Anglerama

Ocean Fishermen are Catching and Releasing More Fish These Days

2007-04-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), recreational anglers reeling in ocean species have been catching more fish in recent years, but they've also been releasing their catch more often.

Ocean sport fishing is a big business, supporting almost 350,000 jobs and contributing $30.5 billion to the US economy, according to NOAA's 2004 report, "The Economic Importance of Marine Angler Expenditures in the United States." Another 2004 report, "Fisheries of the United States," showed that the 10-year trend for fish caught recreationally was up by 11 percent since 1994. However, the number of fish the anglers actually keep has remained flat, showing no significant growth over the past decade - a statistic that points to better catch and release practices by ocean-going anglers. Catch and release fishing is one of the keys to maintaining stable and healthy sport fish populations.

Of the 10 most popular recreational species, the majority of fish (60 percent on average) are released alive. The report identified anglers' top catches as spotted sea trout, Atlantic croaker, summer flounder and striped bass.

Recreational fishing continues to be one of the most popular outdoor sports. Anglers took nearly 82 million saltwater trips in 2003. While participation in marine recreational fishing fell eight percent from the previous year, the 10-year trend is still positive with the number of anglers up seven percent and the number of trips up nine percent.

Source:
NOAA

Ocean Fish Populations At Risk of Collapse Or Extinction Within 40 Years

2006-11-02T14:50:00.000-08:00

A new study shows that the oceans' fish are being depleted so fast that eating seafood might be just a memory in 40 years. The researchers say more is at stake than our diet, for they find the dwindling of fish stocks hurts the world economically and the ocean environmentally. Researchers say it is not too late to reverse the trend.

A team of North American and European marine biologists and economists reports that our taste for fish has caused some ocean species to disappear since the 1800s, a trend that has accelerated in recent years.

The lead researcher, Canadian Boris Worm of Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia says that roughly one-third of seafood species have collapsed so far. That means their catch has declined 90 percent below the historic maximum. Of these sea species, seven percent have become extinct.

"If this trend continues, if we don't change the way we are managing ocean ecosystems, this trend projects that 100 percent of species will collapse by the year 2048 or around that," he said.

Worm's team arrived at this conclusion after reviewing many studies that monitored the impact of species loss on smaller, local scales and by checking historical archives to track changes in species diversity over the past one-thousand years in 12 coastal regions around the world. They also compiled seafood catch data from 64 large ocean fisheries and analyzed fisheries databases compiled by the United Nations and the University of British Columbia.

The international managing editor of the journal Science that published the study, Andrew Sugden in London, says the findings reveal planet-wide trends that mirror what scientists have found at smaller scales.

"I think the strength of this work lies in the breadth in the array of information that the authors have used for their analysis," he noted. "This analysis is global in scope."

From all the data, Worm's group found that not only are fisheries affected by the species decline, but so is the oceans' overall health.

"There was a decrease in water quality," added Mr. Worm. "For example, harmful algae blooms shot up by 450 percent, oxygen depleted areas increased by more than 300 percent, and so on. So there were negative consequences in the coastal environment that were felt by the humans who were living nearby."

The researchers say many of the economic activities along coasts rely on diverse systems and the healthy waters they supply. When they examined marine areas that had been restored, protected locations such as reserves and those closed to fishing, they found that fish catches increased substantially and the waters were much less susceptible to human and environmental disturbances.

"There are signs people are trying to turn this around and that it's not too late to turn this around," he explained. "We can do this, we know how to do this, and it can be done, but it must be done soon."

A conservationist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California who was not involved in the study, George Leonard, says safeguarding the seafood supply will require finding new ways to restore healthy fisheries.

"If we are going to continue to eat seafood, we're going to have to work darn hard to be sure that there are enough fish in the sea to consume," he said. "That is, fisheries management is going to have to work hard to ensure sustainable fisheries."

Source:
VOA News Service
Author: David McAlary
First published: November 2, 2006

A Coloring Book About Fishing

2006-11-01T10:49:00.000-08:00

I just came across a cute online publication of the Fish & Wildlife service, a coloring book called "Fishing ABC's" you can download as a PDF file and print out for any young anglers in the house. Seems like a great way for kids to pass the time while waiting for a nibble, which as we all know can sometimes take a while.

The coloring book features pictures of catfish, sunfish, gar, trout, perch, salmon, bass, walleye, northern pike, an eel, as well as other animals you'll find around wetlands like herons, frogs, crayfish, and dragonflies. It also teaches important lessons about pollution, habitat preservation, fishing safety, and overfishing.

Here's where to download the PDF files for the coloring book:

Fishing ABC's Book Cover

Fishing ABC's Coloring Book

Fish are Good for You! New Studies Pinpoint Their Nutritional Benefits

2006-11-01T10:45:00.000-08:00

Two new U.S. studies say the nutritional benefits of eating fish outweigh the potential hazards from environmental contaminants. Some environmental and consumer groups dispute the finding.

You may have heard that fish contain mercury and other compounds called PCBs and dioxins that can be harmful physically. But Harvard University doctors and a separate panel of private experts reporting to the U.S. government say eating fish regularly is very healthy, especially for the heart.

One of the authors of the Harvard study, Dariush Mozaffarian, puts it this way.

