Being a family that enjoys eating fish, our local streams and lakes are a huge resource for us. There are so many ways to catch fish, and so many different kinds, that learning and mastering the different methods can be a lot of fun. Also, it's a good skill to have as we attempt to provide more of our own food. In this post, I'll share some of the things that we've done and learned as we take advantage of the local food supply known as "fish!"
I've been an angler for years, and early on in our marriage I taught Mama-Pepper that when the refrigerator and the wallet both get empty at the same time, it's time to go fishing. We've used wild fish to provide meals for our family for years now, and the Little-Peppers love helping catch them as much as they love eating them, even if we eat them in the wild too!
Fishing is not only a great way to get fish to eat on a regular basis, but it works great in a survival situation too, which is why I like to take the Little-Peppers out and show them how to cook fresh fish on an open fire, just like roasting marshmallows.
If you don't have a pole or line, you can just catch fish barehanded too, like I do in this video. This is probably even more practical in a survival situation, and it can be fun just to practice too. This year, I tried two new "fishing" methods too, and worked out really well.
Bowfishing was one of the two BIG new ways of harvesting fish that I got into this year. It's an amazing experience, and takes some skill. It was nice to be able to get out a few days per week and then also at night. During the day, we bowfished for Carp, and at night, we got the Suckers.
Bowfishing at night was a whole different experience too, since it was darker out, the water was more shallow, and the fish were smaller. Not too long ago, I got my great grandma's pickled sucker recipe, so I'm looking forward to trying that. Besides bowfishing, Jug Fishing was another new way of harvesting fish that we were blessed to be able to check out and try.
For jug fishing, you can toss out 20 jugs, and while you've got to watch them during the day, you can leave them untended overnight. Finding a big gar on the end of one the next morning was amazing.
To end with, I'll make mention that identifying different species and catching them is only part of making the most of your local wild resources. Learning how to cook them is the other part! Gar was one of the new fish species that we enjoyed eating this year, and honestly, it's my new favorite. I can't wait to catch some more! Be blessed everyone, and make sure to make the most of great opportunities like fish in your local area!
We just released our second book ever, "ARMADILLO ESCAPE" - a children's book that was the effort of three generations of our family, from 
