Fishing

fishing, also called angling, the sport of catching fish, freshwater or saltwater, typically with rod, line, and hook. Like hunting, fishing originated as a means of providing food for survival. Fishing as a sport, however, is of considerable antiquity. An Egyptian angling scene from about 2000 bce shows figures fishing with rod and line and with nets. A Chinese account from about the 4th century bce refers to fishing with a silk line, a hook made from a needle, and a bamboo rod, with cooked rice as bait. References to fishing are also found in ancient Greek, Assyrian, Roman, and Jewish writings.

Today, despite increased human populations creating a great number of demands on rivers and lakes, fishing for sport remains one of the most popular forms of outdoor recreation in the world. The problems of the modern angler fundamentally remain the same as those of every angler who came before: where to find fish and how to best tempt them into being taken. The angler must understand wind and weather, the nature of the quarry, and the ways of the water. Fishing remains what it has always been—a problem in applied natural history.