Sport fishing

Sport fishing is the sporting activity related to the field of fishing and release. This is carried out on a personal level or in a team of people for leisure or competition. There are various techniques to perform it and there are also competitions that can be performed in rivers, lagoons, seashores and the open sea.

When it is carried out in a sporting manner, it is managed by different regional and national fishing federations, which regulate the use of gear and gear, delimiting the quota of catches and their size according to species, and even manage the use and activity of the different habitats. They also organize contests, championships and activities at all levels, which can be carried out from the shore or by boat.

There is a great variety of styles of both gear and the environments in which they develop and the species to capture. Sport fishing is developed using two main instruments: rod and reel, which are further subdivided into: Spinning (vertical coil reel), baitcasting (horizontal coil reel), conventional and fly.

The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) or the International Game Fish Association is the world authority that regulates angling and the world's largest record catcher. It was founded in 1939 and currently has its headquarters in the city of Dania Beach in Florida (United States).

This association is responsible for having standardized the techniques, nomeclatures and codes related to sport fishing worldwide. The IGFA strongly promotes catch and release (C&R) for the conservation of species, particularly those considered sportier.

Professional or amateur fishermen from around the world who are governed by this institution try to follow its rules to receive the honor of being listed in its report "World Record Sport Fishing", the main publication of this type.. The publication also gives fishing tips, and has a very extensive fish identification guide.

Continental or river fishing is practiced using a multitude of gears and modalities, depending on the conditions of the area to be fished. This includes areas of fresh water, which may be rivers, reservoirs, ponds, lagoons, lakes or lakes. Sport fishing at continental or river level can be carried out with live or dead baits and with artificial lures developed by man. It can also be done by using hand ropes or with a rod and reel.

Sea fishing is carried out from the coast, both on breakwaters and port facilities, as well as on beaches and river estuaries. It is also worth highlighting the increasingly growing hobby of fishing from boats in the coastal area and on the high seas..

Fishing equipment

Regular fishing equipment consists of fishing rod, reel, fishing line, hooks, lures and bait.

Fishing rod

The fishing rod is a rod of variable length from 5' to 14', which allows the reel to be incorporated into its base and to cast lures or baits at a distance and whose resistance allows, under the action of the lever, to tire the fish after a variable period of fighting time. Originally created with bamboo, currently its material is a composition of fiberglass and graphite or pure graphite. They are highly resistant to angular stress. They are divided into: heavy action, which is used for sea capture; medium action, which is used for river fishing; and finally light action, which is used to activate lures in rivers and lagoons.

Reel

The mechanical reel is the instrument for releasing the rope and its rotor mechanism allows it to retrieve the fishing line when the angler turns its handle. It has an adjustable plate compression brake system that allows the rope to come out with controlled tension during the fight with the fish. The combination of the lever of the rod combined with the recovery capacity of the line by the reel is what allows fishing.

The fishing line or rope that is wound on the spool of the reel is one that can be formed either as monofilament or multifilament, with various materials such as: nylon, Dyneema and Spectra. Its function is to keep the fish that has been hooked by the hooks in contact with the fisherman and allow, after the fight, to bring it to a point close to the fisherman, either to be removed or released into the water. Fishing reels have a coil where the fishing rope is wound, the amount of rope being important either for launching or for containing large fish.

Decoy

A lure is a device created by man, whose function lies in awakening the natural instincts of the fish, so that it bites it in response to the physiological act of feeding. Among artificial lures there are those that are imitators of living organisms, emulators that are those lures that have characteristics of living beings without being the same, and attractors that are those that, without resembling anything existing in nature, create various movements and sounds. which are attractive to fish. Every fishing lure is armed with a hook or several of them, its purpose is to hold the fish once it has bitten the deception. The materials used to make the lures are variable: wood, metal, feathers, plastic resins, among other materials.

At a global level, one of the greatest exponents in the creation of the raft lure was the Finnish fisherman Laurie Rapala, who with his original lure, changed the dynamics of fishing with lures throughout the world. His key concept was that the lure moved like wounded prey and thus attracted the aquatic predator.

They are fishing lures whose purpose is to be dragged behind a boat and attract large marine fish.

Hook

Harpoon or hook, usually small, made of iron or other metal, which, hanging from a line or wire and, with some bait placed on it, is used for fishing.

The parts of a hook include: eye or ring (used to tie the fishing line), neck or shank (length of the hook), curve or bend, gill, barb or death, curve or opening and the sharp tip.

Man has anciently created hooks from all types of materials including wood, animal bones, human bones, horns, shells, stones, bronze and iron.

Currently, its manufacture is developed with tempered, tempered steels of the highest quality, resistance and durability created with chromium, molybdenum and vanadium alloys with various tips and chemical sharpening of them by the company of French origin. VMC.

According to the needs, the fisherman will be able to choose the hooks according to their size and shape, whether they are the same or circular and if their applications are for salt water, they must be made of steel material, in such a way that They withstand corrosion and also have adequate resistance to withstand the force of the powerful marine fish that battle the rod and reel angler.

Fishing styles

In reality there are as many styles of fishing as there are fishermen (we can find fishing with artificial lures or with natural baits, with a large number of standardized and personal subdivisions) places in both fresh and salt water and associated with some of the following species of sport fishing:

Species

River fishing species:

Bass (Micropterus salmoides), Paraná dorado (Salminus brasiliensis), tucunare (Chichla sp.), surubí ( Pseudoplatystoma sp.), tiger fish (Hydrocinus sp.), Nile perch (Lates niloticus), machaca (Brycon guatemalensis and B. behereae), grunter (Pomadays crocro and P. bayanus), booby (Joturus pichardi), tepemechín (Agosnostomus monticola), arapaima (Arapaima gigas), piranha (Serrasalmus sp.), tararira (Hoplias malabaricus and H. lacerdae), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), brown trout (Salmo trutta), pike (Esox lucius ), salmon (Salmo sp.), tilapia (Oreochromis sp.), tench (Tinca tinca), sturgeon (< i>Acipenser sturio), arawana (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum), pacú (Colossoma macropomum), sabaleta (Brycon rubricauda), guapote (Parachromis dovii), bluegill (Caquetaia umbrifera), silverside (Odontesthes), carp (Cyprinus carpio), etc.

Coastal fishing species:

Snook (Centropomus sp.), roosterfish (Nematistius pectoralis), snapper (Lutjanidae sp.), grouper (Serraniedae sp.), barracuda (Spheraena sp.), horse mackerel (Carangidae sp.), amberjack (Seriola sp.), bream (Sparidae sp.), snapper (Dentex sp.), snapper (Pagrus pagrus), triple tail (Lobotes surinamensis), red fish (Sciaenops ocellatus ), croaker (Cynoscion sp.), striped bass (Morone saxatilis), barramundi (Lates calcarifer), king shad (Megalops atlanticus), saw mackerel (Scomberomorus sierra), mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson), mackerels (Scomberomorus cavalla), pomfret (Trachinotus falcatus), African pompano (Alectis ciliaris), sole (Osteoglossum bicirrhosum), halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis i>).

Deep sea fishing species:

Marlin (Makaira mazara, M. nigricans), dorado (Coryphaena hippurus), sailfish (Isthioporus sp.), wahoo (Acanthocybium solandri), mako (Isurus oxyrinchus), white marlin (Kajikia albida), spearfish ( Kajikia audax), swordfish (Xiphias gladius), yellowfin tuna (Thunnus alacares), bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus and T. orientalis), albacore (Thunnus alalunga), bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus), dogtooth tuna (Gymnosarda unicolor ).