I can confirm from personal experience that "English" is, in fact, a curse.
Anyway, I feel iffy about this because simply putting these objects in the water to generate the fishing conditions isn't really ideal for creating interesting gameplay IMO.
It'd make more sense if these relics would be consumed as bait by catching cursed fish, you'd hold the rod out in front of them to attach it, then throw it out like normal. This way, the cursed fish would essentially act as a way to "convert" regular trinkets and etc into Hunter's Call loot, which is a concept I can get behind and I think would add newfound value to the game, such as converting Foul Bounty Skulls into something that'll make a lot more money with only some labor.
From that point, my only complaint is that the related Commendations would need to be much more lenient, as giving up hundreds of relics of each category would be a bit much to ask.