I’m sorry if this is a very stupid question.
I can easily afford a fishing license in my state. There is a lake that has crappie, bluegill, and largemouth bass.
What steps would I need to take to catch one of these fish, clean and eat it? I’ve been fishing on like a school field trip or on private land, but just did catch and release.
Is it financially beneficial to catch and eat your own fish? If I thrift a cheap fishing rod, will I be spending less on bait than I would be on food?
Fishing for food and profit is like an entire industry. It can be financially beneficial, but you need to efficiently catch fish that are big enough to be worth the time and effort.
The rod and tackle are the expensive parts, and cleaning and cooking are nothing compared to the time and effort spent catching the fish. Depending on the fish, you can gut/scale/filet the fish in under 5 minutes. A hot pan or grill plus half a lemon, maybe garlic and/or herbs, and that’s going to taste good with practically any fish you can catch.
On the other hand, you could spend hours fishing and catch nothing. You could catch a fish, but it is outside of the size requirements to keep it. You could catch something too small to bother cooking. You could have the fish take your bait and then slip the hook, or break your line. If those events leave you financially in peril, or without food for the day, then your time is probably better spent looking for a job that pays money, rather than fishing.
There’s a reason most commercial fishing is done with nets, or why fish are farmed rather than wild caught. Rod fishing can be effective, but it’s not a guarantee.
There are a couple survival shows that make this abundantly clear. Person spends hours crafting a lure to catch big salmon, then loses it on the first cast and goes without food for two days, or the net catches too many fish and breaks (or catches nothing) and no food for two days. And instead they eat moss and talk about dairy queen or something.
Edit: point being, you should never rely on a single source of food. Each source should be supplemental to every other. Grow, forage, hunt, and fish. Or go to the grocery store. Or all of the above
Yeah - the goal is to have extra strategies for self sufficiency. I’m in a financially precarious situation, and my career field has been become increasingly hostile to LGBT folks. I get that sometimes I’d hook nothing, but having that kind of access to protein in a pinch seems like a good idea.
I have similarly been trying to get into foraging, but I still get wigged out and don’t always trust myself.
I have a dehydrator, so I think I could also preserve stuff when I have those better days perhaps.
I get it. Any day my disability check could get cut. All I can say is to learn as much as you can. I don’t hunt and I don’t forage much, but check out iNaturalist and Seek. I used them for an entire season identifying plants and berries then came back the following year when I was comfortable with the difference between different blackberry, raspberry, and to avoid pokeweed. It’s not always reliable, so follow-up its ID’s with thorough reading. At a first glance, blackberry and poison ivy look like they have similar leaves especially when they’re young. Identifying features also change with the season and you may not be able to positively ID something until later in the year.
For fish, know your local laws, federal laws, and water conditions. Most states will publish reports on water quality and how many of each fish are safe to eat.
A couple other things you can look into are power backups for your home, whether solar or otherwise, and a deep freezer. I split a cow with my office and could survive on only meat for 6 months. Couple that with fishing and what have you and you can make a good day on the water last a long time. Plus, if you salt cure then freeze.
There are also thousands of videos for cleaning fish on YouTube. Epicurious has a great one on cleaning every type of fish and you’ll notice the technique is generally the same, with some notable exceptions.
Just be curious and be careful
Equipment can be very cheap and still be effective. My niece used to catch decent sized perch with a pink plastic rod that came with line and basic tackle (pink hooks!) for like $15. The local surplus store near me has all kinds of cheap but decent rods, hooks, line, lures, etc. for cheap. The main expense is time. If you live near a spot with good fishing, you’re very lucky. In Southwestern Ontario where I am, it’s a few hours drive to decent fishing.
Depending on the body of water and the type of fish you are eating, you might need to worry about environmental pollutants. Many jurisdictions publish guidelines about which fish to avoid eating due to accumulated mercury or other chemicals.
It can be a super cheap way to supplement your diet, though. The biggest investment will be your time. Use a second-hand rod or even a cane pole with no reel. For bait, dig up earthworms.
Seconding. I learned recently on a camping trip that the Rio Grande has high mercury levels in some places, so much that more than two fish will typically put you over the danger threshold
Have you heard of noodling?
Fairly common where I live, but not interested in tangling with water moccasins.
