Fishing

[Ken Anderson]

Fishing, hunting, trapping, and the like are not exactly sports, although tournament fishing can be, but this is as good a place for it as any. When I was a child, I hated most kinds of fishing. Sometimes my cousins, particularly my cousin Jerry, would want to go fishing, and I'd hate it if I couldn't talk them out of it. Standing on the shores of a lake or river with a fishing pole was so boring, particularly with Jerry, because he was so into it that everyone was supposed to be quiet and concentrate on fishing. I didn't have a fishing pole of my own (because, duh, I didn't like to fish), so he lent me one of his when he insisted on the two of us going fishing. The fishing went on and on and on, and finally, when I couldn't talk him into stopping, I threw his pole in the river.

At that time, either kids didn't need fishing licenses or the local game wardens didn't enforce fishing laws on kids, except for the smelt season. For some reason, that was highly regulated and enforced. I knew that adults were supposed to have licenses, but I also knew plenty of adults who didn't bother to get one unless they were fishing on a very public lake or river.

I liked smelt fishing because it was done with a net, and I could get two buckets of smelt in about five minutes, or so it seemed. Sucker (red horse) fishing was okay too, because they were speared, which was a far more interesting way to fish, but suckers didn't taste good unless they were smoked, and we didn't have a smoker. An uncle did, but no one wanted to bother him with smoking fish unless we had a bunch of them.

I also liked ice fishing because my dad had an ice fishing shack that he would put out, usually on Lake Michigan, with a wood stove in it, so any fish you could cook up and eat before the game warden came by didn't count against your limit. I'm sure the rules didn't read that way, but those were the effective rules. Plus, the scraps from cooking fish could be dumped back into the hole to attract more fish. Nothing is fresher than a fish that was swimming around a few minutes before you ate it.

Since I didn't do much pole fishing, I don't know for sure, but I think live bait was what most people used, though lures were a thing.

Now that I'm older, standing on the shores of a lake or river with a fishing rod sounds like something that might be fun, but Maine's fishing laws are so convoluted, I'd probably end up doing prison time, especially given that I can't tell one fish from another, for the most part.

 

[Von Jones]

Fishing, hunting, trapping, and the like are not exactly sports, although tournament fishing can be, but this is as good a place for it as any. When I was a child, I hated most kinds of fishing. Sometimes my cousins, particularly my cousin Jerry, would want to go fishing, and I'd hate it if I couldn't talk them out of it. Standing on the shores of a lake or river with a fishing pole was so boring, particularly with Jerry, because he was so into it that everyone was supposed to be quiet and concentrate on fishing. I didn't have a fishing pole of my own (because, duh, I didn't like to fish), so he lent me one of his when he insisted on the two of us going fishing. The fishing went on and on and on, and finally, when I couldn't talk him into stopping, I threw his pole in the river.

At that time, either kids didn't need fishing licenses or the local game wardens didn't enforce fishing laws on kids, except for the smelt season. For some reason, that was highly regulated and enforced. I knew that adults were supposed to have licenses, but I also knew plenty of adults who didn't bother to get one unless they were fishing on a very public lake or river.

I liked smelt fishing because it was done with a net, and I could get two buckets of smelt in about five minutes, or so it seemed. Sucker (red horse) fishing was okay too, because they were speared, which was a far more interesting way to fish, but suckers didn't taste good unless they were smoked, and we didn't have a smoker. An uncle did, but no one wanted to bother him with smoking fish unless we had a bunch of them.

I also like ice fishing because my dad had an ice fishing shack that he would put out, usually on Lake Michigan, with a wood stove in it, so any fish you could cook up and eat before the game warden came by didn't count against your limit. I'm sure the rules didn't read that way, but those were the effective rules. Plus, the scraps from cooking fish could be dumped back into the hole to attract more fish. Nothing is fresher than a fish that was swimming around a few minutes before you ate it.

Since I didn't do much pole fishing, I don't know for sure, but I think live bait was what most people used, though lures were a thing.

Now that I'm older, standing on the shores of a lake or river with a fishing rod sounds like something that might be fun, but Maine's fishing laws are so convoluted, I'd probably end up doing prison time, especially given that I can't tell one fish from another, for the most part.

I especially like the part of throwing his fishing pole into the river, Ken.

 

[Don Alaska]

I once fished a lot. As a kid, opening day of trout season was almost as big a deal as the opening of deer season, and you could start at a much younger age. Here fishing is something almost everyone does. Alaska residents can fish for salmon in designated areas with nets. That is what gets many people through the winter food-wise. In the bush, we used drift nets. They had limits on length, depth, and opening size depending on the time of year. That was how entire villages were fed, especially elders. Our smelt season is short and essentially unregulated. We would catch hundreds or thousands in a single day if you could catch the run at the right time. We would use the large catches to feed our dogs, especially in the winter as they were a proper sized dog snack. We never go smelting now as they are not the best human food, although the ones we caught in the bush were larger and more solid. We pickled those and fed all the neighborhood boys with them. Girls weren't fond of them.

These days we occasionally go ice fishing or salmon fishing and trout fishing, but not with the intensity of days gone by. Since we are over 65, we can sign a form and our children can proxy for us. We are entitled to 35 net-caught salmon, but we seldom use that many. We half-smoke some and can them. It makes a great dip or smoked salmon salad for winter munching.