"The benefits of eating fish are far greater than the potential risks. If you eat a fish and it has some mercury in it, you might be getting less benefit from that fish than if it did not have mercury in it, but the overall benefit is still positive," he said.

The Harvard team says that benefits are great even for women of childbearing age if they avoid certain fish that are likely to contain mercury levels dangerous to fetuses. The second study lists them as predatory fish with long lifespans, such as swordfish, shark, and tilefish.

This study is by the U.S. Institute of Medicine, a branch of the National Academy of Sciences that uses private experts to investigate issues for the U.S. government. Like the Harvard study, it is a summary of recent major research on fish consumption.

Both reports note that consumers are faced with conflicting evidence about eating fish. It is a good protein source containing the type of fat considered healthy for the heart. But some species absorb toxins present in the environment, causing confusion about the role of fish in a healthy diet.

So Institute of Medicine committee member David Bellinger, a Harvard nerve specialist not associated with the Harvard study, offers this advice.

"Because of the uncertainties, especially on the risk side, consumers should consume a variety of fish because the fish that contain one contaminant may not be the same fish that contain another contaminant, so that by consuming a variety of species, the benefits can be maximized, but the overall risk profile can be managed," he noted.

A U.S. environmental group disputes the findings. The National Environmental Trust argues that the two studies ignore evidence that chemicals used as flame retardants are also pervasive in the environment and contaminate fish. In addition, the organization's vice-president for marine conservation, Gerald Leape, says boosting fish consumption would strain wild fish populations that already suffer from overfishing and cause expansion of fish farms where contaminants are more prevalent.

"They have left out a true examination of the role of contamination, and there was no effort to take into account the ecological impacts not only of wild fish captures, but also of aquaculture farming," he said.

Another group, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, warns that fish and shellfish are significant sources of cholesterol, a factor in heart disease. It points out that shellfish in particular have more cholesterol than an equivalent amount of beef.

But Harvard University's Dariush Mozaffarian counters with one of the main findings of his study.

"We found that a modest intake of fish, about one or two servings per week, was enough to reduce the risk of dying from a heart attack by about 35 percent, which is a considerable effect," he explained.

Source:
VOA News Service
Author: David McAlary
First published: October 17, 2006

Catch and Release Guidelines

2006-11-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

Catch and release fishing can help preserve populations of sport fish in habitats under pressure from overfishing, overdevelopment, and other human activities. Studies on trout streams and largemouth bass lakes have demonstrated that catch and release can be a very sound method for maintaining quality fisheries. The following guidelines from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will help ensure the health and well-being of the fish you catch and release:

Never play a fish to complete exhaustion. Use tackle of sufficient strength for the potential size of your quarry.

If possible, unhook the fish while it is in the water.

Try to avoid handling the fish. If you must handle it, thoroughly wet your hands in advance to avoid undue disturbance of its mucous coating, the protective secretion that helps keep a fish healthy.

If you must remove a fish from the water, keep its “air time” to a minimum. Studies have shown that a species such as the brook trout can suffer gill desiccation (drying) in as little as 20 seconds. The more damage to a fish's gill tissue, the greater the likelihood the fish will perish.

Try using one of the newer landing nets, which feature a soft rubber mesh (instead of cloth mesh) net bag. They are much easier on the skin and mucous membrane.

Be aware of water temperatures. A trout caught in warming waters (especially near that threatening 70-degree temperature zone) may not survive upon release. It might be wiser to wait and fish on a cooler day.

Catch and release is most effective when anglers show restraint. While you might be able to catch 100 fish in a day at some locations, that doesn't mean all will survive when released. In fact, the mortality percent could be far higher than that of an angler who wanted to catch just one or two fish for the pan.

Following these basic rules for catch-and-release angling will help keep your favorite fishing holes full of fish. Your fellow anglers (and the fish) will thank you!

Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski Reels in a 63-Pound King Salmon

2006-07-18T23:44:00.000-07:00

Can't say I always agree with her politics (there's a reason they call them wildlife refuges, not oil well refuges) but wow, that's a big fish. And I have to give Senator Murkowski some conservation credit since she caught this monster king salmon as part of a benefit fundraiser to preserve habitat along Alaska's Kenai River. So as one angler to another, nice catch Senator! See the photo of the 63-pounder.

Amazing Fishing Video - Bombardment by Fish!

2006-07-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

This is easily one of the most astounding and hilarious things I've ever seen - two guys in a boat in Brazil, who don't even look like fishermen (there's not a rod in sight), cruising along at night and shining a spotlight across the waterway they're navigating. And suddenly, probably attracted by the light, there are fish flying through the air on all sides. Within a few minutes they have a boatful. If only fishing were this easy - though to be honest the whole episode looks a bit dangerous as well. A hurtling 2-pound fish to the eye wouldn't be much fun. It truly has to be seen to be believed, so sit back and enjoy the piscine pelting: Crazy Nocturnal Airborne Fish Video on Yahoo!

(Kudos to anyone who can identify what kind of fish those are as they're flying by.)

Advice on drying or smoking your catch

2006-06-01T00:32:00.000-07:00

I just came across this helpful article on do-it-yourself techniques for preserving fish by drying or smoking them. If you're ever roughing it out in the wilds and find yourself with a stringer full of fish without a refrigerator or freezer handy, these tips may come in handy. Just be sure the local bears or raccoons don't get wind of your catch while you're preserving it!

