Just call me pretty and take me fishing Shirt
WRITTEN BYTerence Barrington Thomas See All ContributorDirector, Gladding International Ltd. Angling correspondent, The Field, and others. Presenter of “Angling Today,” Associated Television, Birmingham, England. Author of CastingSee Article HistoryAlternative Titles: angling, sport fishing, sportfishingFishing, 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.Bass fishing in Charles county, Md.Bass fishing in Charles county, Md.Tim Tadder/Maryland Office of TourismToday, 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.
Just call me pretty and take me fishing Shirt
Early HistoryThe history of angling is in large part the history of tackle, as the equipment for fishing is called.
One of humankind’s earliest tools was the predecessor of the fishhook: a gorge—that is, a piece of wood, bone, or stone 1 inch (2.5 cm) or so in length, pointed at both ends and secured off-centre to the line. The gorge was covered with some kind of bait. When a fish swallowed the gorge, a pull on the line wedged it across the gullet of the fish, which could then be pulled in.Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content.Subscribe Now