Against my better judgment I am going to start a thread on fishing. Now my experience was as a commercial fisherman on the Great Slave Lake in the sub arctic of Canada. I have a curious outlook towards Y2K because it would not bring challenges as dramatic as dealing with nature in a boat during a storm. Nothing like feelling the boat going under to get the blood rolling.
 This will be a little glimpse of working in the fishing industry. This is of course a possible idea in some folks prep plans. I am not going to get into the legal nature of the industry as that would depend on your location.
 We used filament mesh nets with aprox. 3 1/4 holes to let the smaller fish out. The mesh comes in 100  lengths and should be bought with the float line - floats and the lead line attached. It can be sold separately. There are nets that use lead weights  strung along a rope but this is tricky to coil and not tangle the mesh. This will lead to ripping the net when you set it again. There is a rope called lead line that has small weights embedded in the line. This is much more simple and recommended.
 One would need the 100 length of mesh, floatline, leadline plus two anchors, buoys, good rope, and of course any type of boat . One could even use a rubber raft. Now at each end of the lines on the net you tie rope on each of them and tie each of the ropes at the ends together.  This is your leed lines. The idea is that now you tie the rope for the buoys on the leed lines, also you loop and tie the buoy line near the end for an anchor.
  So when you set a net you tie a buoy on the buoy line and toss it in. Then toss the anchor. One small point, one can use a motor boat or paddle boat. But a motor boat goes into the wind and a paddle boat drifts with the wind setting nets. This is VERY important as the net can get caught in the propeller.  This can truly lead to crisis problems.

As this is a Y2K situation we will assume that a small boat is being used.  A person that is setting nets is basically untangling a mess as you float along in the water. You use the anchor set at the one end to provide tension on the ropes to sort it out. After the net is set then you tie the anchor onto the loop on the buoy line and toss it in with the buoy. This is not rocket science.
 To bring in the fish is just as complicated. Pull the net up bit by bit and take off the fish as you coil in the net. Of course if there is pike around then it is complicated because they fight and have sharp teeth. Picking mesh from a live pikes teeth is one of the fun jobs. They are also hard to kill. A fish pick in the skull works wonders though.

 You might want to have a board with you on the boat to clean the fish. Seagulls will of course be present soon. They are smart and pests. If they give you trouble catch one with a line and some guts. Have some spray paint and paint the bird. Let it go and the other birds will chase it. Mean but it works. One thing that is really cool is when there is eagles and seagulls around. Seeing a dogfight between an eagle and a seagull is a aviation wonder. The eagle actually flies upside down and under the seagull and rips the guts open.  Isnt nature wonderful?
  Well that is a start. If there is much of a response I would be able to dig other semi relevant fishing data for your consideration. One thing though. We are a product of nature much like fish. Living in western culture is pretty much looking at nature while underwater much like a fish looks at life outside the water. This is distressing. At least once this summer go out camping in a tent. Get a reality check. This is not from a enviorment nut but from someone that respects nature. To get Y2K is to understand this point. All computers and technologies are doing is insulating folks from real work :o)
 I listen to the 3 days preparing or you are a doomer  and I just laugh. What a joke. Nature demands your preparedness. It is natural. What the hell is wrong with doing something natural???  Why is this so hard to understand? There is absolutely no argument about this and if there is then they dont know what they are talking about. But preparing is not just an issue of having stuff it is a knowledge based attitude.  What do you need to live and how do you achieve it. Often complicated is not the best. So eat fish and bannock and tell them I sent you :o)

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-- Brian (imager@ampsc.com), April 17, 1999

Answers

What a coincidence! I just got back from Walmart with more tackle. I had to round out my equipment stash with hooks, floats, line (8 lb.), sinkers, etc. I used to spincast a little some years back. Although I have firearms, it sure is easier on the nerves to fish for one's food instead of blasting away...

-- Jeremiah Jetson (laterthan@uthink.y2k), April 17, 1999.

Chrome hotspots or "Rat'l traps" , they catch fish anywhere or anytime if used correctly. The best lure available.

-- B (bendere@dondat.com), April 18, 1999.

When I don't have me sleeve rolled up to do a little tickling, I usually lob a grenade in to a likely looking pool - works wonders, but you have to scoop the salmon up quick before the gamekeepers arrive...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), April 18, 1999.

O.K. so explosives are better, but real fishing is less likely to get you noticed.

-- B (bendere@dondat.com), April 18, 1999.

I usually lob a grenade in to a likely looking pool >>>>>>>>>> May I suggest lobbing grenades at your intended enemy rather than water. Fish would freak out at that kind of blast and then you would have less of a resource. Of course if you were stupid enough to do such a thing I would not really care where the fish went. Oh and by the way the flesh of the fish does not like blasts so keep the fish fresh and cook them as soon as you can find flame. Do not over cook fish, this is a sin.

Cook Fish

Heat pan,,,,, hot butttttter ......One side,,,,(one min,) other side (one min) if flesh is just sticking abit on the bones it is perfect.

If any fish are caught on the rivers along the rocky mountians freeze right away and let me know.

-- Brian (imager@ampsc.com), April 18, 1999.

Ah fishing. What better way to soothe the nerves. Here are a few links that I wrote on the topic. This is East Coast stuff but applies for general info purposes on the subject as well. Tight Lines !

Watching bald eagle fishing techniques is fun not to mention ospreys. If you live near a water resource with fish, there is always the option of finding something to eat.

Surf Species And How to Catch Them The Rhode Island Saltwater Anglers Association

Getting ready to be bombarded by spam.

-- Steve King (parse@earthlink.net), April 18, 1999.

Hi guys! I live on a boat and am trying to put together fishing supplies and info. Unfortunately I'm a novice. Any info would be helpful, especially links. Available to me are Puget sound, and freshwater rivers and sloughs. Lots, tons of crawdads in the sloughs.....Also I was thinking other people might want to put together a survival fishing kit. Military surplus seems unavailable. Perhaps the survival kit should be a seperate thread, Tim...PS One survival kit I heard of contained something called "speedhooks". What are speedhooks? TJ

-- Tim Johnson (timca@webtv.net), June 13, 1999.