(The article was originally published by the Voice of America, aka the US Government...I knew my taxes were paying for something.)

"Most of the time, fishermen catch more fish than they need for their immediate use. The extra fish do not have to be thrown away. The fish can be prepared so they can be eaten at a later time. Fish can be dried or smoked. First, however, the fish must be cleaned and salted.

Begin with fish that are just out of the water. They must be treated immediately after they are caught. If the fish are small, do not remove their heads. If the fish are bigger than twenty centimeters long or weigh more than one hundred fifteen grams, then remove their heads.

Remove the scales on the outside of the fish. Cut the stomach open. Remove everything inside. Wash the fish in clean water. Then rub salt into the fish. Now, you are ready to treat them for future use.

Put the fish in a mixture of three hundred grams of salt and one liter of water. This will remove all of the blood from the fish meat.

Keep them there for about thirty minutes. Then remove all the fish and wash them in clean water. Now, put them in a mixture that has more salt in the water. The mixture should be strong enough so that the fish float to the top. If the fish sink to the bottom, add more salt to the water in the container.

Cover the container with a clean piece of wood. Hold the wood down with a heavy stone. Leave the fish there for about six hours. Then, remove them from the salt water and lay them on a clean place. Cover them with a clean piece of white cloth. Let them dry.

Another method of salting fish is called dry salting. Wooden boxes or baskets are used for dry salting.

After cleaning the fish, put a few of them on the bottom of the box or basket. Cover them with salt. Put more fish on top. Cover them with salt too. Continue putting fish and salt in the container until it is full.

Do not use too much salt when using the dry salt method. You should use one part salt to three parts fish. For example, if you have three kilograms of fish, you should use one kilogram of salt.

Remove the fish after a week or ten days. Wash them in a mixture of water and a small amount of salt. Let them dry.

With all this talk about salt, remember that doctors advise people to limit the sodium in their diet. It can raise blood pressure, and some people have a greater reaction than others.

To dry fish, you will need either a drying table or a place to hang them. If a table is used, it should have a top made of wire screen or thin pieces of wood with a space between each piece.

Lay the cleaned, wet salted fish on top of the table. Do not let them touch each other. Be sure the air can reach the fish from all sides, including the top and bottom.

Build a small smoky fire under the drying table for the first day to keep the flies away. After that, you can keep the flies away by covering the fish with a thin cloth. Do not let the cloth touch the fish.

Fish taste better if they dry out of the bright sunlight. Put your drying table under a tree for best results. Turn your fish over every other day. Small fish will dry in about three days if the air is dry. Large fish will take a week or ten days to dry.

After the fish have dried, place them in a basket to hold them. Cover them with clean paper or large leaves. Then put them in a cool, dry place, not on the ground.

To smoke the fish, you must first remove as much of the saltwater as possible. The smoking can be done in a large round metal container. Remove the top. Cut a small opening on one side at the bottom.

Cover the top of the container with a strong metal wire screen. This is where you put the fish. Build a small fire in the container by reaching in through the opening at the bottom.

Wood from fruit trees makes good fuel for your fire. Such wood will give your smoked fish good color and taste. Hardwoods such as hickory, oak and ash also burn well.

It is important to keep the fire small so it does not burn the fish. You want a lot of smoke, but very little flame. One way to get a lot of smoke is to use green wood, not dried wood.

You should smoke the fish for five days or longer if you plan to keep them for a long time. Remove the fish after you finish smoking them. Let them cool. Then wrap them in clean paper.

Put the fish in baskets and keep them in a cool, dry place off the ground. Dried fish must be kept completely dry until they are eaten."

Source:
VOA News Service
Author: Bob Bowen

Get paid for fishing! Oregon puts a bounty on the northern pikeminnow

2006-05-10T15:35:00.000-07:00

I'll be honest, I'd never even heard of the northern pikeminnow until today's story about how Oregon's Bonneville Power Administration is offering bounties of $4 to $8 for catching this rather homely fish, which can reach up to two feet long. Apparently the pikeminnow is a major threat to young salmon, and has been devouring a rather sizable portion of the already endangered salmon population that spawns in the Columbia River.

Your quarry: the northern pikeminnow

The pikeminnow program has been running since 1991, during which time some anglers have racked up bounties of nearly $40,000 in a season. But to do so you'd probably need to fish dawn to dusk 7 days a week, and not mind coming home smelling like pikeminnow every day. According to the program's official site, you'll be awarded $4 per fish for the first 100 pikeminnows, $5 per fish for pikeminnows 101-400, and $8 (!) a fish for 401 fish and upwards. That's a lot of fish. And apparently they're not even good eating, having been described as bony with mushy, flavorless flesh. So they're all being ground up into fertilizer. Just think, not only will you be doing the endangered salmon a lot of good, you'll be helping provide a natural, organic, and probably extremely stinky fertilizer for America's farmers.

