Fishing is both big business and a sport enjoyed by millions of people. Fishing began more than 40,000 years ago, but at that time it was for food rather than sport. The Egyptians were one of the first to use fishing tools to catch fish. The Nile River was an obvious source of fish for them. Fish were caught in many different ways using our hands or weapons such as spears until more sophisticated forms of fishing were tried. These include nets and traps.

Sport fishing is extremely popular and is usually done with a rod and various baits or hooks following set competition rules that control how the fish should be caught etc. Typically, the winner of such a competition is the angler who catches the most weight of fish rather than number of fish. A very popular carp fishing competition is the British Carp Fishing Championships or BCAS by Species. It attracts anglers from all over the world and in addition to the prestige of becoming the best angler, there is also a prize of £10,000 for the winner.

Carp fishing is becoming more and more popular and many competitions are springing up around the world with huge amounts of money at stake. For carp fishing I would use carp fishing bait or boilies as they may be called in the UK. The word boilies comes from the fact that the carp bait ingredients are boiled in water. Carp fishing is also very popular in other countries such as France and Spain and there are many anglers who go on fishing holidays to these countries. Types of carp include common carp, grass carp, and silver carp.

Carp fishing in France is very popular with UK anglers due to how close France is to us of course. Popular fishing destinations include Paris, Calais, Limoges, and Domaine de la Vallée. There are many companies offering organized fishing holidays in France. Popular UK fishing destinations include the Cotswold, Devon and Yorkshire. If you’re happy to travel further afield to fish, there are some fantastic places to go, including Thailand, Madeira and Australia.

Fishing bait is something used to attract fish to the equipment used to catch them i.e. a rod. Fishing baits can range from small insects such as maggots or worms to handmade baits such as boilies.

Fishing tackle is the name given to virtually all clothing or equipment used in fishing. This can be anything from fishing nets and rods to reels and articles of clothing such as boots and boots. Popular brands include Fox, Nash, Daiwa for carp rods and more, Grays for all things fishing, and Dynamite Baits for fishing baits. Major brands of carp baits include Cotswold baits and Richworth baits.

Commercial fishing is big business and takes place all over the world, but China accounts for the majority of commercially caught fish. In the UK we are well known for our love of fish and chips!