Fishing

Fishing is the practice of trapping and harvesting fish from their waters. Humanity has depended on fishing for food since their origin. Fishing is a good way to get food if your base is near a body of water (sea, lake, river, creek etc...) that has aquatic life.

Methods[]

Effective ways to get fish include...

Catching with hands[]

Catching a fish with bare hands is probably the most primitive way of fishing. It doesn't require much tools but need a lot of skills and luck to catch one .

Fishing with a rod[]

Fishing with a rod is probably the most common way of fishing. Many people does this regularly as a hobby. A fishing rod and tackle equipment can be easily found or crafted. Fishing with a rod consists of using a rod with a string, at the end of the string a hook with bait (fake or live bait) is attached to lure the fish to bite the hook and pull it out of the water. Fishing can be learned quite easily, but hard to master and the process can be very long. You might not even get one fish whole day if you are unlucky.

Using a net[]

Net fishing is usually done near coastal areas and can yield a lot of fish in one attempt if done correctly. Net fishing can be done by using a boat or just throwing the net at an area with fish. Net fishing, however has the threat of overfishing and endangering the local fish population. Be sure to leave some fishes in the area for reproduction.

Spear fishing[]

Spear fishing is one of the most primitive ways of fishing. Spear fishing is arguably more similar to hunting. Fishing with a spear consist of throwing a spear into the fish, stabbing it and causing it to unable to swim away due to the spear dragging it to the surface of the water due to buoyance. Spear fishing can be done with normal spears but works best with multi pronged spears. To make a multi pronged spear , one can simply split one end of a stick into quarters, and expanding the quarters by jamming some smaller sticks into the cracks, lastly sharpen the individual quarters. Spear fishing is best done in shallow waters for ease of spotting the fish.

Bow fishing[]

Bow fishing is also similar to spear fishing. Using a bow or crossbow to launch a projectile to impale the fish. Bow fishing can be done more easily than spear fishing because it is more accurate and more powerful than traditional spears.

Trapping[]

Fish trapping is the most physically relaxing method. Trap fishing requires the person to lay down a trap with bait in it and wait for the profit to come. Trap fishing relaxing however can yield very low profits especially when deployed in wrong areas. Some traps can be crafted easily such as

A shallow creek diverting from a river that leads to a pit
A cage that has four doors that can only be pushed open from outside (a crab box)
A fishing net when set up correctly
A reverse funnel trap, that can be easily made with soda bottles
A shallow creek diverting from a river that dries out when the tide lowers.

Bait[]

Bait can be found by digging in dirt until finding worms, or breaking apart rotting trees(or under moist rocks) for grubs or bugs that local fish enjoy eating. If no bait is acquired, then using the average fishing lures can work just as well. Dead fish and meat that are unsuitable for consuming is also good. Animal organs, expired bread and even certain fruits (for fruit eating fishes) works as well too.

Fish hooks are frequently lost, however, a gorge hook is easily made from nearly anything and is every bit as effective. Fish can not be, however, released when caught with such a device.

Type of Fish[]

Keep in mind what kind of fish you are fishing for. If its big enough, is there enough, is it poisonous (blowfish, etc.) do you know how to cook it? And what bait/lure to use to the respective fish.

Fishing in cold waters would mean you should use cold colors, such as white, grey, silver, blue, black, and purple. Fishing in warm waters would mean you should use warm colors such as red, orange, yellow, pink, gold, etc.

Pickerel[]

Walleye like many colors ranging from gold, yellow, red and orange, to green, silver and blue, but try sticking to warmer colours.

Bass[]

Bass tend to like greens.

Pike[]

Jack tend to like mostly any colour. Green, red and black, and dark blue are good.

Rainbow Trout[]

Found in shallow rivers prefer a red and white daredevil no longer than 2 inches in length including the hook. No bait is necessary but its helpful.

Speckled Trout[]

Can be fly fished in fast flowing rivers and streams but in lakes, use gold and silver with a size 1 hook and a worm.

Perch[]

On a good day with 2 other people, 100 perch can be caught in 6 hours but they are small. Use a size 16 hook with a cold, cut, cooked piece of shrimp no bigger than your pinky finger nail. Use a 3-4 inch slip bobber and 4 pound test like in case you catch a small pickeral or bass.

Goldfish[]

Can be found in ponds. Those in fish stores and homes will probably be dead several days after their owners abandon them. They can be found in their natural environment in ponds in China, but are also commonly found in ponds.

Dangers[]

Just like everything else, fishing is not without dangers. The most obvious one in zombie infested world is of course a zombie horde attacking but there are also many dangers not related to them. When fishing in rivers with strong current you need to be careful to not fall in the river or let it grab you. Similar when you are fishing on lake from a boat or pier. Even though you can swim, there is always possibility of a roaming zombies or local animals (crocodiles, piranhas, stingrays and more). Also are many dangers simply in the water and fish. Humans have dumped all kinds of waste to rivers and lakes, and even if it has decreased, the danger of polluted fish and water still exists. Also when humans are running for their lives from zombies, things like checking if tanks full with toxins are secure. So when picking a lake/river/or just whatever body of water that houses life, be sure to check for possible of toxic spills. Also having local fishing experience and/or chemist can be very helpful to deem if fishing is safe. There is also the danger of the fish being poisonous, always check if you can (by feeding animals or captured people)

Fish Agriculture[]

Fish agriculture is also a pretty decent way of getting food. By fish rearing you can control and monitor the population of the fish to prevent endangering the local ecosystem. Also with fish agriculture you also have the added benefit of being able to perform hydroponic farming which is growing crops and fish using the same tank (growing crops that you can harvest, and the crops feeds the fish which also provides as food.)