So, you're ready to head off to Oregon and get rich on pikeminnow bounties? First, you better make sure you know how to catch one. Here are some helpful tips from the official bounty site (or "sport reward fishery," as it prefers to be called). The good news is they don't appear to be very hard to catch. They like (a) worms and (b) chicken livers, not to mention a bunch of other common baits. So your bait costs are probably not going to be astronomical. If any pikeminnow anglers are reading and would like offer additional tips, please post 'em in the comments!

Alewives return to the Bronx

2006-03-28T12:51:00.000-08:00

I just read this happy fish tale about a project to restore the alewife (a great bait fish, incidentally) to the Bronx River after centuries of absence.

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of several conservation groups, the Bronx River's ecosystem is now healthy enough to support this perky little herring again, and a whole silvery school of them has just been released into the river by fisheries officials. Hopefully a restored alewife population will also help boost populations of the predatory game fish that dine on them. Who knows, maybe this the first step toward the Bronx River becoming a sport fishing destination! (Though I'm not holding my breath on that front.)

You can read more about it in this New York Times article, and listen to an NPR interview about the event with local Congressman Jose Serrano, who participated in the restocking.

A Record Largemouth Bass...Or Was It?

2006-03-27T11:27:00.000-08:00

Just read a fun article in Slate about a guy who reeled in a record 25 pound largemouth bass near San Diego, CA -- a fish that would've set a new record, beating out the 22 pound bass caught by George Perry in Georgia back in 1932. The only problem is that the 25 pounder, much like Barry Bonds' home run record, didn't get landed the conventional way. It was snagged accidentally, near its tail (which must've made for an interesting fight) and so the angler who brought it in has decided not to submit it for consideration for the record books.

If it was me, and I'd survived the battle with a thrashing 25 pound behemoth bass and had time to consider the ethics of my (non)catch, I don't think I'd apply for the record either. It just wouldn't feel right -- there was no way I could really take credit for the catch, since I hadn't done a single thing to actually attract the fish to my lure. How much skill is there in blindly hooking some unsuspecting fish's tail?
Sure, I'd take plenty of pictures...but I wouldn't go trying to overturn that 70+ year record. (And that's not even taking into account the risk of hate mail and crank calls from angry Georgia anglers.)

This reminds me of one of my most vivid fishing memories, an incident that occurred while my father and I were casting for bass (or trout, or whatever) at the south end of Cayuga Lake. As it turned out, "whatever" was definitely the operative term. After casting his Mepps spinner over weed beds for a half-hour or so, my dad got something big on the line. Something really really big. We'd just been drifting with the breeze, and suddenly the boat, a 16' foot Starcraft, started veering southward at a pretty decent clip. At first we were convinced he'd gotten a bass, possibly a record-setter, on the line. Then we began to doubt that there were bass that big in Cayuga. Then we thought maybe it was one of the rare, almost mythical sturgeon that inhabit the lake -- a fish that we both knew could only have gotten hooked through an accidental snagging.

When we finally caught a glimpse of the leviathan, the first thing we saw was a massive tail fanning the water with a slow, methodical determination. Not very bass-like, to say the least. And as it got even closer, we saw my dad's lure glittering just in front of the tail: no question he'd snagged it. Finally, as the fish kept trying to head south, seeming pretty unconcerned about whatever was slowing it down, I managed to slip the net under it and we got a good look at what random chance had brought us. It was a carp, a big, bored-looking, bluish-purple carp with much, much better places to be than our net. Neither of us felt like man-handling the beast onto the scale, especially after the hassle we'd put it through, but it must've been a 20-pounder at least. After a quick twist of the pliers the lure came right out and we eased it back into the lake, a free fish. It took off in no particular hurry in the same direction it had been heading all along.

Exciting? Yes. Humorous? Sure. My dad's finest moment as an angler? Far from it. Needless to say, he didn't go looking to shatter any carp records afterwards. (He wouldn't have, anyway - the record New York State carp weighed in at 50 pounds, 4 ounces, and was caught on a nightcrawler at Tomhannock Reservoir in 1995.)

Fishing in Decline?

2006-02-13T14:01:00.000-08:00

Today's L.A. Times has an article on the aging of the angling population, as the sport finds younger folk lured away by other amusements. Mountain biking, bowling, and camping are mentioned, though I suspect XBox, PlayStation, and Nintendo have something to do with it as well. Why leave the house to fish when you can catch record bass on your PlayStation?

It's also likely the decline in fishing's popularity has more than a little to do with the decline in attention spans, as kids get used to receiving their entertainment in ever-briefer packages. As one 17-year-old interviewed in the article uncharitably describes the sport, "It's sitting unproductively waiting for something to happen." Or as Jill Grigsby, a Pomona College sociology professor, puts it, "Today's young people grew up with a lot of stimulation and seeing images that appear on the screen for only a couple of seconds [hmm...I wonder if she's talking about video games], and that is not the way fishing works...Fishing requires a great deal of patience."

I've always found the waiting game part of fishing's charm, since in my case it induces a mild trance-like state of suspense while the fish ponder whether to bite or not, a state that to the outsider must look appallingly dull, but that I find makes the most mundane events take on great dramatic significance (look, a duck!) and the worst beer taste like champagne. But that's just me.

Obviously these demographic shifts in the angling populace pose problems for the multi-billion dollar fishing industry, which sees much of its future livelihood slipping away like so many spooked trout. But on the bright side, I'm sure any fish that've seen the article are breathing a sigh of relief. Actually, I don't think fish can sigh. A burble of relief? A gurgle of relief? A blurg...oh, what the hell. Just read the article.

