FAQs

Angling is fishing with a hook attached to a line typically connected to a rod; currently, there are five recognized methods of angling.

1. Still Fishing is the simplest of the fishing methods. All that is required is to affix some form of bait to a fishhook, drop the bait into the water and wait for a fish to find it. Depending on the depth of the water and the targeted fish species an angler may keep the bait near the water’s surface, on the lake bottom by use of weight called a sinker, or at some water level in-between by employing a float, often known as a bobber.




2. Fly Fishing is an angling method in which the angler presents an “artificial fly”, a type of fishing lure imitating a fish’s natural food source (i.e., an insect), to the fish on top of or underneath the water surface. Due to the fly’s lightweight nature, the lure is propelled (cast) from the rod and into the water via the weight of specialized fishing line.




3. Baitcasting uses an artificial lure often weighing somewhere between¼-ounce and 5/8-ounce, give or take some weight depending on the fish species; Musky lures may well exceed two ounces. The lure, attached to small diameter line wound on a geared, multiplying reel with a revolving line spool sitting perpendicular on top of the rod, is propelled outward by the action of the flexible fishing rod and it pulls line from the reel as it speeds through the air. Once in the water the lure imitates moving prey when retrieved, and entices the fish to attack and become hooked.




4. Spinning, like baitcasting, uses an artificial lure propelled outward via the action of the flexible rod. Unlike baitcasting, the spinning reel, mounted under the rod, uses a stationary, non-rotating line spool with the axis pointed in the direction of the rod; this causes the line to come off in coils, much like a spool of thread. Generally, but not necessarily, spinning uses lighter weight line and smaller lures. The line is wound back onto the spool by means of a revolving bail that disengages during the cast. The bail must be manually re-engaged prior to casting again, therefore, casting with most spinning reels is a two-handed operation.




5. Spincasting, like spinning, uses a stationary line spool that causes the line to come off in coils. Additionally, like spinning, this method generally uses lighter weight line and smaller lures. However, unlike spinning, casting with a spincast reel is a single-handed operation because instead of opening the retrieval bail with the non-rod hand prior to casting, the angler needs only apply pressure to a push-button line release to cast a lure. Spincasting is the simplest method for casting and retrieving lures. Consequently, the learning curve to spincasting is short and the method is popular with novice anglers, many of whom continue to use it throughout their days.

• Still fishing, circa 1612
• Fly fishing, circa 1784
• Baitcasting, born in Kentucky, circa 1815
• Spinning, 1946
• Spincasting, born simultaneously in Minnesota and Texas, 1949

Trolling is trailing a lure or bait on a line in the water behind a moving watercraft to imitate swimming prey; it is not an angling method. Rather, trolling is a technique that is employed by using equipment associated with any of the angling methods; I have even seen it done successfully using a streamer fly.