by
Currier & Ives, 1866 s for
jigging from the
Queenscliff pier
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" (
fish hook). The hook is attached to a
line, and is sometimes weighed down by a
sinker so it sinks deeper in the water. This is the classic "hook, line and sinker" arrangement, used in angling since prehistoric times. The hook is usually dressed with
lures or
baits such as
earthworm,
doughball and
bait fish. Additional arrangements include the use of a
fishing rod, which can be fitted with a
reel, and functions as a delivery mechanism for
casting the line. Other delivery methods for projecting the line include fishing kites and cannons, kontiki rafts and remote controlled devices.
Floats can also be used to help set the line or function as
bite indicators. The hook can be dressed with
lures or
bait. Angling is the principal method of
sport fishing, but
commercial fisheries also use angling methods involving multiple hooks, such as
longlining or commercial
trolling.
Line fishing Line fishing is fishing with a
fishing line, but not using rods. A fishing line is any cord made for fishing. Important parameters of a fishing line are its length, material, and weight (thicker, sturdier lines are more visible to fish). Factors that may determine what line an angler chooses for a given fishing environment include breaking
strength, knot strength, UV resistance, castability, limpness, stretch, abrasion resistance, and visibility. Modern fishing lines are usually made from artificial substances. The most common type is
monofilament, made of a single strand. There are also
braided fishing lines and thermally fused
superlines. •
Droplining - a dropline consists of a long
fishing line set vertically down into the water, with a series of
baited hooks. Droplines have a
weight at the bottom and a
float at the top. They are not usually as long as longlines and have fewer hooks. •
Handlining - is fishing with a single fishing line, baited with
lures or
bait fish, which is held in the hands. Handlining can be done from boats or from the shore. It is used mainly to catch
groundfish and
squid, but smaller
pelagic fish can also be caught. •
Pahila - is a traditional method of shoreline
trolling in the
Philippines. It uniquely uses baited hooks tied to a laterally flattened float called
palyaw shaped like a small
outrigger boat, a
catamaran, or a fish. A long line is attached to the float. It is 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 it reaches its maximum line length, it moves rapidly parallel to the person pulling it along the beach. It is pulled back to the shore intermittently to check for catches. Pahila literally means "pulled". It is also called , , , , hilada, or , among other names, in other
Philippine languages. •
Jiggerpole - is a method of fishing for bass. It is built on using a cane pole with the line of at least 30lb. test, tied well down at the pole of about three quarters length in the typical cane pole manner, and then securely at the tip with about a foot to foot and a half length to drop in the water. Place a swivel on the end of the line. The trick is to linger the lure in a specific area going back and forth, maneuvering the tip of the cane pole in the water causing a noise to attract a bass to see a jig getting after a ripple of water the pole tip is causing. •
Jigging - is the practice of fishing with a jig, a type of fishing lure. A jig consists of a lead sinker with a hook molded into it and usually covered by a soft body to attract fish. Jigs are intended to create a jerky, vertical motion, as opposed to spinnerbaits which move through the water horizontally. •
Longlining - is a commercial technique that uses a long heavy fishing line with a series of hundreds or even thousands of
baited hooks hanging from the main line by means of branch lines called "snoods". Longlines are usually operated from specialised boats called longliners. They use a special winch to haul in the line, and can operate in deeper waters targeting
pelagic species such as
swordfish,
tuna,
halibut and
sablefish. • Deadline - is the practice of leaving the baited line without a rod (usually over night) and returning for the fish later. • Slabbing: is a
bass fishing technique, that involves repetitively lifting and dropping a flat lure, usually made of 1 to 2.5 oz of lead painted to look like a
baitfish (or heavy slabs of metal), through a
school of actively feeding fish that the angler has located on a
fishfinder. Used on
white and
striped bass in the reservoirs of the southern USA. •
Trolling - is fishing with one or more baited lines which are drawn through the water. This may be done by pulling the line behind a slow moving boat, or by slowly winding the line in when fishing from the land. Trolling is used to catch pelagic fish such as
mackerel and
kingfish. •
Trotlining - a trotline is like a dropline, except that a dropline has a series of hooks suspended vertically in the water, while a trotline has a series of hooks suspended horizontally in the water. Trotlines can be physically set in many ways, such as tying each end to something fixed, and adjusting the set of the rest of the line with
weights and
floats. They are used for catching crabs or fish, such as catfish, particularly across rivers.
Rod fishing , New Zealand Angling with
fishing rods give more control of the fishing line, and allows the
bait/
lure to be launched much farther than hand-throwing can reach. The rod is usually fitted with a
fishing reel which functions as a mechanism for storing, retrieving and paying out the line.
