Today is

By: Ikedi Ani-okoye

What is feeling?

Part of the fun of fishing is the mystery. As your line disappears into the water, you try to Imagine what is going on under the surface. Is your hook and bait just dangling unnoticed in deep watery Or is a hungry fish eyeing it, getting ready to snap it up? Suddenly you feel a little tug on the line. Could this be a fishy You feel another tug. 7hls time there is no doubt - you have a bite. Now you have to make a split-second decision. Does the fish have the hook in its mouth, or is it iust testing? If you pull back on the rod too soon or too latef the fish will escape.

Reeling in catch

If you have some experience with fishing, you will know iust what to do. With perfect timing, you ierk up the tip of your rod. The tugging on your line tells you that you have hooked your fish. Not too quickly and not too slowly, you reel in your catch Sometimes, you have to fight to bring in a big one!

Angling

The sport of fishing with a hook, 1.lne, and rod .lS called angling. The word comes from an old Engl.lsh word mean.lng "hook"people fish in lakes, streams, rivers, ponds, reservoirs, and oceans. Fishing can be fun for people of all ages.

Is fishing cruel?

For many anglers, their enjoyment of the sport depends on their belief that hooking fish does not cause the fish pain. A scientific study in the USA in 2003 also suggested that this was true. The study found that fish brains do not have the necessary regions to allow the fish to experience pain. However, another study in the UK seemed to show that fish do feel pain. It showed that when
irritating substances were put on the skin of a fish, the fish behaved as if it was uncomfortable. People who want to discourage others from fishing point to this new research as proof that hooking a fish through the mouth with a sharp hook cruel.

Fishing history

Humans have been fishing for tens of thousands of years. Archaeologists have found evidence that people in southern Africa knew how to fish as early as 100,000 years ago. People back then probably speared fish to catch them. The oldest known fish hooks were found in eastern Europe. They date from about 20,000 years ago and are made of horn, bone, and wood. All over the world, archaeologists have found ancient remains of hooks, spear tips, fishnets, and weights used in fishing. The earliest record of people fishing as a pastime from ancient Greece. The Greek poet Theocritus, who lived in about 280 BC, wrote the first known description of fishing with a pole and line. At about the same time, the Chinese were using silk line and metal hooks to pull in fish for fun.

First book about fishing

The first surviving full-length book on fishing for sport is The Treatyse of Fysshynge Wyth an Angle, published in 1496. That title in today's English would be The Theory of Fishing with an Angle. H.lstor*lans believe that its author was a nun named Dame Guyana Berners. She wrote that anglers should fish with a spirit of love and respect for nature in mind. She encouraged anglers tO make all their own equipment and gave readers instructions on how to do it.

Hobby

The development of manufacturing in the mid-1800s gave many people an opportunity to experience angling as a hobby. New types of rods were developed, and the first reliable reel was invented. The first spinning reels became available in the early 1900s. In the 1930s and 1940s, synthetic lines and fibreglass rods were invented. Fish*lng equipment was improved both in variety and quality in the second half of the 1900s. New kinds of materials made rods stronger and more sensitive. Anglers today use electronic devices to determine water depth and to "see" what is under the water. Some even use satellite technology to find and madK good fishing spots. Today anqlinq is more Modular than ever. with millions of freshwater antlers around the world. This sport is enjoyed by both adults and children.

Fish lingo

Here are a few popular fishing expressions and their mean*lngs: backlash tanqle of fishing line that results from a bad cast bird's nest big mass of fishing line that is really hard to untangle brace a pair of fish, usually referring to salmon or trout peg location on the bankside marked out for match fishinq - usually numbered run when a fish takes the bait, sometimes at qreat speed strike sharp pull on the line to set the hook in the fish's mouth.