Fishing Fun
Fishing, is, Fun!
So, my friend recently helped me get my fishing/crabbing license and took me to my first fishing trip. And it was fun!! although I didn’t technically catch anything on the first trip.
The first trip took place on a Sunday, and we drove to a pier at Shilshole marina. 
When I got there, there were already a lot of people fishing (it was 9:30am btw). I hadn’t even bought any gear yet, so I pretty much just chilled and looked at friends fishing. And even looking was fun! I really wish I can describe how it felt in this blog, but it was something you can only feel, like flying an airplane. So readers, if you haven’t been fishing before, please go get your license!
As a fishing newbie, of course I did quite a bit research before going to the trip. So, here is all the useful stuff I’ve found while researching online.
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Getting my Washington fishing license: https://fishhunt.dfw.wa.gov/
- Each state has their own license. Washington license cannot be used in any other states, vice versa.
- For Washington, there are fresh water, salt water, all different kinds of endorsement, all year type, 3 days type, one day type, etc. I went with fresh/salt water combo + crab endorsement. This allows me fish in the ocean, lakes, and catch crab. I heard this is the most commonly selected combo people buy.
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Buying my gear:
- Fishing rod: I went to Fred Meyer and bought the first I saw for $30. There are some many guides on buying a fishing rod and reel and stuff, but I thought what the heck, it’s cheap enough and it’s the first one I own, so I don’t care if something is subtly better than this one.
- Crab trap: I bought it on Amazon, it is a pretty huge cage with doors that only opens inside. You can put baits in the cage and lure crabs into it, then they will stuck in there and can’t get out. Here is the one I bought.
- Crab ruler: Here. It is used to measure how big your crab catch is. There is minimum size requirement to the crab that you catch. The limit is different from place to place. So please make sure your catch is legal before bringing it home.
- Rope: 100 feet long minimum. I bought if from Amazon, but I suppose you can find it in any hardware store. You are gonna need a pretty long rope tied to the crab cage when you drop it into the sea. Crab cage must reach the sea floor to be able to catch crabs.
- Glove: your hand will hurt real bad when pulling rope and cage out of water. Get a pair of glove. I used my motorcycle glove, but I recommend a fisherman’s glove. The salt water really ruined the motorcycle glove quickly.
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Study up! What do you need to study, or at least for me, what do I need to know before going to first fishing trip.
- Know how to identify fish and crab type. There are so many rules about what fish one can/cannot catch. And each fish type has legal minimum size. Each crab type has gender requirement in addition to the size limit. So you need to know all that to make sure your catch does not give you a ticket. Do you need to memorize all that? No! Good news is Washington government made it easy by publishing all the stuff in a book. Here is a PDF version: http://wdfw.wa.gov/publications/01500/wdfw01500.pdf
- Know how to tie the knot you need. There are several knots you need to tie. There are several youtube videos that shows you how to tie those things.
- Know where to fish. The local fishing regulation site (again) should has fishing map in great detail. But the best tip is usually from experienced fisherman.
After I am all geared up, I went on to my second trip. We got there at about 10am, and set the crab trap, and started the day. Setting a crab trap is really easy. I learned it from a youtube video.
By the end of the day, I got one dungeness and one redrock. That definitely made my day, and my dinner :D 
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