Angling means fishing with a hook, from Old English angol
Angling tethers fish with a hook on a line—the word from Old English angol, "hook." The angler casts toward chosen water, then waits or retrieves. It dominates recreational fishing and also appears commercially in longlines and related gear.
Most fish feed by suction, so a fish that bites usually gulps the whole baited hook, whose point lodges in its jaw, throat or gills. The angler then jerks the rod to set the hook and reels in while watching line tension. Anglers often scatter groundbait first, loose food whose scent draws fish from afar, while the hookbait on the hook itself may be natural prey, live or dead, or an artificial lure carrying several hooks. Snagging differs sharply: it rakes the fish's body with large multi-pointed grapples and leaves wounds that seldom heal.
The hook descends from the gorge, a slim piece of bone or stone tied at its middle, which ancient hunters baited for fish, seals, walrus and birds; a tug swung it crosswise in the throat. Today's J-shaped hook usually carries a barb, though some rules require barbless hooks so released fish survive. Rods were once single lengths of ash, hickory or bamboo and are now mostly fibreglass or carbon fibre, often hollow, telescoping or in sections. Early reels were simple direct-drive windlasses; since the Industrial Revolution geared multiplier reels have dominated, later adding anti-reverse and adjustable drag. Japanese tenkara and cane-pole fishing skip the reel entirely. Lines were silk and are now nylon, polyethylene or fluorocarbon.
To tell when a fish has struck, many anglers watch a float, which bobs under when the line tightens, hence its American name bobber. Others use a clip-on bell that jingles, a flexible quiver tip that twitches, or an electronic bite alarm that beeps and lights up.
Game fish vary by region. Sea anglers chase marlin, sailfish, tuna and grouper, and Europeans favour cod and sea bass. North Americans prize bass, pike, walleye, trout and salmon, while European, Asian and Australian freshwater anglers seek carp, bream, tench and roach, species many Americans dismiss as rough fish. Licences and size limits are common, and catch-and-release is spreading in developed countries.
Source: Angling
