Go fish, young man

big rockpile · #21 03/23/09, 10:28 PM

Nice looking fish WAFisherman.

Welcome!

big rockpile

lonelytree · #22 03/23/09, 11:30 PM

I go fishing for the halibut!

Go fish, young man - Homesteading Questions

And the macks...

Go fish, young man - Homesteading Questions

sirquack · #23 03/26/09, 03:31 PM

Those pictures bring back so many memories. I used to visit my Uncle in Battleground WA on a regular basis and seeing those photos reminded me of all the good fish we used to pull out of the rivers just outside of town.
I has been so many years I don't even remember the name of the river, but my cousin and I would float a line across the river and sit out on tubes fishing the deep holes for salmon and monster trout.
Those were definitely the good old days.

How Do I · #24 03/26/09, 04:36 PM

Quote:

And just for the record you Guys are nuts.

I'll have to agree there.

Oldcountryboy · #25 03/26/09, 08:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by soulsurvivor

There's a mud vein that needs to be discarded when filleting out a catfish or carp. Get an old timer to show you how and where to find it. It's like a lateral line running down the middle of the fillet. If removed correctly, it will greatly improve the taste of the fish. You won't have that stinky pond taste.

Yep, don't throw away that mud vein tho. It's a great bait for more catfish. I remove the mud vein from all my fillets, wether it be sandbass, catfish, crappie, etc. and save it for more fish bait.

billybobaz · #26 04/08/09, 05:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ladycat

I'd eat fish from the local waters if I was starving, but not otherwise. They are VERY polluted.

THERE HAS TO BE SOME CLEAN WATER SOMEWHERE

Wisconsin Ann · #27 04/08/09, 06:11 AM

Resident fishing license is $20 here in Wisconsin. Plenty of fishing waters around. I figure if you fish once a week, and feed the family even 1 meal a week of fish, you make your $20 back in 2, possibly 3 weeks. Bait=free (worms, doughballs, etc.) Transportation=free (bike, walk). Sittin' on the bank of a stream...priceless

Waters are still pretty good in the area. Some are cleaner than others, of course...near the cities it gets a bit dicey, but for the most part it's lovely clear water. Lot of changes over the decades in the ways farmers process the manure runoff which has helped, and our DNR is pretty good at policing dumping/runoff.

There just isn't much out there that's more relaxing for the mind and soul than fishing.

pheasantplucker · #28 04/08/09, 06:24 AM

My wife and I fish quite a bit. We have a 14 footer and a canoe and two kayaks. Three years ago in one weekend, out of the kayaks, the two of us caught over 300 fish. Most of course were small panfish, but we each caught a few nice largemouth and catfish. We don't keep tiny panfish or any largemouth, but cats we keep and will eat (channels). We will eat the slab crappies, and bluegill. Don't catch many perch but they and walleyes are the best eating fish (freshwater) IMO. I could fish all day every day...in fact if there's a heaven and I go there, that's what I'll be doing.

Wayne02 · #29 04/08/09, 11:14 AM

These types of feel good stories make the rounds every economic downturn. Sometimes the hype far out weighs the reality, but it makes for a good story.

Gives the unemployed something to do? Ok, I'll buy that.

Lowers your grocery bill? Eh maybe, depending on where you live and your situation. In many if not most of the populated areas of the U.S. you will need to drive somewhere to go fishing, seldom is there "public transportation" from their house to these lakes/rivers/ocean. And you will need to buy at least one license, if not more depending on what type of seafood/fish you are going after. Anybody buy fishing/shellfish licenses and permits lately? In many states there are all kinds of add on fees that make the cost less than appealing.

And if you are going to bait fish, which is really the only viable means of catching anything in many areas then you need to buy the bait (hering for saltwater salmon fishing for example). If you are crabbing you can usually get chicken scraps to bait the pots with. Going to fly fish? Great no bait needed, make sure you have the correct flies for the area, if not you will need to buy them. Some streams require the angler to be positioned in the river/stream properly to get a cast into the right pool, so of course you have your waders? Right? If not better go buy them as well. Of course when you are in the sporting goods store getting your license there are other things you may think you need to buy like some new line for the 10 year old brittle stuff on your reel.

