Recreational Fishing

Recreational fishing is the act of fishing primarily for enjoying the experience of fishing, as opposed to being driven by a desire for sustenance or profit. Recreational fishing is in many ways a distinctly modern field within the fishing world, in the same way that many other widespread forms of leisure have only arisen in the modern age.

To treat concerns for overfishing and other deleterious effects excessive recreational fishing can have on an environment, recreational fishing is often strictly regulated to keep fish populations sustainable. Typically, they prohibit large scale fishing devices such as nets, and stipulate that fish must be caught with hooks in the mouth. While it is a subject of controversy, the mouths of fishes are said to be tough and without nerves to feel pain, and are therefore the most humane area for a hook to target.

As the primary focus of recreational fishing is the sheer sport of it, many recreational fishing areas seek to alleviate any disturbances to fish populations by enforcing a catch-and-release policy – that is, all fish (or just certain species of fish) caught must be returned alive to the water. In some cases, such policies are needed to prevent given fish populations from collapsing. They are also enforced to prevent causing damage to fish populations in commercial lakes, especially because many recreational fishermen are not very good at ensuring the well-being and safety of the fish they return to the water.

One of the more adventurous forms of recreational fishing is big-game fishing, which typically takes place in oceans and is aimed at catching large fish such as tuna, marlin, or sharks. It tends to be somewhat less regulated in terms of equipment allowed than recreational fishing in freshwater environments. It is a sport that is generally the domain of the very rich, as it is very expensive to afford a sufficiently-sized fishing boat, a fishing crew, and all the heavy-duty fishing equipment needed to hunt big-game fish. Some of the equipment used in big-game fishing includes heavy-duty fishing lines that are dragged by the boat itself, and chunks of fish bait (called “chum”) which is thrown into the water to attract very large fish.

Big game fishing is also challenging because of the powerful fights that big-game fish can put up once they’ve been hooked. Even the effort needed to subdue the large fish once they’ve been dragged aboard can be considerable.