the water. Usually, in the summer months, a spinner or fly manoeuvre across the surface will bring about a take from a fish due to the tendency of fish to move into the warmest part of the water, the surface and first layer—about 18 inches (46 cm)—of water below.
When fishing a river for coarse fish species, such as chub, barbel, roach, dace and bream, the favourite hook baits tend to be maggot (white, red, and bronze), caster (maggot chrysalis), worm, cheese, pellets (halibut, trout, and carp), boilies (round boiled baits typically made with fish meal, milk, and soya) and luncheon meat.
Loose feed can be any of the above baits with a particle bait, sometimes in the form of hemp seed or a manufactured fishmeal ground bait.
For most species, hook baits will work. When targeting more specific species, such as specimen carps, baits such as boilies, large pellets, large bunches of maggots, floating baits, large lungworm, tiger nuts, and meat chunks from cat food can work well. Micro pellets softened along with ground bait can be fed alongside all hook baits.
Predatory fish such as pike, zander, perch, and eels can be caught using either dead or live bait, typically in the form of a small fish such as a live roach. However, it is worth noting that some fishing venues prohibit the use of live bait.
Spinning, the use of an artificial lure, is also used for predators.
For all anglers in England and Wales, anyone aged 17 and over must purchase a valid rod licence before fishing. Children under 13 do not need a licence, and children aged 13–16 must get a free junior licence. [9] This will enable anglers to legally fish in England and Wales for non migratory trout and coarse fish.
A single rod licence will enable an angler to fish with up to three [9] rods at any one time.
Most commercial fisheries and some rivers are operated on a day ticket basis. In the UK, these can range in price. They are usually paid on the bank with a representative of the venue collecting the fees from anglers from the peg (fishing spot) at some time during the day, or prior to commencing fishing. In some cases, season tickets can be purchased.
Some lakes and river stretches are operated by angling clubs which charge annual membership fees. Application forms can be available from local tackle shops or angling club websites. Fishing venues can be operated by syndicates, usually by invitation. They can sometimes be joined by contacting a senior member of the syndicate.
The most common types of tackle is the rod and reel, the rod being typically between 8 and 13 feet (2.4–4.0 m) long, and manufactured of tubular carbon fibres or splits of Tonkin bamboo. A reel is then attached near the base of the rod to hold a long length of line, which is run to the tip of the rod through eyelets. Once cast out, the line can be retrieved by winding a handle on the reel.
However, the use of "poles" is also widespread. Here, the line is fixed to the very tip of the rod, with no reel used: in order to retrieve the line, the pole itself is taken apart until the line can be swung to hand. Poles are often very long in order to increase the angler's range—up to 52 feet (16 m).
The main techniques used are float fishing, bottom fishing (legering) and lure fishing.
Fly fishing techniques may also be used for certain species, such as grayling or chub.
For float and leger fishing, groundbait is usually thrown into the water to attract fish to the area. Typical baits include nightcrawlers, maggots, bread and sweet corn. Lately, advancements in technology and market competitiveness have led to many types of other ingredients being introduced, including chemicals, such as betaine, that stimulate the feeding response in fish. Boilies are popular baits for carp fishing.
The main target species for this type of angling include:
Name | Scientific name | Image | Variants |
---|---|---|---|
Barbel | Barbus barbus | ||
Bream | Abramis brama | ||
Common carp | Cyprinus carpio | Grass, Common, Crucian, Leather , Mirror | |
Chub | Squalius cephalus | ||
Dace | Leuciscus leuciscus | ||
Ide | Leuciscus idus | ||
Perch | Perca fluviatilis | ||
Pike | Esox lucius | ||
Roach | Rutilus rutilus | ||
Rudd | Scardinius erythrophthalmus | ||
Tench | Tinca tinca | ||
Wels catfish | Silurus glanis | ||
Zander | Sander lucioperca | ||
Less targeted species include:
Trolling is a method of fishing where one or more fishing lines, baited with lures or bait fish, are drawn through the water at a consistent, low speed. This may be behind a moving boat, or by slowly winding the line in when fishing from a static position, or even sweeping the line from side-to-side, e.g. when fishing from a jetty. Trolling is used to catch pelagic fish such as salmon, mackerel and kingfish.
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.
The common chub, also known as the European chub or simply chub, is a species of European freshwater ray-finned fish in the carp family Cyprinidae, that frequents both slow and moderate rivers, as well as canals, lakes and still waterbodies of various kinds.
Bass fishing is the recreational fishing activity, typically via rod-based angling, for various game fishes of North America 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 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.
Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook 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 also exist. Modern angling rods are usually fitted with a fishing reel that functions as a cranking device for storing, retrieving and releasing out the line, although Tenkara fishing and traditional cane pole fishing are two rod-angling methods that do not use any reel. The fish hook itself can be additionally weighted with a denser tackle called a sinker, and is typically dressed with an appetizing bait to attract and entice the fish into swallowing the hook, but sometimes an inedible fake/imitation bait with multiple attached hooks is used instead of a single hook with edible bait. Some type of bite indicator, such as a float, a bell or a quiver tip, is often used to relay underwater status of the hook to the surface and alert the angler of a fish's presence.
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.
Game fish, sport fish or quarry refer to popular fish species pursued by recreational fishers, and can be freshwater or saltwater fish. Game fish can be eaten after being caught, preserved as taxidermy, or released after capture. Some game fish are also targeted commercially, particularly less bony species such as salmon and tuna.
In angling, casting is the act of the angler throwing the bait and hook as well as other attached terminal tackles 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.
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.
Groundbait is a fishing bait that is either thrown or "balled" into the water in order to olfactorily attract more fish to a designated area for more efficient catching via angling, netting, trapping, or even spearing and shooting. Groundbaits are typically scattered separately from the hook and usually before even casting any rod or net, although in bottom fishing they can be deployed synchronously with hookbaits while contained inside a gradual-release device also attached to the fishing line known as a method feeder.
A bite indicator is any signalling device used in angling which alerts the fisherman of what is happening at the hook end of the fishing line, particularly whether a fish has swallowed the hook. It is the quintessential tackle used in bait fishing, which depends partly on luck and often requires unpredictable periods of time passively waiting for fish to bite the 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.
Fishing bait is any luring substance used specifically to attract and catch fish, typically when angling with a hook and line. There are generally two types of baits used in angling: hookbaits, which are directly mounted onto fish hooks and are what the term "fishing bait" typically refers to; and groundbaits, which are scattered separately into the water as an "appetizer" to attract the fish nearer to the hook. Despite the bait's sole importance is to provoke a feeding response out of the target fish, the way how fish react to different baits is quite poorly understood.
This page is a list of fishing topics.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fishing:
Carp is a common name for various species of freshwater fish from the family Cyprinidae that are native to Eurasia and sought after by some recreational fishermen. Certain carp species have been introduced, with mixed results, to various other locations around the world, and even declared invasive in certain regions.
This is an impartial and comprehensive record list of 308 British record freshwater fish, past and present, involving 60 different species/sub-species of fish caught using the traditional angling method of rod and line. Records to include the angler, species, weight, date, venue, also referenced with a recognizable publication. The list is intended to include all categories of fish caught by anglers, that enter freshwater including and some migratory sea fish. The time since last record fish was caught is 231 days.
The British Record Fish Committee -(BRFC) is the official organisation taking responsibility for all angling fish records within the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands, collectively known as the "British Records". Since 2009 the BRFC has been part of the Angling Trust