With schools and summer camps canceled and parents working from home or not working, folks are taking up fishing.
Here are the very basics of the simplest kind of fishing in Minnesota and Wisconsin.
If you can say, “I know nothing about fishing,” this is for you.
WHAT YOU’LL DO
You’ll cast or drop a worm on a hook into the water. When a fish bites, you’ll give the rod a firm but small yank and reel in the fish. Then you’ll take a photo, unhook it and throw it back.
It’s so much more fun than that description.
GET A ROD AND REEL
If you can’t borrow a rod and reel, you’ll be spending some money.
Our outdoors stores are the most likely to have knowledgeable staff, but general department stores generally carry this stuff.
Go for a “rod-and-reel combo” that comes with fishing line already attached and a small box of “tackle” — hooks and bobbers, maybe a few other things. These can be in short supply now, so call ahead, but they can be found for $15 to $50. You can always spend more.
Specifics: If you’re shopping for a young kid, go for those short, playful Disney- or Marvel-themed ones. If a little older, go with a 4- to 5½-foot rod and push-button, or “spin-cast” reel. You push and hold the button while you begin the cast and release the button — but not the rod — to let the line flow freely. Pretty simple.
If you’re a little more ambitious or have older kids, buy a “spinning” reel combo and a rod up to 6½ feet long (but probably shorter). These are superior but pricier and a little more complicated.
GET WORMS
Anything red and wriggly is fine. Dig them up in your backyard, gather them from a driveway or sidewalk after a rain or buy them at a bait shop or gas station. Keep them in a closed container in the fridge in damp dirt or leaves when not using.
And yes, you can also just use sewing line to tie a hook to a stick and find a clump of bread or any bug to use as bait.
LICENSE?
In Minnesota, almost everyone age 16 to 89 needs a license. They cost $25 for an adult resident and $5 for 16- and 17-year-olds. You can buy licenses online. Kids under 16 need nothing. If you’re a parent who’s merely helping a kid under 16 cast and unhook fish, you don’t need one either.
Only one line is allowed per person in Minnesota; two are allowed in Wisconsin.
EQUIPMENT AND SKILLS?
A nail clipper, small scissors or pocket knife is useful to cut the line when tying knots or fixing tangles. Needle-nose pliers or forceps can be helpful to grab a hook to unhook fish, but you’ll be OK without one. A rag is really useful to wipe off fish and worm slime if smelling like fish and worm isn’t your thing. Don’t worry, neither carry bad germs.
If you can tie a square knot, that should be good enough for what we’re doing to attach a hook to the line. If you’re good with knots, the improved clinch or Trilene knots are tried and true.
WHERE DO I FISH?
Anywhere there’s water, there could be fish.
Public parks often have shoreline areas with enough room to cast, although things are getting weedy in the shallows by now.
In the metro, there’s a great guide to public fishing piers through a Department of Natural Resources program called Fishing in the Neighborhood (FiN). The DNR’s East Metro Fisheries Office also has a “Where to Fish” guide to lakes and streams with fishing, including shore access.
YOUR GOAL: PANFISH
Sunfish, perch and crappies (pronounced CROP-eez). That’s your quarry.
They’re known as panfish because single fillets can fit in a pan. They have no teeth, usually live pretty close to shore and will usually readily bite a worm on a hook.
Especially sunfish, which include bluegill, pumpkinseed and green sunfish.
IF YOU CATCH ONE
There are rarely minimum sizes and you can usually keep a bunch if that’s your thing, but for these purposes, you will throw them back.
You will grab them, fanning down the prickly spines along the dorsal fin, push the hook back out through the part of the mouth where it came through, and drop it back into the water, the sooner the better, although they’re pretty hardy.
If you can’t get one unhooked, cut the line and release the fish. There’s a decent chance it will survive. If you inadvertently kill one, don’t fret. These fish are plentiful and make good food for other animals, like raptors and raccoons.
ASK FOR HELP
Stuck on something? Ask a friend — you do know people who fish — or another angler.
Try YouTube. Search things like “how to bait a hook with a worm.”
Other than that, fishing is 100 percent screentime-free.
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June 19, 2020 at 05:29PM
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Wanna go fishing but know nothing? Here are the very basics. - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press
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