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.
A fishing reel is a hand-cranked reel used in angling to wind and stow fishing line, typically mounted onto a fishing rod, but may also be used on compound bows or crossbows to retrieve tethered arrows when bowfishing.
A fishing line is any flexible, high-tensile cord used in angling to tether and pull in fish, in conjunction with at least one hook. Fishing lines are usually pulled by and stored in a reel, but can also be retrieved by hand, with a fixed attachment to the end of a rod, or via a motorized trolling outrigger.
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.
Big-game fishing, also known as offshore sportfishing, offshore gamefishing or blue-water fishing, is a form of recreational fishing targeting large game fish, usually on a large body of water such as a sea or ocean.
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.
A downrigger is a device used while fishing using the trolling method, which places a lure at the desired depth. A downrigger consists of a three to six-foot horizontal pole which supports a cannonball, generally 10 to 15 pounds, by a steel cable. A clip, also known as a "release," attaches a fishing line to the cannonball weight. The bait or lure is attached to the release.
Marlin fishing or billfishing is offshore saltwater game fishing targeting several species of fast-swimming pelagic predatory fish with elongated rostrum collectively known as billfish, which include those from the families Istiophoridae and Xiphiidae (swordfish). It is considered by some fishermen to be a pinnacle of big-game fishing, due to the size, speed and power of the billfish and their relative elusiveness.
A spinnerbait or spinner is any one of a family of hybrid fishing lures that combines the designs of a swimbait with one or more spoon lure blades. Spinnerbaits get the name from the action of the metallic blades, which passively revolve around the attachment point like a spinning propeller when the lure is in motion, creating varying degrees of vibration and flashing that mimic small fish or other preys of interest to large predatory fishes. The two most popular types of spinnerbaits are the in-line spinner and safety pin spinnerbait, though others such as the tail spinner also exist. Spinnerbaits are used principally for catching freshwater fishes such as perch, pike and bass.
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.
A fishing vessel is a boat or ship used to catch fish and other valuable nektonic aquatic animals in the sea, lake or river. Humans have used different kinds of surface vessels in commercial, artisanal and recreational fishing.
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.
Recreational fishermen usually fish either from a boat or from a shoreline or river bank. When fishing from a boat, or fishing vessel, most fishing techniques can be used, from nets to fish traps, but some form of angling is by far the most common. Compared to fishing from the land, fishing from a boat allows more access to different fishing grounds and different species of fish.
The paravane is a towed winged (hydrofoiled) underwater object—a water kite. Paravanes have been used in sport or commercial fishing, marine exploration and industry, sports and military applications. The wings of paravanes are sometimes in a fixed position, else positioned remotely or by actions of a human pilot. Pioneer parafoil developer Domina Jalbert considered water kites hardly different from air kites. However, paravanes generally orient themselves in respect to the water surface. They may have sensors that record or transmit data or are used entirely for generating a holding force like a sea anchor does. While a sea-anchor allows a vessel to drift more slowly downwind, the paravane travels sideways at several times the downwind speed. Paravanes are, like air kites, often symmetrical in one axis and travel in two directions, the change being effected by gybing, shunting, or flipping over.
This page is a list of fishing topics.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to fishing:
Kite fishing is a fishing technique. It involves a kite from which a drop line hangs, attached to a lure or bait. The kite is flown over the surface of a body of water, and the bait floats near the waterline until taken by a fish. The kite then drops immediately, signaling to the fisherman that the bait has been taken, and the fish can then be hauled in. Kites can provide boatless fishermen access to waters that would otherwise be available only to boats. Similarly, for boat owners, kites provide a way to fish in areas where it is not safe to navigate - such as shallows or coral reef.
