Recreational fishing

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 occupational fishing activities done for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing for survival and livelihood.

The most common form of recreational fishing is angling, which is done with a rig of rod, reel, line, hooks and any one of a wide range of baits, as well as other complementary devices such as weights, floats, swivels and method feeders, collectively referred to as terminal tackles. Lures are frequently used instead of fresh bait when fishing for predatory fishes. Some hobbyists hand-make custom tackles themselves, including plastic lures and artificial flies.

Other forms of recreational fishing include spearfishing, which is done with a speargun or harpoon usually while diving; and bowfishing, which is done from above the water with archery equipment such as a compound bow or crossbow. Noodling and trout tickling are recreational fishing activities that uses hands to catch fish. There are also fishing techniques that uses nets, traps and other unconventional tools such as snag hook, sledgehammer and even boomerang, although inhumane or destructive fishing practices are generally discouraged and some are outright banned in most countries.

Popular fish species pursued by recreational fishermen are collectively known as game fishes. Big-game fishing, which targets large open-water fishes such as tuna, billfishes (marlins and swordfish), grouper and shark, is typically conducted from yachts, although some are also done from the shore by casting far into the waves. Although the caught fish can be consumed as food, catch and release is often encouraged for conservation purposes.

The early evolution of fishing as a recreation is not clear, but there is anecdotal evidence for fly fishing in Japan as early as the 9th century BCE, and Claudius Aelianus (175–235 CE) describes fly fishing in Macedonia in his work On the Nature of Animals.

For the early Japanese and Macedonians, however, fly fishing was likely to have been a means of survival, rather than recreation. It is possible that antecedents of recreational fly fishing arrived in England with the Norman Conquest of 1066. Although the point in history where fishing could first be said to be recreational is not clear, it is clear that recreational fishing had fully arrived with the publication of The Compleat Angler.

The earliest English essay on recreational fishing was published in 1496, shortly after the invention of the printing press. The authorship of this was attributed to Dame Juliana Berners, the prioress of the Benedictine Sopwell Nunnery. The essay was titled Treatyse of Fysshynge wyth an Angle, and was published in the second Boke of Saint Albans, a treatise on hawking, hunting and heraldry. These were major interests of the nobility, and the publisher, Wynkyn de Worde, was concerned that the book should be kept from those who were not gentlemen, since their immoderation in angling might "utterly destroy it".

During the 16th century the work was much read, and was reprinted many times. Treatyse includes detailed information on fishing waters, the construction of rods and lines, and the use of natural baits and artificial flies. It also includes modern concerns about conservation and angler etiquette.