The classic hook and line is not the only way to fish. There are hundreds of ways to catch the big ones. Here are a few of them.
- Noodling is fishing with hands practiced in South of the United States. Fishermen catch catfish by sticking hand into a catfish hole where this fish lives.
- Flounder tramping is a method of fishing practiced in Scottish village of Palnackie on every August. People compete in catching the flounder (which is a species of flatfish) by stamping on them.
- Spearfishing is fishing with ordinary spears or with their variants like harpoons, tridents, arrows, Hawaiian slings, and spearguns.
- Netting is method of fishing which uses fishing nets. There are many types of nets for different uses and different fish. Cast net (or throw net) is a smaller round net with weights on it edges. Gillnet is placed in water vertically (using combination of weights and floats) and catches fish which try to pass through it. Trawl net is large, conical a dragged by ship.
- Angling is fishing with a hook (angle), line and rod. Hook has bait on it and is sometimes weighted with a sinker.
- Fly fishing uses artificial flies as lures with specially constructed fly rods and fly lines. Artificial flies are usually hand made in variety of shapes.
- Bottom fishing is angling with heavy weight at the bottom of water. It can be done from boats and from the land and its aim is catching the fish that lives at the bottom.
- Ice fishing is angling through the hole in the ice during the time of a year when a body of water is frozen.
- Fishing from float tube is fishing from a small inflatable boat (very small). It is used from fly fishing and when fishermen use it they don’t scare the fish with splashing.
- Kite fishing is using kites to carry line and fishhook to the places that are not easily reachable. It was invented in China and it is still used on New Guinea and other Pacific Islands.
- Trapping is fishing done with traps. Basket weir fish traps are woven from branches and made so a fish can enter it but not exit. Lobster traps are similar to basket traps but are smaller and have more compartments. Fishing weir is a large trap made of logs and fences, placed in water to fore fish to enter parts of trap from which it can not exit.
- Cormorant fishing was a practice in China and Japan since 14th century. It uses trained cormorants with ring on their neck which prevents the bird to swallow the fish when it catches it. Instead it brings the bird to the fisherman.
- Electrofishing is method used in freshwater by fisheries scientists. Electricity is used to stun fish, check fish population and then return it into water unharmed.
All credit for this list goes to History of Fishing. http://www.historyoffishing.com/fishing-facts/types-of-fishing-techniques/
