Two Sundays ago on a drive home from Winona, I tuned into public radio to catch the last part of Wisconsin Today. I was expecting coverage of the October 18th No Kings protests, but instead got a story about fishing. Not just any fishing, but street fishing.
Street fishing was a new term for me, but it turns out that I’ve been doing it for most of my life. Also called urban fishing, it is 1) fishing with minimal equipment, 2) standing on shore, and 3) doing it within a metropolitan area (i.e., within the city limits). There can be no boats, no fish finders, no live bait (artificial lures only). There is no judgment as to the species of fish caught; carp and sheephead “count” as much as walleye and bass.
Other than the absence of live bait, street fishing is how every kid with a Zebco spincast is introduced to fishing. It is how I learned. It is how I taught my daughter. Now there is a name for it.
Wisconsin Today was doing a story on street fishing because the fourth annual Street Fishing World Championship was held in Green Bay this year.* I grew up in Green Bay, so I know that street fishing in that city can only take place on the Fox River. When I was a kid, no one fished the polluted Fox. I don’t remember any of us even sticking our feet in it. In the 1960s, Green Bay was home to the Charmin Paper Company, making it “the toilet paper capital of the world.” The effluent from Charmin and from other paper mills went straight into the river, and my friends and I knew better than to play in it. That, however, was a half century ago. Today, as a result of environmental laws and a huge superfund grant to dredge the PCB-laden sediment out of the riverbed, the mouth of the Fox River (at least by street fishing standards) is a world class fishery.
After two days of pre-tournament practice, the Street Fishing World Championship took place the weekend prior to Halloween. Every fish caught over a two-day period was measured for length, and the team with the most centimeters of fish was declared the winner. The Hungarian team won the gold medal with 22 fish totaling 903 centimeters, Romania won the silver (16 fish of 792 cm), and France captured the bronze (14 fish of 547 cm). No prize money was awarded, as street fishing is meant to be for bragging rights and fun. Next year’s championship will be held in the Netherlands.
* https://www.wpr.org/news/wisconsin-street-fishing-team-world-championships-green-bay
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