Sport fishing in the context of "Soft plastic bait"

Centrarchidae, better known as sunfishes or centrarchids, is a family of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the order Centrarchiformes, native only to North America. There are eight universally included genera within the centrarchid family: Lepomis (true sunfishes), Micropterus (black basses), Pomoxis (crappies), Enneacanthus (banded sunfishes), Centrarchus (type genus, consisting solely of the flier C. macropterus), Archoplites (Sacramento perch), Ambloplites (rock basses), and Acantharchus (mud sunfish). Their closest relatives are the pygmy sunfishes of the family Elassomatidae, which are sometimes placed in the same family, although presently treated as distinct.

The centrarchid family comprises 38 identified species, 34 of which are extant. It includes many popular game fishes familiar to North American anglers, such as the rock bass, largemouth bass, bluegill, pumpkinseed, green sunfish and crappies. Most sunfish are highly valued panfish for sport fishing, and have been introduced in many areas outside their native ranges, sometimes becoming invasive species. While edible, they are not commercially marketed as food fish.

In sport fishing, a spoon lure is a fishing lure usually made of lustrous metal and with an oblong, usually concave shape like the bowl of a spoon. The spoon lure is mainly used to attract predatory fish by specular reflection of light, as well as the turbulences it creates when moving in water.

The design of the spoon lure is simple: the oblong, concave blade shape of the spoon will cause it to wabble randomly when towed or sinking through water, creating sparkles of light reflection that resemble those of a swimming bait fish's scales when looking from afar. The spoon wabbling also stirs up turbulences that can entice the fish to stalk and strike it. Fish normally use their lateral line system to follow the vortices produced by fleeing prey, and the oscillating movements of the spoon lure can imitate these. Different color variations and materials can be added to the classic spoon lure may also help catch fish. Silver- or gold-plated or dyed finishes can give the lure a more vibrant or brilliant appearance. Most spoon lures have at least one hook at the end, which tethers the fish's mouth when the fish swallows the spoon.

A speargun is a ranged underwater fishing device designed to launch a tethered spear or harpoon to impale fish or other marine animals and targets. Spearguns are used in sport fishing and underwater target shooting. The two basic types are pneumatic and elastic (powered by rubber bands). Spear types come in a number of varieties including threaded, break-away and lined. Floats and buoys are common accessories when targeting larger fish.

Rough fish (or the slang trash fish or dirt fish) is a term used by some United States state agencies and anglers to describe fish that are less desirable to sport anglers within a defined region. The term usually refers to larger game fish species that are not commonly eaten, are too rare to be commonly encountered, or are not favorably sought by anglers for sporting purposes. Many of these species are actually very important in the commercial fishing industry, where they make up the bulk of commercial food fish catches in inland freshwater bodies.

Fly casting is a competitive variation of fly fishing found in sport fishing and fishing tournaments. This type of sports fishing originated in the 14th century. The modern version of the sport is supervised by the International Casting Sport Federation (ICSF), which was founded in 1955 and as of April 2014 has member associations in 31 countries.

The ICSF sponsors tournaments and recognizes world records for accuracy and distance. This sport uses plastic weights or hookless flies, and can be held on water or on athletic fields. There are competitive divisions for almost all types of fly, fixed spool, and revolving spool tackle, and for various classes of competitors. It was included in the World Games (see photo) until 2005, and has been considered for the Olympics.