It is possible to fish and gather many sea foods with minimal equipment by using the hands. Gathering seafood by hand can be as easy as picking shellfish or kelp up off the beach, or doing some digging for clams or crabs. The earliest evidence for shellfish gathering dates back to a 300,000-year-old site in France called Terra Amata. This is a hominid site as modern Homo sapiens did not appear until around 50,000 years ago.
- Flounder tramping - Every August, the small Scottish village of Palnackie hosts the world flounder tramping championships where flounder are captured by stepping on them.
- Noodling: is practiced in the United States. The noodler places his hand inside a catfish hole. If all goes as planned, the catfish swims forward and latches onto the noodler's hand, and can then be dragged out of the hole, albeit with risk of injury to the noodler.
- Pearl divers - traditionally harvested oysters by free-diving to depths of thirty metres. Today, free-diving recreational fishers catch lobster and abalone by hand.
- Trout binning - is another method of taking trout. Rocks in a rocky stream are struck with a sledgehammer. The force of the blow stuns the fish.
- Trout tickling - In the British Isles, the practice of catching trout by hand is known as trout tickling; it is an art mentioned several times in the plays of Shakespeare.
Spearfishing is an ancient method of fishing conducted with an ordinary spear or a specialised variant such as a harpoon, trident, arrow or eel spear. Some fishing spears use slings (or rubber loops) to propel the spear.
- Bowfishing - uses a bow and arrow to kill fish in shallow water from above.
- Gigging - uses small trident type spears with long handles for gigging bullfrogs with a bright light at night, or for gigging suckers and other rough fish in shallow water. Gigging is popular in the American South and Midwest.
- Hawaiian slings - have a sling separate from the spear, in the manner of an underwater bow and arrow.
- Harpoons - Spearfishing with barbed poles was widespread in palaeolithic times. Cosquer Cave in Southern France contains cave art over 16,000 years old, including drawings of seals which appear to have been harpooned.
- Pike pole fishing
- Polespears - have a sling attached to the spear.
- Modern spearguns - traditional spearfishing is restricted to shallow waters, but the development of the speargun has made the method much more efficient. With practice, divers are able to hold their breath for up to four minutes and sometimes longer. Of course, a diver with underwater breathing equipment can dive for much longer periods.
- Tridents - are three-pronged spears. They are also called leisters or gigs. They are used for spear fishing
Angling is a method of fishing by means of an "angle" (hook). The hook is usually attached to a line, and is sometimes weighed down by a sinker so it sinks in the water. This is the classic "hook, line and sinker" arrangement, used in angling since prehistoric times. The hook is usually baited with lures or bait fish.
Additional arrangements include the use of a fishing rod, which can be fitted with a reel, and functions as a delivery mechanism for casting the line. Other delivery methods for projecting the line include fishing kites and cannons, kontiki rafts and remote controlled devices. Floats can also be used to help set the line or function as bite indicators. The hook can be dressed with lures or bait. Angling is the principal method of sport fishing, but commercial fisheries also use angling methods involving multiple hooks, such as longlining or commercial trolling.