Fishing from kayaks

2005-09-09T11:56:00.000-07:00

There's a good article in today's NY Times on the challenges and satisfactions of fishing from a kayak. Once you get past the inherent instability of the craft, and the fact that a sizable fish may end up pulling you a sizable distance, they're apparently not a bad platform for angling, particularly if your aquatic quarry lurks in hard-to-reach backwaters, or is so skittish it's liable to turn tail at the sound of a motor.

While I've fished from some fairly tippy canoes, I've never attempted it from a kayak - so one of these days I think I'll rent one in Berkeley or San Francisco and give it a try.

Kayaks and canoes aside, I still think the finest fishing craft is the sleek, energy-efficient pedal boat. Seriously. I caught a couple beautiful Dolly Varden from one on Lake Quinault in Washington State. Sure, it helped that my parents were pedaling the whole time - but I did all the real work.

World's Largest Freshwater Fish

2005-08-29T16:42:00.000-07:00

For those intrigued by such things, this recent NY Times article discussed the leading candidates for the world's largest freshwater fish. (You'll need to register to read it...but it's worth it.) At the top of the list is the giant catfish of the Mekong River in Southeast Asia - an example weighing in at 646 pounds was caught in its waters in May.

Other freshwater giants in the running include such primeval beasts as sturgeon, gars, lungfish, gars, stingrays, paddlefish, and the Amazon's arapaima, which can reach 15 feet in length. Zeb Hogan, the biologist quoted in the article, says his personal favorites for largest freshwater fish are the Chinese paddlefish, found in the Yangtze River, and the giant stingray, which roams the Mekong along with those monster catfish. (I had no idea stingrays were found in freshwater...much less ones over 13 feet long.)

As for me, the largest fish I ever caught was a fat orange carp in my Grandpa's farm pond, which if memory serves was somewhere around 12 pounds. After that's, it probably a tie between a lake trout from Cayuga Lake and a Northern pike from Saranac Lake, both in upstate New York, tied at 8 pounds or so apiece. Nothing close to 646 pounds, but oh well, I tried. If you've got a big fish story of your own, feel free to post it in the comments!

Grabbling Makes The Economist!

2005-06-04T14:10:00.000-07:00

That bastion of enlightened political and financial commentary, The Economist, has clearly been reading my blog. Why else would they feature an article on grabbling (or "noodling", as they refer to it) just weeks after my own treatise on the subject?

Their article "In Praise of Noodling" (check out that photo!) discusses a recent legal victory for noodlers in Missouri, where a group called Noodlers Anonymous successfully lobbied for the right to fish by hand, albeit only for a six-week trial period. According to the article, noodling is only legal in 13 states, in part because there are some legitimate environmental concerns over whether it depletes populations of breeding catfish.

Missouri noodlers will need to register and report their catches to the state's Department of Conservation, which has posted a handy fact sheet and FAQ on the subject. It includes this wonderfully deadpan observation: "Some consider hand fishing to be hazardous because deep water, sharp rocks or metal may pose hazards to anglers wading, and other animals such as beaver, muskrats, and snapping turtles could also be using the same holes that catfish frequent for spawning." In short, noodling could really mess you up.

After evaluating the results of the six-week trial, the state may allow noodling on a permanent basis in the future. Hopefully the Economist article won't prompt a riverine rush of newbie noodlers -- I have a feeling those catfish have enough grabby hands to deal with already.

Tahoe Fishing & Downrigger Cameras

2005-05-31T16:01:00.000-07:00

I was up in the Sierras over the Memorial Day weekend, skiing at Heavenly in South Tahoe (yes, skiing in May - first time I'd seen shorts and bikinis on the slopes!) Having neglected to bring my fishing tackle, and finding myself surrounded by so much beautiful water, I consoled myself by doing a little research on the local fishing scene.

As you'd expect with a lake as big as Tahoe, there's a significant charter fishing business there, with boats going out after mackinaw (lake trout), rainbows, brown trout, and landlocked kokanee salmon. Some of them get downright huge - the record Tahoe mackinaw tipped the scale at over 37 pounds! Here are a few fish photos from one of the local charters.

One of the niftier discoveries I made while reading up on the Tahoe charter fleet was that you can now hook up underwater cameras to your downriggers, allowing you to watch the fish on live TV as they go after your lure (or, if it's a slow day, to just watch your lure for hours while nothing happens). To see it in action, check out these photos and videos taken with the Strike Vision camera system from Walker Downriggers.

As you'd also expect with a lake that size, Tahoe has its own legendary lake monster, known affectionately as "Tessie". While Tessie hasn't showed up on any fish cams yet, I'm sure it's only a matter of time before it does. Whether the camera would survive the experience is another story.

Salmon and Dramamine

2005-05-18T14:53:00.000-07:00

Salmon season having commenced around the lovely San Francisco Bay, I found myself reminiscing recently about my first (and only) offshore salmon adventure a couple years ago aboard a boat chartered out of the Berkeley Marina. (Check out the nifty Google satellite view!) I forget what the boat's name was, since at the time I was running too fast down the dock to notice. My friend Rob had invited me out on the charter a couple days before and had mentioned it would be leaving at 6:30 am, so I should get there around 6:00. I've never been much of a morning person, and found myself torn from slumber at 6:10 that morning by an urgent call from Rob and the question, Where the hell was I?