Floats may also be used, and can function as
bite indicators. The hook can be dressed with lures or baits. •
Bank fishing - fishing from
river banks and similar shorelines. Bank fishing is usually performed with a fishing rod and reel, although nets, traps, and spears can also be used. People who fish from a boat can sometimes access more areas in prime locations with greater ease than bank fishermen. However, many people do not own boats and find fishing from the bank has its own advantages. Bank fishing has its own requirements, and many things come into play for success, such as local knowledge, water depth, bank structure, location, time of day, and the type of bait and lures. •
Casting - the act of throwing the fishing line out over the water using a flexible fishing rod. The usual technique is for the angler to quickly flick the rod from behind toward the water. Casting is also a sport adjunct to
fishing, much as
shooting is to
hunting. The sport is supervised by the International Casting Sport Federation, which sponsors tournaments and recognizes world records for accuracy and distance. Some variations of the technique exist, such as
Surf fishing, the
Reach cast, and
Spey casting. •
Float tubes - small doughnut-shaped boats with an underwater seat in the "hole". Float tubes are used for fly fishing and enable the angler to reach deeper water without splashing and disturbing stillwater fish. •
Fly fishing - the use of
artificial flies as lures. These are cast with specially constructed
fly rods and fly lines. The fly line (today, almost always coated with plastic) is heavy enough cast in order to send the fly to the target. Artificial flies vary dramatically in size, weight and colour. Fly fishing is a distinct and ancient angling method, most renowned as a method for catching
trout and
salmon, but employed today for a wide variety of species including
pike,
bass,
panfish, and
carp, as well as
marine species, such as
redfish,
snook,
tarpon,
bonefish and
striped bass. There is a growing population of anglers whose aim is to catch as many different species as possible with the fly. •
Tenkara fishing - Tenkara is a form of fly fishing that originated in Japan over 200 years ago. It was originally done with a bamboo pole between 12' and 20' with the line tied directly on the tip of the rod requiring no reel. Modern tenkara rods are usually made of graphite and are telescopic. Unlike western style fly fishing tenkara uses either a tapered line or a level line and forgoes the PVC coated fly fishing line. Typical target species include
trout and
char but most smaller freshwater species can be caught by this method. •
Rock fishing - fishing from rocky outcrops into the sea. It is a popular pastime in Australia and New Zealand. It can be a dangerous pastime and claims many lives each year. • Pitch Fishing - also known as “pitching” or “pitch fishing,” is a technique designed to deliver the lure quietly and at a distance over the water. The lure will fly high and far out over the water, landing in a loud splash. Pitch fishing involves sending the lure out a lower angle, and thus making a smaller splash but still loud as noted in the previous sentence, which will hopefully not scare the fish. •
Surfcasting - fishing from a
shoreline using a rod to cast into the
surf. With few exceptions, surf fishing is done in
saltwater, often from a
beach. The basic idea of most surfcasting is to cast a
bait or
lure as far out into the water as is necessary to reach the target fish from the shore. This may or may not require long casting distances and muscular techniques. Basic surf fishing can be done with a
surfcasting rod between seven and twelve feet long, with an extended butt section, equipped with an appropriate spinning or conventional casting
reel. Dedicated surfcasters usually possess an array of terminal and other tackle, with rods and reels of different lengths and actions, and lures and baits of different weights and capabilities. Depending on fishing conditions and the fish they are targeting, such surfcasters tailor bait and terminal tackle to rod and reel and the size and species of the fish. Reels and other equipment need to be constructed so they resist the corrosive and abrasive effects of salt and sand.
Other angling •
Bottom fishing - is fishing the bottom of a body of water. In the United Kingdom it is called "ledgering". A common rig for fishing on the bottom is a weight tied to the end of the line, with a hook about an inch up line from the weight. The method can be used both with hand lines and rods. There are fishing rods specialized for bottom fishing, called "donkas". The weight is used to cast or throw the line an appropriate distance. Bottom fishing can be done both from boats and from the land. It targets
groundfish such as
sucker fish,
bream,
catfish, and
crappie. •
Ice fishing - is the practice of catching fish with lines and hooks through an opening in the ice on a frozen body of water. It is practised by
hunter-gatherers such as the
Inuit and by anglers in other cold or continental climates. •
Kayak fishing - has a long history, and has gained popularity in recent times. Many of the techniques used are the same as those used on other fishing boats, apart from difference is in the set-up, how each piece of equipment is fitted to the kayak, and how each activity is carried out on such a small craft. •
Kite fishing has long been used in China and by the people of
New Guinea and other
Pacific Islands. Kites can provide the fishermen access to waters that would otherwise be available only with 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 reefs where fish may be plentiful. Kites can also be used for trolling a lure through the water. Suitable kites may be of very simple construction. Those of
Tobi Island are a large leaf stiffened by the ribs of the fronds of the coconut palm. The fishing line may be made from coconut fibre and the lure made from spiders webs. Modern kitefishing is popular in New Zealand, where large delta kites of synthetic materials are used to fish from beaches, taking a line and hooks far out past the breakers. Kite fishing is also emerging in
Melbourne where sled kites are becoming popular, both off beaches and off boats and in freshwater areas. The disabled community are increasingly using the kites for fishing as they allow mobility impaired people to cast the bait further out than they would otherwise be able to. • Kontiki Fishing - is the practice of using either a Kontiki sailing raft, or a modern motorised torpedo device to pull a longline (up to 25 hooks) from the beach up to two thousand metres offshore. This method of fishing is very popular on the surf beaches of New Zealand. The electric kontikis can also be used to pull surfcasting lines and baits offshore, before releasing them to fish. Modern electric kontikis use electric trolling motors, lithium batteries and GPS controlled autopilots, and electric winches are used to retrieve the line, hooks and kontiki back to shore. •
Boat anglers - Fishing is usually done either from a boat or from a shoreline or river bank. When fishing from a boat, pretty much any fishing technique 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. Some
tackle is specialised for boat anglers, such as
sea rods. •
Remote control fishing - Fishing can also be done using a
remote controlled boat. This type of fishing is commonly referred to as
RC fishing. The boat is usually one to three feet long and runs on a small DC battery. A
radio transmitter controls the boat. The fisherman connects the fishing line/bait to the boat; drives it; navigating the water by manipulating the
remote controller. The technique is growing in popularity. • Drone fishing - Rod fishing assisted by a drone, the drone can be a flying type or underwater type, it can be remote controlled by a human, computer, AI or a combination of the three simultaneously. The drone is used to scout for fish via camera, carry the hook to a far off location, cast the hook, reel in the fish and return. The degree of assistance is adjustable based on the model and configuration of drone used. This technique can be used to catch fish normally requiring a boat. Several US states, including Michigan and Oregon, have banned fishing with drones. ==Trapping==