FREE ESSAY ON FISHING

FISHING

Fishing
Fishing, or angling, is the sport of trying to catch fish with a rod, reel, line and
baited hooks. The sport goes back thousands of years, and it appears that fishing
techniques were already quite advanced at a very early date. In the Stone Age, hooks made
of both bone and stone were used to catch fish, but spearing, a more primitive method,
was probably just as common. An engraving from an ancient Egyptian tomb shows that all
four methods of fishing-that is, with spears, nets, rods, and lines-were in use as early
as 2000BC. The Ancient Greek Poet Homer, Writing in about 800BC, also refers to the
bronze hooks and horse-hair lines used by anglers. A very old fishing hook found in
Britain is thought to date from about 500BC and was dug out of the Thames River in Essex
(Jarman, 4). Fishing has been enjoyed for thousands of years and must incorporate three
aspects: fishing equipment, style, and location to acquire a fishing success.
In order to fish you need to obtain the proper equipment: a rod, bait, and a few other
accessories. The fishing rod is the most basic necessity to begin fishing. Although a
fishing rod cannot be called a fishing rod unless there is a reel attached to the butt
(handle) otherwise it is called a fishing pole. Most rods today are made from either
hollow or solid glass-fiber (or graphite, sometimes-called carbon). The pole is divided
into three parts the butt, middle, and the tip, so that they can be taken apart and
carried very easily. From the butt, where the reel is attached, the rod tapers down to
the reel. The beginner should consider a pole of the maximum length that they can handle
(Jarman, 41). I would suggest that a beginner should use a medium to stiff action pole
for starting out. The reel is another much needed part of equipment that one should have
to fish. A reel may hold up to or more than 100 feet a monofilament line, and it enables
one to let out more line while dealing with a very large fish. Reels will come in three
different sorts: casting, open-face or spinning, and a closed-face. The open-face and or
closed-face are the most suitable for the beginners. When choosing a reel one should
remember that if you are left-handed you should buy a right-handed wind reel and vice
versa (Jarman, 42).
Today the artificial lure is the bait that is used worldwide; ranging from as small as
1/8 inch long and 1/90 of an ounce in weight, or as large as 14 inches and weighing up to
4 ounces. In the world of lures, there are thousands placed into three different
groups-spinners, spoons, and plugs. Spinners are torpedo-shaped lures that come in a
multitude of colors, that spin as they are pulled through the water. Spoons are just
that, handleless metal spoons that wobble as they dart through the water imitating the
movement of small fish. Plugs are imitation plastic fish that vary in size and shape.
When choosing a plug one needs to keep in mind that the one with the most color and
glamour may not be the one that attaches and catches the fish (Jarman, 48). Fishing with
plugs is the most fun from my experiences, because watching the lure "swim" in the water
is just so cool. Now another type of bait is the live bait; it uses the common hook along
with worms, minnows, and or maggots. These may be stored in the refrigerator for long
periods if needed. Sometimes these small critters are dyed to make them look more
interesting to the fish; this dates as far back as the 1490's. Other popular hook baits
are bread and cereals such as stewed wheat, barley, and hemp. Last the largest group of
baits are the flies used to fly fish; they are divided up into four basic types: the dry
fly, the wet fly, the nymph, and the lure, which is not used very often in fly fishing.
The dry fly is designed to imitate insects on top of the water, and the wet fly sinks
below the surface and imitates newly hatched insects. The nymph and the lure try to
imitate small water creatures like shrimp. In order to catch fish you must attract the
fish with something and to keep them you need a hook to keep it attached to the line. All
hooks have a shank end and a barbed end the shank end is used to tie the hook to the
line, and the barbed end it needed to keep the fish hooked so it cannot get away. There
are three different types of hooks: the spade-end, the eyed, and the snelled (comes with
a piece of a nylon line already pre-attached). Depending on the type of fish you want to
catch, the hooks vary in size, 1 being the largest and 20 being the smallest. It is of
the utmost importance that the hooks are very sharp, top anglers recommend carrying a
small sharpen-stone for hooks that are dull (Jarman, 43). I agree with the pro angler in
full, because once I was fishing with my father I got a hit so big that I nearly fell in
the water. I tried to set the hook but I just yanked it out of the fish's mouth because
my hook was to dull. Once you have caught the fish, where may I ask are you going to put
it? A net would be a good idea. There are two types of nets, the landing net and the keep
net. The landing net is a net with a long handle that is used to lift fish out of the
water. The keep net, which is placed in the water and is used to hold the catch until it
is returned to the water at the end of the day. A small folding seat is used if you plan
to spend the whole day at the water. Wood and canvas seats are better than plastic or
metal, simply because the color of these materials may scare the fish (Jarman, 41-49).