Astonished that I had actually awakened before the departure time, I somehow managed to stumble out the door and into my '67 Mercury Cougar (long since sold), a smelly, surly beast of a car which for some reason consented to start at that early and chilly hour. To its credit, the Cougar was very fast - albeit in a rattling, scary sort of way - and I gunned it down Ashby Ave and up highway I-80, covering the three or so miles to the Marina in time to buy a fishing license and jump on the boat just as it was throttling up to head for the Golden Gate.

The charter was a fairly steep $65 a person, and on the ride out I consoled myself thinking of all the salmon I was going to haul home to feast upon. We passed beneath the fog-shrouded Golden Gate Bridge and westwards towards the Farallon Islands. Shortly after we'd left the bridge behind I began to have my doubts about the advisability of the whole trip. Specifically, its gastrological advisability; specifically, I was getting seasick as hell. It was quite rough out, to the point that the captain decided against his original plan of trolling for salmon and rigged everyone up for "mooching" instead, which involves fishing an anchovy bait 30 to 40 feet beneath the boat.

Soon everyone was standing along the gunwales, rods in hand, mooching their anchovies along beneath the boat, hoping for a salmon to take an interest. Except for me - by this time I'd given up on salmon, given up on my $65, given up on talking to Rob or anyone else, given up on just about everything except survival, and was lying flat on my back in the cabin, hoping to pass out.

But it was not to be, and after a half-hour or so I decided that perhaps going outside, getting some fresh air, and looking stoically out over the ocean might feel marginally better than staring morosely at the fiberglass ceiling of a pitching boat. So I lurched out onto the deck, where a smiling crew member, utterly unperturbed by the oceanic chaos that surrounded us, set me up with a rod and an anchovy. Joining the other fishfolk along the rail, I unspooled 30 or so feet of line and waited for a salmon. A helpful soul mentioned that looking off towards the horizon could often help calm a queasy stomach, so I gave that a try for a while until I retched over the side, after which I decided the horizon could go to hell. After another bout of quality retching someone else handed me a couple of Dramamine, which I downed eagerly, figuring that a belated drugging was better than no drugging at all.

The Dramamine worked well enough for me to focus a bit more on fishing rather than mere survival. This was a good thing, since a several fathoms down something grabbed my anchovy and took off with it. After a vigorous fight I reeled in a flashing silver salmon, which the same smiling crew guy netted and hauled over the side. It wasn't huge - about 20 inches and five pounds - but it was a beauty, and as I admired that gleaming chinook I realized I was feeling a whole lot better.

As it turned out that was the only fish I caught that day, and in fact was only one of three salmon caught by the entire boat, which had about two dozen anglers aboard - pricey fish, when you work out the price per pound. Not a great day for fishing, and the rough conditions were probably to blame. While I was happy to have been one of the lucky few, I was even happier to see the massive piers of the Golden Gate Bridge loom back into view, and to feel the solid timber of the Berkeley docks under my feet again. Broiled that very evening and seasoned with dill, pepper and lemon juice, the salmon was delicious - and since I hadn't been able to keep a thing down all day, I'd worked up quite an appetite.

And that was my first salmon charter. Was it worth it? Ummmm...sure. Will I be doing it again anytime soon? Ummmm...no.

The Jacksmelt - An Underrated Coastal Catch

2005-05-09T11:20:00.000-07:00

Continuing my habit of honoring overlooked and underappreciated fish, today's featured piscine is the jacksmelt, a long, skinny, silvery fish found all over the San Francisco Bay and its environs (I first made its acquaintance while fishing near the Berkeley marina). It ranges from Baja California in Mexico all the way up to Oregon, and is frequently caught on piers and jetties or while surf fishing.

While they're not huge fish (the longest ones get up around 17 inches) they put up quite a fight for their size, and they're not at all shy about jumping on your bait. I caught several of them on anchovies, but I'm told they'll bite on blood worms, pile worms, and lots of other things; the excellent Pier Fishing in California site has recommendations on different rigs and baits you can use to catch them.

From a culinary perspective, they're not the finest fish you'll ever eat - they have quite a few bones, and not much meat on them - but they're not bad breaded and fried, and I suspect you could grill or smoke them with some success as well. Some people use pickling brine to dissolve or soften bones in particularly boney fish; pickled herring is a good example, and I know it's done with shad too. So maybe pickled jacksmelt is worth a try as well.

The Dardevle - What a Lure!

2005-05-04T17:13:00.000-07:00

I've always had a fondness for vintage lures, the ones whose classic simplicity brought in the fish by the boatload long before batteries, chemical attractants, flashing lights and various other bells and whistles (both literal and figurative) came into the picture. One of these old-school favorites is the Dardevle (or Daredevil, or Daredevle - spellings seem to vary widely. As far as I can tell the original is Eppinger's Dardevle, which features the devilish logo that made such a memorable impression on me when I was kid).

