salmon fishing

Angling is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook or "angle" (from Old English angol) 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 and longlining also exist. Modern angling rods are usually fitted with a reel that functions as a cranking device for storing, retrieving and releasing out the line, although Tenkara fishing and cane pole fishing are two rod-angling methods that do not use any reel. The hook itself can be additionally weighted with a dense tackle called a sinker, and is typically dressed with an appetizing bait to attract the fish and enticing it into swallowing the hook, but sometimes an inedible fake bait with multiple attached hooks (known as a lure) is used instead of a single hook with edible bait. A bite indicator, such as a float or a quiver tip, is often used to relay underwater status of the hook to the surface.
When angling, the fisherman (known as the angler) will first throw (i.e. "cast") the hook to a chosen area of water, and then patiently wait for fish to attack and eat the hookbait. It is also not uncommon for the angler to scatter some loose bait (groundbait) around the spot before even casting the hook, in order to better attract fish with scents. If a fish has succumbed to its own feeding instinct and swallowed the hook (i.e. "bite" or "strike"), the hook point will pierce into and anchor itself inside the fish mouth, gullet or gill, and the fish in turn becomes firmly tethered to the fishing rod via the fishing line. Once the fish is hooked (often colloquially called "fish-on"), any struggles and attempts to escape will pull along the line, causing the bite indicator to signal the angler, who jerks the rod to further secure the hook anchorage and then tries to retrieve the line back, pulling the fish closer in the process. During the line retrieval, the angler will carefully monitor the line and rod tension to avoid equipment breaking. With stronger and feistier fish, the angler might need to temporarily halt or even reverse the line retrieval in order to prolong the struggle time and tire out the fish (i.e. "walking" the fish), before dragging it near enough to eventually lift it out of the water (known as "landing") for a successful catch. Sometimes a hand net (or "landing net") or a long-handled hook is used to make fetching the fish easier.
Angling is the principal method of recreational fishing, but commercial fisheries also use angling methods such as longlining or trolling. Catch and release angling is increasingly practiced by sport fishermen. In many parts of the world, size limits apply to certain species, meaning fish below and/or above a certain size must, by law, be released alive after capture. The species of game fish pursued by anglers vary with geography. Among the many species of saltwater fish that are angled for sport globally are billfish (swordfish, sailfish and marlin), tuna and grouper, while cod and sea bass are popular targets in Europe. In North America the most popular freshwater fish species include bass, northern pike/muskellunge, walleye, yellow perch, trout and anadromous salmon, tilapia, and panfishes such as crappie, bluegill and sunfish. In Europe, many anglers fish for species such as carp, pike, bream, tench, rudd, roach, European perch, catfish and barbel.
Angling is not to be confused with snagging, which is another fishing technique also uses line and hook to catch fish. The differences between the two techniques are that angling often uses very small hooks and relies on the target fish to actively swallow the hook in order to pierce internally into the mouth; while snagging uses very large, sharp multi-hooks that actively pierce externally into the body/gill of the fish, and hardly ever involves any hookbait. Snagging also inflicts far more mutilating injuries to the fish and makes it very difficult to heal and survive even if the fish is released alive or manages to escape the snag.

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