Catch and release is a practice within recreational fishing where after capture, often a fast measurement and weighing of the fish is performed, followed by posed photography as proof of the catch, and then the fish are unhooked and returned live to the water. Using barbless hooks, it is often possible to release the fish without removing it from the water.
Catch and release
A rod-caught Atlantic salmon being released on the Little Gruinard in Wester Ross, Scotland
"No Barbs" sign on Ribnik River in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Multilingual catch and release sign in Ireland
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is professional fishing for profit; or subsistence fishing, which is fishing for survival and livelihood.
Recreational fishing at sunset
Izaak Walton's Compleat Angler, published in 1653 helped popularize fly fishing as a sport. Woodcut by Louis Rhead
Trading card of the Ustonson company, an early firm specializing in fishing equipment, and holder of a Royal Warrant from the 1760s.
The Fly-fisher's Entomology by Alfred Ronalds had a great influence on the development of fly fishing when it was first published in 1836.