The tackle boxes of my grandfather and great-uncle, two early angling influences, both featured Dardevles galore, many of which must've dated back decades to judge from the wear and tear on their enamel and the bends in their hooks. Eppinger's been making this spoon since the early 20th Century, and I'm sure their competitors have been making knockoffs for almost as long.

The history of the Dardevle name is an interesting one...according to the Eppinger site, it was originally named the Osprey by inventor and company founder Lou Eppinger. Towards the end of World War I its name was changed to Dardevle in honor of the "Teufelhunden", or "devil dogs," a fearsome nickname given to the 4th Marine Brigade by its German foes during the Battle of Belleau Woods in 1918.

The classic Dardevle is the distinctive red and white striped model, a deadly lure for pike, muskellunge, bass and trout...in fact, most fish that like to eat other fish. But there are a number of other color schemes as well; for instance, there's a green and yellow version that this article speculates attracts vegetarian pike.

It's also worth keeping in mind that the name Dardevle/Daredevil/etc. is often used to describe similar-looking lures (much as people will use "Kleenex" as a generic name for tissue). For instance, this fine article on pike fishing in Ontario includes a photo of some handsome "Daredevil" lures that aren't by Eppinger but definitely look like they'd get the job done. I think fish respect a good design, no matter who makes it. They're just not as brand-conscious as us.

In Praise of the Pumpkinseed

2005-05-03T10:57:00.000-07:00

Today I've decided to honor the pumpkinseed sunfish (or punkinseed, if you prefer), a feisty and charming little fish that for many kids, myself included, played a starring role in their introduction to fishing. Though they don't get much larger than 7 inches in length, they can put up an impressive fight, especially if you're not that big yourself - and even as an adult I've sometimes had a pumpkinseed on my line and mistaken it for its larger cousin, the bass. They certainly have a bass's voracious appetite, and will go after baits that any reasonable fish would consider out of their league.

The pumpkinseed is also an extraordinarily pretty fish, dappled with vibrant shades of orange, blue and yellow and sporting a jaunty red spot on the ear flap behind its gills.

Worms are probably the best all-around bait for pumpkinseeds - though a full-size nightcrawler would definitely be overkill. You'll often find them hiding out in areas with weeds or submerged debris - another habit they share with bass. Don't be surprised if the lunker that feels like a largemouth turns out to be just a little smaller, and a lot more colorful.

Tasty Tilapia

2005-04-28T12:15:00.000-07:00

Now admittedly, tilapia is not exactly a sport fish, and you won't find it on the cover of any fishing magazines (at least not the ones I'm familiar with). Though they are a popular fish to catch in California's Salton Sea, a fascinating body of water I'll discuss in another post someday...here's a photo of a little gal catching one there.

I suppose you could also sneak your rod into a tilapia farm and catch some that way - cichlids (of which tilapia is one) are supposed to be aggressive buggers, so you might have a good fight on your hands.

Anyway. The reason I'm featuring tilapia today because they're one of my favorite fish to eat, and they're one of the most ecologically wise choices you can make when buying seafood. Because they're farmed in a sustainable manner, tilapia help take the pressure off wild fish populations, many of which are in decline. (The same is true of farmed catfish, another favorite of mine.)

Without further ado, here are some of my favorite recipes for this tasty fish:

Bronzed Tilapia: A delicious recipe for fried tilapia filets featuring garlic, white pepper, cumin, basil, oregano and thyme.

Baked Tilapia with White Wine and Herbs: This calls for 1/4 pint of white wine. What you do with the rest of the bottle is up to you ;-)

Baked Tilapia with Tomatoes and Olives: Combines the tangy sweetness of tomatoes, the piquancy of green olives, and the spice of hot red pepper. Mmm good!

Batter Fried Tilapia: This is a nice, down-home classic that would be great for a fish fry.

Finally, a little tilapia history I picked up in my research - it's very likely these were the fish that figured so prominently in the Biblical story of the loaves and fishes. Tilapia were the basis of a substantial fishing industry in the Sea of Galilee in Jesus's time, and the Apostles whom he called upon to be "fishers of men" were most likely fishers of tilapia first. So now you know.

Fishing Books for Kids - The Golden Guides

2005-04-27T11:00:00.000-07:00

My very first books about fish and fishing were Golden Guides, compact yet detailed little books with great illustrations and good, straightforward advice on fishing tackle and techniques. (I also owned their books on various other subjects, like birds, mammals, and reptiles and amphibians - fine reads, all.) A fellow named Herbert S. Zim was a common denominator in all the books; I think he did most of the illustrations.

One nifty feature of the books was that they fit perfectly in a tackle box, making them easy to bring down to the fishing hole with you. (Though they would often come back from a fishing trip quite a bit dirtier and a good deal damper than when they started.)

The other day I got to wondering whether Golden Guides were still being published, and was happy to discover that St. Martin's Press had relaunched the series in 2000, with Mr. Zim's now decades-old work still prominently featured. If it ain't broke, why fix it?

So if you're looking for excellent introductions to fishing for a child (though I'm sure adults would enjoy them too) check out the Golden Guides...

Golden Guide to Fishing

Golden Guide to Fishes

I remember this one about ponds and wetlands was also pretty cool:

Golden Guide to Pond Life

Lots of interesting facts about turtles, crayfish, frogs, muskrats and other aquatic wildlife.