Now, how about you add up the cost of all this and take an honest look at how much money you are really "saving" over going to the fish market. This scenario gets even worse for the person who has little or no gear to begin with.

You want to go fishing because it is fun, to pass some time, because the fresh caught fish taste better? Great, I'm right there with you. You want to go fishing because it will lower your grocery bill? Please, before you do, take an honest look at the situation, run the numbers and make sure it is really worth it.

Not trying to be a wet blanket here, just intimately aware of the "costs" associated with fishing. And don't even get me started on boating costs/licenses etc.

Wisconsin Ann · #30 04/08/09, 05:38 PM

Wayne....you're wrong

Here is my cost to go fishing. 1 fishing license...$20.00. I can walk or ride my bike to the Wisconsin river or to the Yahara or to any number of streams that have fish....so that's 0 for transport. If I REALLY want to, I can drive 30minutes to one of the really good fishing lakes around here. Sit on the bank at bend of the river/stream..or near a snag (lots of downed trees in the rivers), and throw my line in. If I want to just cut a sapling, and hang a line on that...it works. And works pretty well around here. Plenty of kids still do just that. If I want to buy a rod and reel....$20.00 will get me a servicable one. I can spend hundreds of dollars on one if I want...but they don't do the fishing any better than a plain one. Bait? worms. dig em up y ourself, or make some dough balls, bits of cheese. Bass LOVE dough balls.

I can catch my limit of small mouth bass in a couple of hours. That feeds the two of us 3 meals of fish. If I want catfish, it's even better....

I'm not alone, either. Every day the local population goes fishing. In particular the Hmong population ,.... one guy I talked to last year said it's very similar to fishing "at home", i.e. viet nam. Just throw a line in and wait until something bites. He always goes home with a full sack of fish. He fishes for his entire extended family.

If you live somewhere that you have to drive to a river, lake, or ocean...well, that's the price you pay for living where you do. Probably a lot of things you can get to on foot that I can't where I live. But fishing IS a way to save money here in Wisconsin, and in most of Minnesota. (SW minnesota is a bit sparce for lakes/rivers)

We have a gazillion types of pan fish, small mouth bass, large mouth, muske, catfish everywhere, trout(rainbow and brownies, I believe are most common), carp (smoked carp is DELICIOUS), and a bunch of fish I just don't recognize because I don't fish the lakes very often.

Actually, I know of one family that rarely buys meat. The boys (2 of them) have small game, deer and fishing license combos...$60. They eat a lot of squirrel, rabbit, venison, and they fish at least once a week, all year round. (I hate ice fishing, btw...brrrrrrr). They usually go turkey hunting in the fall, too....but that's PRICEY for the amount of meat you get.

Wayne02 · #31 04/08/09, 05:57 PM

That's nice that it works out for you, that article doesn't give the full picture (because the hard luck story would not be as good). Truly saving money by gearing up and going fishing really only applies to very small part of the population. There are a whole series of topics/articles like this that rerun each down cycle because they sell.

Quote:

From the icy north to fly-fishing streams in Texas, angling is on the rise. For families, it's an inexpensive outing. Those with a knack for it can trim their grocery bills. And for newly unemployed, it's something to do.

"I'm seeing a lot more fishermen down here," said John Miller, owner of Bob's Sport & Tackle in Katonah, New York. "With the economy the way it is, people are getting laid off from work and don't want to sit at home and do nothing.

"Those with a knack for it can trim their grocery bills." Yep, a knack, the environment, the gear, the experience, workable fish and wildlife regulations etc. can possibly save money, yep I agree. But that is just a very very small part of the population overall. Just because I have the boat, the gear, the experience, and the environment doesn't mean that other people do as well. Just because I live in a rural area that may not be too far from some productive fishing holes doesn't mean the majority of the population does as well.

