Fishing Pole Emoji

A fishing rod with a line in the water and a fish on the hook. 🎣 covers the literal hobby and a bunch of metaphorical fishing: fishing for compliments, catfishing, phishing scams, and "reeling someone in" romantically.

The literal use is big. 57.9 million Americans went recreational fishing in 2024, an all-time high representing 19% of the US population. That's more people than play golf, tennis, and skiing combined. When someone posts 🎣 on a Saturday morning, there's a solid chance they're actually headed to a lake.

But the figurative uses are where it gets interesting. "Fishing for compliments" means posting something self-deprecating to bait people into complimenting you. The internet shorthand for this is "didn't know it was fishing season 🎣" in reply to someone's obviously thirsty post. Then there's "catfishing", a term from the 2010 documentary) about Nev Schulman discovering his online girlfriend was a fabrication. And "phishing" in cybersecurity, spelled with "ph" because early hackers called themselves "phreaks" (phone freaks), so the fishing metaphor kept the phreaker spelling.

On Instagram and TikTok, 🎣 shows up in fishing trip photos, outdoor adventure content, and bass fishing communities (#fishinglife has hundreds of millions of views). It's a staple of the outdoor recreation aesthetic alongside 🏕️ and 🛶.

In dating culture, 🎣 has a whole second life. It's used to call out people fishing for compliments ("🎣🎣🎣" under a post that's obviously seeking validation) and to reference the infamous men-holding-fish dating profile trend. In Florida, 1 in 5 men on Tinder feature a fish photo. TikTok user Cala Murry started a viral trend of ranking these fish pics, spawning a whole subgenre.

In tech circles, 🎣 occasionally references phishing attacks, though most security professionals spell it out rather than use the emoji.

🎣 was approved in Unicode 6.0 (2010) as U+1F3A3U+1F3A3 FISHING POLE AND FISH, joining Emoji 1.0 in 2015. The official name is notable because it describes two objects: the pole and the fish already on the hook.

Fishing is one of humanity's oldest activities, going back tens of thousands of years. But the emoji's metaphorical meanings have more specific histories:

"Fishing for compliments" uses the older English pattern where "to fish for" meant "to search for" or "to try to get." The phrase has been in use since at least the 18th century.

"Catfishing" entered popular vocabulary through the 2010 documentary *Catfish*), where filmmaker Nev Schulman discovered the woman he'd been dating online was entirely fabricated. The name comes from a story told in the film: when live cod were shipped from North America to Asia, putting catfish in the tanks kept the cod active and the flesh firm. The metaphor stuck, and MTV turned it into a TV show (2012-2025) hosted by Schulman.

"Phishing" dates to 1996, when hackers on AOL impersonated staff to steal passwords. They spelled it with "ph" because the hacker community descended from "phreakers" (phone system hackers), and the "ph" prefix was their trademark.

In Japan, fishing (tsuri, 釣り) carries connotations of patience, zen, and harmony with nature that go beyond the Western "hobby" framing. It's closer to a meditative practice. The emoji resonates with this meaning in Japanese digital culture.

In the US, fishing is the country's most popular outdoor recreation activity. 57.9 million Americans fished in 2024, and 🎣 is a real identity marker for outdoors communities, especially in the South and Midwest.

In online dating culture worldwide, 🎣 has been claimed by the "fish pic" discourse. The debate over whether men should post fish photos on dating apps is one of the internet's most reliably recurring arguments.

• •57.9 million Americans went fishing in 2024, the highest number ever recorded. 19% of the US population. 5.1 million tried it for the first time.
• •"Catfishing" entered the dictionary thanks to a 2010 documentary) about Nev Schulman. The name comes from a story about putting catfish in cod tanks to keep the cod active during shipping.
• •"Phishing" is spelled with "ph" because it comes from "phreaking" (phone system hacking). Early internet hackers on AOL coined the term in 1996.
• •The sportfishing industry generates $230.5 billion in annual economic output and supports 1.1 million jobs in the US.
• •In Florida, 1 in 5 men on Tinder have a fish photo in their dating profile. In New York, it's 1 in 20.

• •The men-holding-fish dating profile trend is one of the internet's most enduring dating memes. In Florida, 1 in 5 men on Tinder feature a fish photo. TikToker Cala Murry started a viral series in 2023 ranking fish pics, and there's a Tumblr called "Men With Huge Cods" dedicated to the phenomenon. Tinder jokingly "banned" fish photos for April Fools' Day after claiming 92% of users get the ick from them.
• •Nev Schulman's *Catfish* documentary (2010)) gave the English language a new word. The term came from a metaphor about putting catfish in cod tanks to keep the cod active. The MTV show Catfish: The TV Show ran from 2012 to 2025, making "catfishing" a household term for online dating deception.
• •The term "phishing" first appeared in 1996 on AOL, when hackers posed as staff to steal passwords. The "ph" spelling comes from "phreaking" (phone system hacking). The fishing metaphor was deliberate: scammers bait hooks with fake emails, and victims bite. 🎣 occasionally shows up in cybersecurity memes and awareness campaigns.

• •🎣 is U+1F3A3U+1F3A3. The official Unicode name is FISHING POLE AND FISH (note: it describes two objects in one emoji).
• •Common shortcodes: :fishing_pole_and_fish::fishing_pole_and_fish: (Slack, Discord, GitHub). The long name reflects the dual-object design.

See the full Emoji Developer Tools guide for regex patterns, encoding helpers, and more.