What is the point of fishing?

Thanks for the explanations, jess and pompa. I have never fished but I always assumed it was an 'art form' that had developed from the need to find food, in the same way that patchwork quilting has developed into an art form from the humble beginnings of trying to keep warm by sewing scraps and bits of old clothes together to make blankets. Trout is my favourite fish, closely followed by Scottish smoked salmon. I lived in Norway for a while and hubby and I didn't think the smoked salmon there was nearly as good as Scottish. I think they smoke it less and they smoke the fish whole. Anyway, we ended up feeding half a fish to the seagulls.

BtC , JessM is sort of right, not so sure of the class distinction though.

Game fishing - freshwater = Salmon, sea trout, trout, grayling, etc.. Trout fishing is now available at reasonable cost in many rivers, lakes and reservoirs. usually fly fishing. No longer an elite sport. (but some salmon rivers are still very expensive)

Game fishing, salt water = marlin, sail fish, tunny etc - rich man's sport.

Coarse fishing = freshwater, roach, bream, carp. tench.pike.perch etc. Very rarely eaten in the UK, sometimes in Europe. Usually caught with a bait of some sort and returned alive. Nowhere as cheap as it used to be. Some anglers do need a truck to transport their gear !!!

Sea fishing - anything that goes with chips !!!

I fly fish for trout in a local reservoir and river Can carry all I need in my jacket pockets. Cost me less per year than coarse fishing used to.

I was taught coarse fishing by my father when I was about eight and have enjoyed it on and off ever since. It's relaxing (unless it is peeing down - then it's horrible). I taught my son (then 11) to fish when we lived in Holland (big on angling in Holland). I'll never forget how excited he was when he landed his first small roach. He wasn't very keen to take the maggot out of its mouth though! My husband is not the least bit interested in fishing - says its a waste of time. I always said that when I retired I would take it up again, but I'd like to try fly fishing, so I may have a couple of lessons at a game fair later this year and see how I get on. There is some good reservoir fishing near us.
And I absolutely love parkin!

game = salmon, trout, or in the sea marlin etc - upper class fish. Fly fishing. Expensive fishing rights. Ghillies even.
coarse = muddy tasting fish in canals and ponds. carp, tench etc. Often thrown back in to catch another day. Long poles with bait dangling. Exponents often need a trolley to transport their kit. Working class fish.
Then there is sea angling - the stuff you do off the rocks, the pier and from small boats. Mackerel, bass, dogfish etc. Middle class fish.
DS1 became a fishing addict at an early age. But DS 2 caught a marlin last year - rather larger than he is, and he's not small.
I can understand the eating bit.

Mmmm - parkin, yummy!

Oh, and I once made a rice cake with uncooked rice instead of rice flour. It rose beautifully and smelled gorgeous but when my brother took the first bite, he chewed for a bit and then said: This cake has bones in it! that probably would have made good fish bait too.

My sister once made some parkin that we couldn't even cut with a saw! We soaked it but that didn't help. Thought maybe it would have made a paving slab but she didn't know what she'd done wrong so couldn't patent it.

There's mention on the thrifty tips thread about using out of date food stuffs for ground-bait, well along a similar line......
Many, many years ago I made a large roasting tin size bread pudding, but forgot it in the oven until it was too burned to eat. My late husband drilled a hole through it, threaded rope and attached a large weight to anchor it, then floated it over his fishing spot. As the underneath softened and disintegrated in the river, bits of bread, suet, sultanas, mixed spice etc sunk down as groundbait. Resulted in a great day's fishing apparently.

pompa, can younplease explain the terms coarse and game as applied to fishing to an ignoramus?

Shysal, is a way of doing absolutely nothing without realising it!.

I fish for trout and have had several experiences that convince me that fish feel no pain. When fishing at Hanningfield, the guy nest to me hooked and then lost a large fish, minutes later I caught and landed the same fish, still with his fly in its mouth. We also see fish with major injuries from cormorant attacks, they continue to feed seemingly unaffected.

Most of my fish are taken for eating and are killed within minutes of being landed, which cannot be said for any of the fish on the fishmongers slab.

I used to coarse fish, but stopped because of the behaviour of some anglers. litter and discarded line etc. Game fishing does not seem to suffer any of theses problem.