Beat The Butcher At The Beach Part II

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Here are more ways to forage free eats from North America's 150,000 miles of tidal shoreline.

How 'bout it? Have you sampled the "harvest it yourself" seafood (clams, mussels, goose barnacles) that I described In the first section of this two part article? If so, you already know that the North American shoreline both east and west-offers a lot of good eatin' to anyone willing to go after it.

But that's just the beginning. C'mon! Call the local health department (to check the purity of the water along your favorite beach) ... ask the Fish and Game folks about licenses, limits, and so on ... and pull on your hip boots. 'Cause now we're goin' fishin'!

FORGET FANCY EQUIPMENT

When it comes to pullin' In a passel of fish for the fry-pan, the lowly cane pole and accessories-14 feet of bamboo, some string, a bobber, a sinker, and a few small hooks-are all you really need. Of course, if you already own something more exotic (heavy surf casting rods of "state of the art" spinning reels or whatever), that's OK too. But your basic cane-pole-and -string rig can handle the job quite nicely.

The two most consistently productive types of shoreline saltwater fishing that I've tried are tidal pool and wharf anglin'. And, since many (but by no means all) of the fish you're likely to tie into in such areas are relatively small, the fastest way to fill your stringer or "catch bucket" is by tyin' a tiny hookin the 116, 08, or even #10 size range-to the end of your cane pole's line.

Sure, other anglers may look askance at your minuscule grapplers. Let 'em. You'll have the last laugh when you bait up with rock snails, mollusks, and little sea worms (all free and foraged from near your fishing site) . . . and then proceed to haul In as many of the "big 'uns" as the folks using larger hooks, plus a healthy assortment of the small, tender, tasty fish that they can't catch at all.

Smelt (Osmerus mordax), for Instance, only average about six inches in length. But you can catch 'em by the bucketful when you find a school . . . and it's hard to name any fish, regardless of size, that has a more delicate and delicious flavor when fried in browned butter.

These feisty little fellows are abundant in most U.S. coastal waters, look like miniature barracudas, and have an appetite which matches their vicious a appearance (they'll grab most anything you drop in front of 'em). Some states do limit the number of smelt that can be taken In a day, though, so-before you drop that first line In the water: phone your local game warden and get the straight skinny on size and bag limits. (For that matter, check out the ground rules for every species of seafood you intend to collect.)

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