I'm lucky enough to live within a couple of miles of the Gulf of Mexico, and long ago decided that if I had to sustain myself as a food gatherer, it wouldn't be by hunting. The population centers of Florida are coastal(excluding MickeyWorld), and everyone and his brother would head inland... I'm going the other way... long ago an old "Cracker" showed me how to throw a cast net for schooled mullet and bait fish. A stiff grouper rod fixed with a large weighted treble hook cast across schooled fish, ripped through the school will foul hook them...the cast nets aren't light as they have lead down weights, but are stored next to the extra propane cylinders just in cast... just thought I'd throw an alternative to traditional hunting

I've been pondering getting a cast net for use along the Texas Gulf Coast, but right now the $34 Walmart wants for one is still money needed elsewhere.

How difficult is it to learn cast netting? Hmmm, something to youtube tonight...

-Blast

if fishing from shoreline the snatching rig gives you more distance... but if you hit a good strike you have a lot of food with the net....I've had to release fish just to pull the net into the boat...

The coastal zone is the place to be if you are in survival mode and need food. I had not been working long on the Channel Islands when I realized I could survive on the same food utilized for at least 10,000 years by Native Americans - the prolific mollusks in the abundant tide pools along the islands' shorelines.

n fact, an archeologist on San Miguel had to do just that when the Navy forgot he was on the island (This was around 1964 or so). When the Navy woke up and smelled the coffee four days after the proper date, he and his crew had been forced to subsist on abalone. Nowadays the abalone have virtually vanished, but plenty of other species remain in the tide pools. Harvesting them requires virtually no technology at all. And there are plenty of fish just off shore, if you happen to have a net. (What is your net worth?)

My impression is that the Gulf Coast is a bit shy on rocky tide pools. Pity.

I live in eastern NC and have been using a casting net for a few years now and have caught everything from flounder to soft shell crabs with it. Mostly I use it for bait fish and shrimp but am sure that I could live fairly well off of just using the net. It is pretty easy to get the hang of it with a little practice.

Tidal areas, fresh and salt water interfaces, have long been favored areas for resource gathering. Shellfish, birds, fish, seaweeds, sea mammals are good eating. As long as you have access to fresh water river, inland pond, distillation, or RO, you can live quite well. Communities have long favored coastlines because of their higher concentration of available resources.

I think if you need to consider food gathering then poaching techniques deserve a good review.
Nets are superb food gathering tools.
They can be used in so many ways.