Resources
Invasive Species Control
One of the most pressing issues for anglers right now is stopping the spread of invasive species – from invasive weeds, to invasive fish and shellfish – it’s critical that we all do our part to ensure healthy fisheries for generations to come.
Please take 10 minutes to visit each of these three websites. Educate yourself on the basics of preventing the spread of invasive species, and know that you’re part of the solution.
Here you’ll find handy resources for a sportsman-stewardship lifestyle. Know of a cool resource we should include here? Please tell us about it!
S.A.F.E. Angling
Recycled Fish gets anglers involved as stewards of the resource both on and off the water. “S.A.F.E. Angling,” which equips you with the information and tools you need to be stewards when you’re on the water. Explore reduced-impact gear such as lead-free tackle, biodegradable molded lures, hooks, hard-bodied lures and spinnerbaits, and angling accessories like nets and scales. We pair those with catch-and-release techniques and other on-the-water tactics to equip you as a steward.
S.A.F.E. Angling:Sustaining Angling, Fish, & Ecosystems.
Fishing Resources
This section is provided through the support of our friends at Angler’s Legacy.
Get a fishing License Click here to get one–When you purchase a fishing license, you’re helping to protect, preserve and enhance the sport of fishing for today and for generations to come.
Places to fish To Find fishing hot spots and fishing access information in your state click here. Whether you are headed for a weekend trip looking for a new fishing location, or simply exploring more of your local area. You help your overall catch rate by being prepared and knowing where to fish.
How-to Basics for fishing click here to learn fishing techniques; Where to fish; When to fish; and how to choose a rod and reel, baits, and lure, rigs,hooks,knots,and other fishing tackle.
Reference Guides Always go prepared. click here to get the collection of downloadable documents that are must-haves for convenient reference. Print them and take them with you on your next trip.
Boating Resources from ramp locations to safety and maintenance guides to fishing and boating magazines, Click here to find more boating resources.
Lifestyle of Stewardship
Earth911.com is your one-stop shop for all you need to know about reducing your impact, reusing what you’ve got and recycling your trash. Get involved in our world by checking in for daily news, reading weekly feature stories, surfing product channels and opting into our weekly emails.
With our years of experience and industry knowledge, we have the background and resources you need to stay plugged into the green scene:
Earth911 was founded in 1991. We started off as a hot line for recycling, but have grown into the mature, intelligent (and may we say attractive?) site you see today. We also continue to maintain our bilingual hot line, 1-800-CLEANUP.
To know more about Earth911 click here
What fish you order at a restaurant or buy at the market matters – a lot – to the future of our seas and environment. Seafood Watch is a program of Monterey Bay Aquarium designed to raise awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources. They recommend which seafood to buy or avoid, helping us to become advocates for environmentally friendly seafood. The choices we make as consumers drive the seafood marketplace. Your purchasing power can make a difference by supporting those fisheries and fish farms that are better for the environment.
Tread Lightly!, Inc. is a national nonprofit organization with a mission to proactively protect recreation access and opportunities in the outdoors through education and stewardship initiatives. Tread Lightly! provides outdoor ethics for all types of outdoor recreation– everything from hiking to hunting to camping, with a special focus on motorized and mechanized recreation– like four wheeling, motorcycling, snowmobiling, and boating. Their helpful guidebooks are worth the read – check them out here. Also, take their “Online Awareness Course” here.
Calculators
These calculators do all kinds of cool stuff for you, from estimating weight of a fish you caught to determining your environmental impact. It’s all helpful stuff to know as far as living as a steward goes!
This Fish Calculator from Fish Dreams allows you to figure weight on a released fish where you took on-the-water measurements, but it has different formulas for different species, which is helpful. A length / girth measurement for a flat-sided fish like a bluegill will certainly be different than that of a torpedo-shaped fish like a trout.
Want a second opinion? Try the BassResource calculator here, which also offers choices of different freshwater species.
Which is tougher to catch, a 5-pound largemouth bass in Oklahoma or a 3-pound brown trout in Colorado? The Angling Masters International fish calculator gives fish a “score” as opposed to a weight, and also ranks the fish among other fish entered into the AMI system.
The H2O Conserve “Water Footprint Calculator” helps you figure out how much water you and your household consume each day, and how to reduce your usage (while saving you money!) Fish need water, and there’s only so much to go around…it’s as simple as that.
The Carbon Calculator helps figure your carbon footprint. Think there’s a link between fisheries and CO2? You bet! Nothing is changing the nature of our fisheries – and nothing will have a greater impact on our fisheries – than climate change. Not to mention the immediate-term impact on fisheries from coal-fired power; oil extraction, refining, and pollution; and other factors associated with burning fossil fuels. Fixing fisheries involves reducing our personal carbon contributions.
