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You can, in actual fact, do as our ancestors did and tie line to a long (>10 ft.) stick (preferably tough and flexible, and tapering toward the the end), attach a line (can be woven/furled of animal or even human hair) to the end of the pole, tie a hook to the line, add bait, and actually catch fish.
Sometimes I fish in brush so thick that I have no choice but to hold my line in one hand and toss the fly/bait with the other, because waving even the shortest pole will instantly get tangled or caught. This is called hand fishing or fishing by hand.
The thing is, even though we've invented fancy gearboxes attached to spools and carbon-fiber rods, hand/pole fishing with just a line and a hook not only still work, but in some situations, work very well.
The most accomplished fly fishermen of all time, the shokuryoshi (commercial tenkara fishermen in Japan), were very poor but caught hundreds of trout per day with a long stick, horsehair, a branch with a net woven onto it to net the fish, and a woven basket (or a sharp Y-shaped stick) to collect their catches.
Being poor will not stop you from fishing. In fact, it's a traditionally poor activity.
