Do you fish for food?

[Kathleen]

I want to fish too. I study ancient methods of fishing on YouTube, lots of ways to catch fish. 

Are these methods legal in the US? I don't think so. Everything is regulated, which has its pro's and con's.

My fishing guide, who taught at U of Alaska, told me if you get "lost in the woods" and need to fish or hunt to stay alive, and meet up with a Game and Fish Warden without a license, you immediately tell them you are glad they found you, because you were lost. Several people told me this is the only time you get around regs. I'm not suggesting that you say this if you are not lost, just passing on what a few people in the know have told me.

A fisher woman in New Mexico told me Game and Fish can confiscate your car. Hanging out at the local fly fishing shop I learned that wardens know how to test for the tiniest infraction.

If you watch Mors Kochanski on YouTube, an old Canadian guy who grew up "in the bush", he tells students you expend as many calories catching fish as you gain when you eat them.

If the old methods were legal, it seems you could catch fish easily without using many calories. At 9 years old my son caught a big trout up the canyon in the Santa Fe River with his bare hands. That got me thinking...

YouTube is GREAT for info re alternative ways to catch fish.

 

[SternWake]

When I would spend time in Baja, fish was the major source of protein. Lunch or dinner time I'd go surf cast with a crocodile, and rarely got skunked.
I'd get sick of eating fish, and crave red meat or chicken after a while.


Kind of made me a fish Snob too. If I can smell it, I won't eat it.

Walking past the seafood sections in supermarkets, turns my stomach.

Catching fish is amusing, but I'd feel guilty busting up their mouths doing the catch and release thing.

If I saw a new camp pull up, I'd catch and fillet a fish and go offer to trade it for some fresh meat/chicken, or a freaking hot dog.

I did not have refrigeration then.

I don't fish in California. From piers one does not need a fishing licence, but I've no interest in standing shoulder to shoulder fishing from a pier or fishing with Bait.

If I can't cast a Lure, forget it. No interest.

 

[TrainChaser]

I don't know if this is legal or not. I was talking to a guy in a campground somewhere that was near a lake, and I did see people carrying fishing poles. I asked him if he fished, and he said, "No. If I want to eat fish, I just buy some from someone else who is catching them." Sounded reasonable, but would the warden agree?

Food isn't protected as much as it's taxed. If the local govts couldn't make money on it, they wouldn't care if the land was stripped bare.

djkeev: "If everyone was doing it..."

The only thing that "everyone" does is breathe and relieve themselves. And the tribes usually have the right to fish and hunt enough to feed themselves, but they often don't stop there. The rez that's four miles from me kills anything they can get a bullet or hook into. (This from a couple of tribal members.)

 

[blars]

No. When I camp hosted at stocked fishing lakes, people kept asking me for fishing advice.

 

[highdesertranger]

in every state that I hunted or fished in it is illegal to sell your catch or take. you need a commercial fishing license or a trapping license to do that. the tribes getaway with it, at least in N CA. highdesertranger

 

[TrainChaser]

It sounded too simple.

 

[Vagabound]

This is actually a bit more complicated than the comments so far might indicate. One way to illustrate that is to remove the issue of moving from state to state, and just talk about the situation within one state.

When I was living overseas, but preparing to return, I investigated many things. One of those things was hunting and fishing laws, for example, in Florida. I subscribed to various Florida Wildlife Commission emails for about a year,  and read quite a few of them. They covered events in conservation, changes and proposed changes to hunting and fishing laws, and also arrest reports of violators.

Despite having grown up hunting and fishing there, reading the information from FWC left me with the distinct impression that things had changed drastically. I honestly felt that I might not be able to navigate all the different rules and requirements required to hunt or fish legally. I remember after a few months of reading those emails, I ended up shaking my head and thinking that in order to fish properly, I'd need to save two spots in the boat ... one for a biologist and one for a lawyer.   By that point, it seemed that all the fun and enjoyment of hunting or fishing had been squeezed out of the process, and replaced with an ever-present anxiety of transgressing some strange and unknown regulation.

Now take those complications, and add the factor of moving around to different states and dealing with that in multiple places, plus the high cost of out-of-state licenses.

I really don't want to give up on the idea of fishing and hunting to supplement my food supply, but it just seems highly impractical given the current environment of laws and policies, even within one state, but more so if nomadic.

