Do Fish Sleep?: Fascinating Answers to Questions about Fishes

Eight: Recreational Fishing

EIGHT Recreational Fishing Question 1: What is recreational fishing? Answer: Recreational fishing, or sport fishing, is fishing for pleasure or competition, as contrasted with commercial fishing (fishing for profit), or subsistence fishing (fishing for survival). The most common form of recreational fishing is with a rod and reel, but fishes can also be caught with minnow traps and nets. Spear fishing may be allowed for certain species in certain locations. The practice of catching fish with a hook and line, or angling, is easily done from a dock or a boat. Recreational fishing became popular with the publication of Izaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler in 1653, a classic book for the angler who loves fishing for its own sake. Big-game fishing is fishing from boats to catch large open-water species such as tuna, sharks, and marlin. It became popular only after motorboats became readily available in the twentieth century. Question 2: What is fly-fishing? Answer:In fly-fishing, fishes are caught with artificial flies that are cast with a fly rod and a fly line. While other cast fishing relies on a lure’s weight to pull line from the reel during the cast, fly-fishing is a method of casting line rather than lure. The line is heavy enough to send the fly to the target. Artificial flies vary in size, weight, and color, are made by tying hair, fur, feathers, or other materials onto a hook, and are designed to resemble R5367.indb 124 R5367.indb 124 10/26/10 7:14:41 AM 10/26/10 7:14:41 AM RECREATIONAL FISHING 125 insects, baitfish, or other prey. A “wet fly” is meant to be pulled through the water as though it is an aquatic insect, while a “dry fly” is meant to remain on the surface resembling an insect that fell there. While flies are available commercially, some fly-fishers enjoy tying their own. An experienced fly-fisher selects a fly that is appropriate for the location, weather, and time of year. Izaak Walton, in The Compleat Angler, described as many as sixteen flies for each month and how to make them. The angler holds the rod in one hand and manipulates the line with the other, pulling line out in small increments as the energy in the line, generated from backward and forward motions , increases. The forward cast is most common, where the angler whisks the fly into the air, back over the shoulder then forward, using primarily the forearm. Loops of line should unfurl completely before the angler throws the rod in the opposite direction. When dropping the fly onto the water, the line should land smoothly and the fly should appear natural. If a fish strikes, the angler pulls in line while raising the rod to set the hook in the fish’s mouth. Needless to say, mastering these techniques requires a lot of practice. Species sought in fly-fishing are usually trout, including rainbow trout (see color plate C), brook trout, and brown trout, but there is saltwater fly-fishing also. There is concern that as water temperatures rise due to climate change that cold mountain streams may become uninhabitable for trout, which could lead to the extinction of many populations sought by fly-fishers. Question 3: What is ice fishing? Answer: Ice fishing involves fishing through a hole cut in the ice of a lake or pond. Shallower ponds and lakes have chain pickerel , northern pike, yellow perch, and sunfish. Deepwater lakes have northern pike, walleye, or lake trout. Brown trout, rainbow trout, and landlocked salmon are often found in deeper lakes, which have the needed cool temperatures in the summertime. However, in the winter, they are caught closer to the surface, just under the ice. R5367.indb 125 R5367.indb 125 10/26/10 7:14:41 AM 10/26/10 7:14:41 AM Recreational Fishing in Literature In literature and film for adults, fishes generally appear as objects , sometimes symbolic, desired by fishermen. The Old Man and the Sea, a novella by Ernest Hemingway, published in 1952, was his last major work of fiction. It focuses on Santiago, an aging Cuban fisherman who struggles in an epic battle with a giant marlin far out at sea. Santiago sets out alone, sets his lines, and the big fish takes his bait. Unable to pull it in, he finds the fish pulling his boat...