What the Hell is "Grabbling"?

2005-04-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

This is an obscure method of fishing that I've never actually tried, probably never will, but that always seemed fascinating and more than a little nuts. "Grabbling," or "noodling" as it's also called, is a technique practiced mostly, if not exclusively, in the American South to catch some huge catfish. It involves reaching into hollow logs, under rocks, and into holes where catfish like to lurk, grabbing them by the mouth, and then wrestling them to the shore or a waiting boat.

One variation I read about on this catfish forum takes a more strategic approach by placing structures attractive to catfish out in the river (in this case, 2'x3' wooden boxes), letting them sit overnight, and coming back the next day to grabble anyone who's taken up residence. Apparently the boxes are appealing places for female catfish to lay their eggs - catfish spawning season is prime time for grabblers, since that's when females seek out protected places for their nests.

Obviously it helps not to be too squeamish, or too worried about bodily harm, to master this crazy technique - there can be all sorts of nasty creatures lurking in under rocks and in hollow logs...snakes, gar, snapping turtles and alligators being some of the first that come to mind. Even if you're wearing gloves, which most sane grabblers do, there's definitely some risk involved...and a fat, angry catfish must be a pretty daunting opponent. (A tail in the face from a thirty-pounder would be pretty memorable.) But maybe that's all part of the thrill of grabbling. Frankly, as a Northern boy who used to think a foot-long bullhead was big, I really have no idea.

In case you were wondering, yes, there is a "Girls Gone Grabbling" video available. I haven't seen it (yet), but the pictures alone are making me see grabbling in a whole new light.

Ice Fishing on Lake Manitoba with the Saint-Laurent Metis

2005-04-24T00:58:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to Washington, D.C. I had the good fortune to visit the Smithsonian's new National Museum of the American Indian, an architectural wonder located near the United States Capitol. While exploring the "Our Lives" exhibit, which introduces contemporary Indian communities from around the US and Canada, I discovered a fascinating presentation of ice fishing traditions among the Saint-Laurent Metis of Manitoba.

The centerpiece of the Metis exhibit is a Bombardier "snow bus," a tracked vehicle with skis instead of front tires. Once used as a school bus in remote, snow-covered areas, this impressive vehicle is now used by the Metis to carry them out onto the ice of Lake Manitoba, where they set up their ice fishing rigs. The Metis drill holes in the ice and then run nets down through them, which they then haul up through another hole some distance away. (I'm still a bit hazy on the precise technique, but some kind of motorized device is used to pull the net between holes - the exhibit has a brief video showing how it's done.)

Here's a photo from the Saint-Laurent site showing a fisherman drilling a hole in the ice, with one of the snow buses parked behind him.

According to this article from Smithsonian Magazine, the Metis' main catches are pickerel, perch and sauger (a close relative of walleye).

The Washington Post offers this panoramic view of the exhibit, which allows you to scan back and forth by clicking and dragging your mouse. (You'll need Apple QuickTime to see it.)

If you're going to be in D.C. I highly recommend a visit to the Museum - in addition to the Saint-Laurent Metis exhibit, the art of George Morrison in the Native Modernism section was another of my favorites. The building itself is also amazing, with a vast central atrium overlooked by multiple balconies, and the grounds outside make extensive, evocative use of water to bring a sense of natural landscape to the urban environs of the National Mall. There's even a lovely, tree-lined pond that I half-expected to be inhabited by beavers...but no such luck. Perhaps some will have taken up residence by my next visit.

The Splendor of Fishing

2005-04-24T00:18:00.000-07:00

"It was a long time since Nick had looked into a stream and seen trout...Nick's heart tightened as the trout moved. He felt all the old feeling."

-Hemingway, In Our Time

There is so much life concealed by water, and it is the angler's privilege to discover a small part of that life, to hold it in his hand and see the flash of its colors. The delicate roseates that mark the sides of a brook trout like gems or the green-gold fire of a pike lancing up at a lure from dark depths - these are the surprises that await us as we explore nature with rod and reel.

I've always found bodies of water to be mysterious, inviting places. We can never know exactly what's in them, and that is their wonder. We come to them as air-breathing guests, lacking the natural equipment to spend much time below, limited mostly to puttering or paddling around on top. Even the placid surface of a local pond, a submerged quarry, a suburban stream, is the roof of a realm utterly detached from ours. And when a fish noses the surface to take a fallen fly, we catch a momentary and elusive glimpse of life below, and cannot help but be intrigued. The rest is inevitable - the rest is fishing.

Half the splendor of fishing is its suspense - the play of chance. You simply cannot predict what will happen at that distant end of your line, dangling there like a lunar lander above some remote crater. You can only guess, imagine and wait. The line is your connection between worlds - a telegraph cable bringing reports from the deep - and who knows what the news will be. Perhaps an urgent call to haul in something splashing, shimmering, astonishing.

The other half of fishing's splendor is its peace - the sense of calm that wells up from the water, seeping up through waders, through the hulls of boats, through bare feet dangling from docks, to soothe aches you might not have known were there. Each time I return from time spent on the water, between sun and waves, I feel refreshed, relieved of tedious, everyday burdens, and above all, content that I have fulfilled a promise to myself.