Squirrel fishing
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Squirrel Fishing is the sporting act or practice of "catching" squirrels using conventional fishing poles and line tied around peanuts or filberts. In most cases, squirrels playfully tug and grapple with the nuts while the human participant skillfully angles with his or her quarry. A delicate approach is needed in Squirrel Fishing. Anyone can pull the nut from the hands of a squirrel, but the adept "Squirrel Fisher" can tune his craft in order to maintain a balance between himself and the squirrel, eventually rewarding the squirrel for his competition by ceding the nut. Ideally, great care is taken not to overfeed the squirrels or subject them to rough treatment.
Though there has been some debate over where the concept of Squirrel Fishing originated, the practice was popularized by the Berkeley Squirrel Fisher's Club (BSF), an official student group at the University of California at Berkeley in California. The student group was started to give students occasional respite from the academic seriousness rigor that the university is known for. BSF has been featured in several local periodicals.
The practice of squirrel fishing has since taken root on college campuses and parks all around the United States.
External links
Squirrel fishing photographic essay (http://www.eecs.harvard.edu/~yaz/en/squirrel_fishing.html)
