"fisher with a hook and line," mid-15c. (c. 1300 as a surname); agent noun from angle (v.1).
Entries linking to angler
angle v.1
"to fish with a hook," mid-15c., from Old English angel (n.) "angle, hook, fish-hook," related to anga "hook," from Proto-Germanic *angul-, from PIE *ankulo-, suffixed form of root *ang-/*ank- "to bend" (see angle (n.)). Compare Old English angul, Old Norse öngull, Old High German angul, German Angel "fishhook." The figurative sense "catch or elicit by artful wiles" is recorded from 1580s. Related: Angled; angling.