There is no need to explain the benefit of fish and game regulations.  I know why they exist and I agree with them in concept and generally speaking in practice.  However, I'm an environmentalist, and even I think that the current situation is excessive. Makes it hard for me to be supportive of agencies and policies that would otherwise be natural for me to support.

Hope that makes sense.

Vagabound

 

[907KHAM687]

Yes. I didn't do very well this year though. Work was getting in the way. Won't have that problem next year, and fish will be a priority. Not so much for myself, but for my extended family. Next years target is 75 copper river reds, split between my parents, my sister, and my uncle in the states. Can up a bit for the van, filet and freeze the rest.

But its not normal fishing, its dipnetting and open to Alaska residents only, I haven't fished with a rod in years.

 

[mikEXpat]

I fish when I'm around a clean body of water.  There is only a few places i fish in VA where i spend a lot of my time.  I don't like to eat fish more than twice a week so being able to freeze the fish is important.  There are times where the clothing i cleaned the fish in can be a problem.  I never clean my fish in my van and if i have to set up a place to do it on the side of the road i end up using 5 to 10 gallons of water to clean the fish and clean up all my mess.  To me there is nothing worse than a fishy van that your living in.

Very good point and one I hadn't thought about; the smell. Hmmm. Cleaning everything just so I can have fish for dinner doesn't really attract me now that I think about it. It would be better just to buy and refrigerate or freeze if possible. 

Thanks.

 

[mikEXpat]

This is actually a bit more complicated than the comments so far might indicate. One way to illustrate that is to remove the issue of moving from state to state, and just talk about the situation within one state...

I think this thread has made it clear to me that fishing for food just isn't worth it. Rules, cost, availability, skills, smell, and the hassle of doing it all just to feed me doesn't seem worth it. If I had a passion for it as a hobby, I might be able to justify it but I don't.

Thanks for all the input. 

Mike

 

[Kathleen]

This is actually a bit more complicated than the comments so far might indicate. One way to illustrate that is to remove the issue of moving from state to state, and just talk about the situation within one state.

When I was living overseas, but preparing to return, I investigated many things. One of those things was hunting and fishing laws, for example, in Florida. I subscribed to various Florida Wildlife Commission emails for about a year,  and read quite a few of them. They covered events in conservation, changes and proposed changes to hunting and fishing laws, and also arrest reports of violators.

Despite having grown up hunting and fishing there, reading the information from FWC left me with the distinct impression that things had changed drastically. I honestly felt that I might not be able to navigate all the different rules and requirements required to hunt or fish legally. I remember after a few months of reading those emails, I ended up shaking my head and thinking that in order to fish properly, I'd need to save two spots in the boat ... one for a biologist and one for a lawyer.   By that point, it seemed that all the fun and enjoyment of hunting or fishing had been squeezed out of the process, and replaced with an ever-present anxiety of transgressing some strange and unknown regulation.

Now take those complications, and add the factor of moving around to different states and dealing with that in multiple places, plus the high cost of out-of-state licenses.

I really don't want to give up on the idea of fishing and hunting to supplement my food supply, but it just seems highly impractical given the current environment of laws and policies, even within one state, but more so if nomadic.

There is no need to explain the benefit of fish and game regulations.  I know why they exist and I agree with them in concept and generally speaking in practice.  However, I'm an environmentalist, and even I think that the current situation is excessive. Makes it hard for me to be supportive of agencies and policies that would otherwise be natural for me to support.

Hope that makes sense.

Vagabound

Ha, two spots in the boat, one for a biologist and one for a lawyer. That about sums it up. For anyone who truly relates to traditional nomadic practices it is irritating not to be able to hunt and fish in multiple ways used in the past. And yes, I consider myself environmentally oriented too. We overpopulated this planet. Now were paying the price with highly complex regulations. If you want to be self sufficient and eat something healthier than processed foods, hunting and fishing would be the way to go as well as gathering wild edibles and medicinals. Any of you who follow wilderness skills author and Tracker School founder, Tom Brown Jr, know that he figured if every resident of the state of CA needed to hunt there would be only one pound of deer meat per person. Kinda scary when you think about it. The city I live in has a 2-3 day food supply at any given time. The human population explosion has had a great impact on this planet in just the past 60 years.

 

[Kathleen]

Kathleen,

I have several of the Tom Brown books around here somewhere, found them very readable and informative on getting by in the woods. He could probably catch a fish using a rock!

Guy

Guy,

It seems to me that wilderness skills and van dwelling go hand in hand. At least that's how I see it, and plan to live it in the near future.