Here’s the Carbon Fund Carbon Calculator, where you can also purchase offsets.
Catch and Release Guides
From BTU (Bonefish & Tarpon Unlimited) Comes this handy guide for C&R on Bonefish.
These practices hold true for pretty much every species in an easy-to-follow illustrated .pdf guide.
Download the color brochure here.
Our own Catch-and-Release how-to should be a primer for every angler.
Be sure to read Ralph Manns’ article covering advanced tactics for deeply hooked fish.
For Tournament anglers, this simple 3-page guide covers best practices for tournament care for bass.
“Keeping Bass Alive” by Gene Gilliland and Hal Schramm is the premier source of information for tournament care of fish. Buy it for a few bucks, or read it online for free here.
Fish Identification Guides
Is that a redear sunfish or a bluegill? A brown trout or a brookie? A largemouth or a spotted bass? A white perch or a white bass? Fish ID can be tricky, and knowing the species helps to know your best stewardship approach – better for strict catch and release, or selective harvest?
There are many Fish ID guides out there, here are a few that we’ve found helpful.
The Wisconsin Fish Database is very user friendly, with several ways to search and sort.
Western Fish can be challenging because of similarities among trout, and these fish need particular care in terms of stewardship. The eField Guide to Western Fishes is fairly comprehensive, although somewhat cumbersome to navigate.
Land Big Fish has 177 Freshwater Species listed by name in their guide, with helpful photos for most.
The “Fish of the Great Lakes” guide is helpful for identifying fish in those water bodies, and across the upper midwest.
For Saltwater anglers, this chart from Florida may be helpful, although somewhat limited. Saltwater fish ID gets really tricky, as there are so many different species varying so widely as you travel around our coasts.
Faith Resources
For everything we stand for, there is an underlying base of faith. For many of us in the angling community, faith plays a part in what it means to get outside and experience wild and natural places. This is the “Master’s Landscape,” and there’s a reverence that comes with experiencing it through stuff like fishing, and in stewarding it, too.
For hundreds of years, the church championed the beauty of God’s creation, demonstrating in many ways how it points to the Creator. However, over the last century, the evangelical church has let the value of caring for creation slip away. In Saving God’s Green Earth, author and pastor Tri Robinson makes a compelling case for the biblical precedence behind environmental stewardship and shows the church what it can do about this eroding value.
This statement from the Southern Baptist Convention sums up very well the Biblical justification for environmental stewardship, regardless of your denominational affiliation.
Excerpt:
Humans Must Care for Creation and Take Responsibility for Our Contributions to Environmental Degradation.
There is undeniable evidence that the earth—wildlife, water, land and air—can be damaged by human activity, and that people suffer as a result. When this happens, it is especially egregious because creation serves as revelation of God’s presence, majesty and provision. Though not every person will physically hear God’s revelation found in Scripture, all people have access to God’s cosmic revelation: the heavens, the waters, natural order, the beauty of nature (Psalm 19; Romans 1). We believe that human activity is mixed in its impact on creation—sometimes productive and caring, but often reckless, preventable and sinful.
The Christian Environmental Association is a nationwide organization joined together to promote Biblical environmental stewardship within the Christian community. Their mission is defined as “Serving the Earth, Serving the Poor.”Through the CEA, individuals, churches, college fellowships, and Christians ministries can participate in a wide variety of national and international programs to increase awareness of global environmental issues and problems. The CEA also distributes a magazine, Target Earth, which serves to keep members informed and linked together. A detailed listing of the Christian Environmental Association can be found by accessing the CEA homepage.
“Creation Care” from the The Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) is a non-profit organization that seeks to educate, inspire, and mobilize Christians in their effort to care for God’s Creation, to be faithful stewards of God’s provision, and to advocate for actions and policies that honor God and protect the environment.
EEN’swork is grounded in the Bible’s teaching on the responsibility of God’s people to “attend the garden” and in a desire to be faithful to Jesus Christ and to follow Him. EEN publishes materials to equip and inspire individuals, families, and churches; and seeks to educate and mobilize people to make a difference in their churches and communities, and to speak out on national and international policies that effect our ability to preach the Gospel, protect life, and care for God’s Creation.
Recycled Fish Sportsman’s Stewardship Pledge
Full “Extra Mile” Version (.pdf format)
Short Version (.pdf format)
Have you taken the Recycled Fish Sportsman’s Stewardship Pledge? If not, it’s an easy way to advance the Stewardship Ethic. Catch and Release best practices and Selective Harvest are important, but conservation and stewardship of our waters means preventing the spread of invasive species, SAFE Angling or “green fishing,” and other angler ethics. The truth is, the stuff we do every day – even off the water – matters just as much, because our lifestyle runs downstream.
Stewardship Tips are available here.