A fishing method using a single fishing line with one or more fishing lures or baited hooks attached to it. This technique, as opposed to trolling, does not use any pole, but the line is directly held in the hands of the fishers. Handlines tend to be used by relatively small inshore boats with barely any fishing gear, in both the upper water layers as well as in deeper waters, close to the seabed.
See also Troll fishing.