 

[Woltz]

I really should start. There are plenty of places around here where fishing is allowed, plenty of chances to practice and everything. I'm not big on the prep work of cooking the fish though. It's just something I'm bad with. I am however in love with the Flip Reel from The Grommet. Easier to store in your vehicle than a pole and reminds me more of bottle fishing.

 

[mikEXpat]

I am however in love with the Flip Reel from The Grommet. Easier to store in your vehicle than a pole and reminds me more of bottle fishing.

Thanks for teaching me about the Flip Reel. I'm certainly gonna try it out. Looks fun.

Mike

 

[WesternRailfan5181]

From a fellow fisherman, currently i do not. But mostly due to the fact that I'm always running up and down the highway with a 53 foot trailer, deadlines to meet and all that. But once i can get into a decent vehicle of some sort, I plan to make it a priority, even if I don't take a lot of fish. 

Now as well as the regs, i think its best to narrow down the area your traveling in. Using my initial travel plan as an example, I plan to head towards the pacific northwest in the very early springtime, with my ultimate destination being Alaska. If for some odd reason that gets pushed till fall, i plan to spend the winter in the northern midwest and pacific northwest. It probly wouldn't be best to depend on fish for sustenance, however i have learned that Alaska is one of the few states that still allows subsistence fishing because of the remoteness of much of the state. There is a specific license for it, don't remember how much exactly. A lot of states have 3- or 5-day temp licenses, so that could be a good compromise, but the myriad of regulations and laws have indeed made it cost prohibitive to depend on fish for any sort of sustenance.

For me its more about getting away from all the stress that comes from a "normal" day of work. As the old saying goes, "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at the office." Congratz on the new van Vagabound, and happy trails!


WesternRailfan5181

 

[WesternRailfan5181]

If you do plan to do any freshwater fishing, my preferred setup is a 7-10' foot Shakespeare "Ugly Stick", medium to large spinning reel, spooled with PowerPro 40-lb braided wire line. I've never yet had that setup fail on me. May be a little overkill for smaller fish, but works pretty good for what i am usually after.

 

[Zizzer_Zazzer_Zuz]

 A lot of states have 3- or 5-day temp licenses,

Most of those short term out of state fishing licenses are SUPER expensive!

NC for a 10 day license is $20. Other states I've seen as much $75 for a 3 day license.

With a little planning though it seems that there are often license free fishing locations and even license free fishing days.

For instance for anyone in Maryland might find this useful, http://dnr.maryland.gov/fisheries/Pages/license-free.aspx

Typicaly a Google search for state name + Fishing License will get you to the state fisheries page, always stick to the state sites, don't bother with the others and make certain that you check the dates.

Most local Wal~Marts will sell fishing and hunting licenses and they will often have State Department of natural Resources materials on hand. You can always just call and ask.

Private and pay piers (lake or tidal) usually do not require licenses.

 

[Vagabound]

There is one other possibility that might be feasible. 

It would take too long to explain the benefits of catching and eating silver carp. However, accept for the moment that they're good eating white meat fish, plentiful, and an invasive species. That means that most jurisdictions want those fish gone. It may be possible in some locations to fish for them without a fishing license.

A few months ago I started researching this to find out which area has which rules. Ran out of time, and didn't gather too much. Maybe this is one of those things that we can tag-team and various people can find out a bit of the information and together we can learn what's actually possible and what's not. Plentiful, big, great-tasting, free fish. What do we have to lose?

There is a ton of information on the Internet about the silver carp, to include some very entertaining YouTube videos. Even though it's called Asian carp by a lot of people, that's actually a category, and silver carp is one fish in that category.

https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?speciesID=549

Tom

 

[Vagabound]

One more informative link to add to my post just above. This one has a interesting map that shows the spread of Asian carp in the U.S. since 1975.   It really helped me understand what all the fuss is about:

http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/threats-to-wildlife/invasive-species/asian-carp.aspx

Tom

 

[user 13531]

Just like the title. Do you fish for food?

I know that you need a license, and I'm considering buying one in California since that's where I grew up and will spend most of my time as I travel up and down the West. I'd like to hear from others if you fish to supplement your food.

Gave up fishing and hunting in California a long time ago. Cost's have skyrocketed and the restrictions are rediculous. It's become a catch and release state. I really feel like the department of fish and game doesn't want anyone fishing or hunting anymore. They've simply become mobile IRS revenue agents, writing citations at every opportunity.