Once you have obtained the proper equipment, you need to learn the proper way to catch
the fish. There are several ways to do so: still fishing, fly fishing, spinning, bow and
arrow fishing, ice fishing and trolling. Still fishing is the oldest and the most popular
method of fishing. Most beginners are introduced to angling through still fishing. It is
one of the less complicated methods of fishing, both in equipment and technique. The
equipment needed while still fishing is a rod, a line, bait or lures, the sinkers, and
bobbers and floats. While still fishing a reel is not essential, but does help when
landing a fish. Sinkers pull the bait down into the water, and bobbers keep the bait from
sinking too far. Baits include worms, maggots, minnows or other small fish, dough balls,
and cheese. Still fishing may be done from the bank or shore, a dock, a bridge, or even
from a boat. The angler baits the hook, drops it in the water, and waits for a fish to
bite. The fish caught by this method are bluegills, crappies, perch, catfish, bass and
walleyes. Fly fishing is a form of angling that the fish are lured to the angler's hook
by brightly-colored artificial bait, which resemble insects on which the fish feed.
Making these imitation flies is a great art, they are made with fur silk and feathers to
make the bait look as realistic as possible. The artificial fly is so light it cannot be
cast as a normal bait would be, lead shot cannot be used as it would simply drag the fly
underwater, instead of letting it rest on the surface. So this problem is solved by using
a heavy line, which carries itself forward when, cast. A line this thick would easily be
visible to the fish, so the fly itself connected to the heavy line with a piece of
transparent nylon line. To cast this line properly requires an especially flexible rod
and a center-pin reel. Spinning is a method of fishing used to catch a predatory
fish-perch, pike, trout, and salmon. This form uses artificial lures that drag through
the water to imitate small or injured fish. This form was made much easier by the
invention of the spinning reel, which gives greater control over the line. Other types of
fishing are trolling, ice fishing, bow, and arrow fishing. Trolling is used on large
expands of water such as lake and reservoirs. Artificial lures and or natural baits are
trailed on a line behind a slow-moving motorboat or rowboat. Ice fishing is very popular
in the north and around the Great Lakes. A hole is made in the ice with a corkscrew-like
tool called an ice auger. The bait is lowered through the hole into the water using a
hand line or simple tackle. Bow and arrow fishing makes use of a bow, and special arrows.
These arrows are connected to the bow by a line, making it possible to retrieve the
arrows and the fish. Both ice fishing and bow and arrow fishing should only be done with
an experienced adult (Jarman, 14-17). 
Now that you have the proper equipment and learned the proper way to catch the fish, you
need to know where to catch them. A few good spots are in Asia, Europe and the United
States. In Asia the main sporting fish is found in India and Pakistan, this is the
maheer, a massive fish with extremely powerful jaws. It thrives in cold fast rivers and
is usually caught with a spoon or bait although, when younger, it can be taken with a
fly. During the British rule of India, trout was introduced to the rivers of Kashmir and
other mountain streams. In Europe, angling has always been somewhat different from the
British sport. Now the two styles are gradually coming closer together. British anglers
have, since the invention of the reel, have chosen to use rods and reels, preferably to
catch the largest fish possible. However, European anglers have always preferred to use
long, reel-less rods sometimes known as cane poles, or roach poles. The Europeans try to
concentrate on quantity rather than quality: that is, the average angler would rather
catch a large number of small fish in a short time than wait several hours for a
good-sized specimen. The fish commonly caught in European and British waters are: chub,
barbel, salmon, perch, pike, brown trout, roach, grayling, and bleak. The United States
has a rich history, for fish was a natural part of the native Americans' diet long before
the Europeans arrived. A method of fishing used in the United States for hundreds of
years is called "hand-fishing". The angler wades slowly along in shallow, muddy waters,
feeling for fish with his hands. When he finds one, he fingers it carefully until he gets
a satisfactory hold, then flips it out of the water. This method of fishing is still used
today in the Midwest and in the South. Another method that is strongly used in the United
States is fly fishing. When fly fishing was introduced, there were many arguments over
which type of fly should be used: an accurate imitation of the living insect, or a lure
which resembles nothing in particular but attracted the fish because of the color,
brightness and movements. Fish common to the United States are perch, carp, bluegill,
crappies, bass, northern pike, eels, trout, salmon, muskellunge, pickerel, and catfish
(Jarman, 30-36).
Millions of people all over the world has fallen for fishing-hook, line, and sinker!
Although it is popular today as a sport, it was once essential, as a source of food, and
everyone from monks to poets have been lured by its charm. Fishing techniques today have
come a long way from a simple hook and line, and anglers now have a massive range of
advanced equipment at their disposal.
Bibliography
Cederberg, Goran. The Complete Book of Sport Fishing. New York: Bonanza Books, 
1988.
"Fishing". Britannica. 1993 ed.
"Fishing". The Dorling Kindersley Encyclopedia of Fishing. 1994 ed.
Jarman, Katherine. Freshwater Fishing. New Jersey: Silver Burdett Press, 1988.
Štochl, Slava. The Fisherman's World in Pictures. New York: The Hamlyn Publishing 
Group Limited, 1970.