The real thrust of this story is that if you have time on your hands and need something to do, go fishing. I completely agree with that, just don't make fishing out to be some be-all and end-all to saving money on the grocery bill. Because for the vast majority of the population, that is simply not true, if we are honest with ourselves that is.

MariaAZ · #32 04/08/09, 06:57 PM

A fishing license in Arizona costs $23.50. A trout stamp runs an additional $15.75 (who wants to toss back a fish because they don't have the proper stamp? I sure wouldn't!) From Phoenix, we have several man-made lakes that are 1/2 hr + drive from the house. The one closest to us charges a fee to enter. The lakes are stocked regularly, however, so I suppose one would have some luck catching something.

For DH and I to go fishing, it would cost $78.50 before we even leave the house for the first trip. Given that gas runs about $2/gal, we'll figure the cost to get to one and from one of the lakes that doesn't have an entrance fee would be around $6 (not including the cost of maintenance on our not-the-best-fuel-efficiency car.) If we go fishing once a week, the license would work out to about $1.50/week, plus the price of gas and no guarantee that we'll catch anything for that $7.50. If I were hoping to cut my food bills based on fishing, I personally would not find $7.50 for a "maybe" a good use of my money, especially knowing that there are 3+ million other people in the metro area that might have the same ideas (our lakes are notoriously crowded on nice days.)

I could get an urban fishing license for $18.50, and we used to do just this; go to the stocked lakes that many of our city parks have. We went fairly frequently and caught maybe 3-4 fish between the two of us for the entire year.

We're lucky to have several groceries that frequently run sales on fish, particularly tilapia. There's an ad this week for tilapia, $.99/lb for whole fish (it's usually around $1.99/lb.) Even at $2/lb assuming a 2 lb fish, I could have two fish in my hands, guaranteed, for $.50 more than the weekly cost of fishing. With this $.99 sale, it's worth stocking up.

I realize that when one goes fishing sometimes one will bring home a lot, other times return empty-handed. But given what little I know about our local fishing scene, I'm with Wayne02; I'd go fishing for the fun and relaxation, but I am rather skeptical that around here it would actually save me money on my food bill.

lonelytree · #33 04/08/09, 09:41 PM

Maria - Watch the stocked local lakes for runoff. Fertilizer, oil fuel from the streets cannot be a good thing.

susieM · #34 04/11/09, 04:24 AM

http://fly3364.gobages.net/goblog.ph...979&blogId=143

This is my son's fishing blog. We live way down in SW France, where trout and salmon are plentiful. He has one page devoted to his trip to Hawaii to visit his Granny, where he fished for beautiful colourful Hawaiian fish.

The blog is in French, but the pictures are in fisherman's language.

Wisconsin Ann · #35 04/11/09, 06:08 AM

SusieM...wow

Thanks for that link to your son's blog. Looks like he got well off the beaten track and into some out of the way places. His photos are very flowing and lovely....The fish look great too

...but I love the way he composes the photos to lead the eye into them using the curving rocks ledge, or beach.

now...where did I put that brochure on vacationing in Hawaii.......

Cheryl in SD · #36 04/11/09, 07:05 AM

We just signed two of our children up for fly fishing classes. We live 1/4 miles from a fly fishing stream. They love it, and we may need it.

ibcnya · #37 04/11/09, 08:46 AM

For all you folks who think the cost effectiveness of fishing is prohibitive, fishing is a way of life for many around the world and it may be their only source of protein. So the saying goes........Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.

Freeholder · #38 04/11/09, 05:39 PM

I think the value of the article is in inspiring people who haven't thought of fishing, to think about it and see whether it would be a practical thing to do in their particular situation. I haven't done much fishing lately, but I do already have a fishing pole, and we live within walking distance of the Klamath River, so I need to go get a license and see what is in the river to be caught. We raise a lot of our protein (rabbits, eggs, goat milk, occasional chicken and goat meat), but it would be nice to be able to add some fish to that, especially since we all like fish.

Kathleen