Survival Fishing
Survival fishing is a whole lot different than sport fishing. First of all you do not care about whether you catch the fish in a sportsmanlike manner. These are survival situations we are talking about here. Things that might not be legal or ethical now would be perfectly okay in a survival situation. One of the things I always have in my vehicle is a small collapsible fishing rod and spincast reel. I also have a small box with a few hooks, split shot sinkers and a couple of spinners and other small lures. Actually I carry these for the times I come across a good looking stream or river and want to stop and fish for a few minutes. However, having said that, just think how handy the would be if I were to be stranded in some area due to a storm or other natural disaster.
My regular survival fishing gear is a little bit different. In my bug-out backpack I carry a very small kit. It consists of five yards of ten pound test monofilimant line and ten yards of six pound test. There are ten hooks, five number six and five number eight. There also a half-dozen small split shot sinkers and a number zero red and white Mepps spinner. With this I feel that I could live on fish if I had to, as long as I was near water. When I was a kid, I used to head for the creek with just a length of line with a hook on it and usually came back with fish. When I got to the creek, I would cut a nice limber tag alder about six or eight feet long. I would tie my line to it, turn over some rocks or other debris and find a worm or other bug of some type and go fishing. I could only get the line out in the water about fifteen feet if I had a six foot "rod". If I had more than nine feet of line I would simply wrap some of it around the end of the pole. I caught many fish using this method. If the stream was a little to fast to fish without a sinker, I would find a small rock to tie on my line. I did not have real sinkers so sometimes I would carry a couple of small bolts and nuts or even small nails to use for sinkers. I like to get out about once a year with just my survival fishing gear and sit by on a stream bank and fish. I still almost always catch fish. They may be chubs, shiners, suckers or carp, but they are fish and they are edible. When you are in an actual survival situation, you cannot be picky.
Carrying this equipment is not really a problem. Any small plastic container or leather or cloth bag will work. I even have one friend that simply uses the correct size zip-lock bag. Personally, I use film canisters. I have taken two of them and connect the two tops. I glued the two tops together and then put a small bolt and nut right in the middle to hold them together should the glue let go. Before I added the second length of heavier line and the Mepps spinner, I only needed one film canister.
I also have a smaller kit which is contained in the outer part of a large ball-point pen. This is one with the screw-off top. First I take out the part that holds the ink. Next I drop in about four split-shot and about five or six number eight hooks. Add to this about twenty feet of six pound test line and you have a good fishing rig. This one can be carried in your shirt pocket in a plane or anywhere else. These kits along with a good knife are all one really NEEDS to survive under most circumstances. Next week I will get into a little more about how to actually catch fish, whether you have a rod, a net, a fish trap or any other means of fishing.
My regular survival fishing gear is a little bit different. In my bug-out backpack I carry a very small kit. It consists of five yards of ten pound test monofilimant line and ten yards of six pound test. There are ten hooks, five number six and five number eight. There also a half-dozen small split shot sinkers and a number zero red and white Mepps spinner. With this I feel that I could live on fish if I had to, as long as I was near water. When I was a kid, I used to head for the creek with just a length of line with a hook on it and usually came back with fish. When I got to the creek, I would cut a nice limber tag alder about six or eight feet long. I would tie my line to it, turn over some rocks or other debris and find a worm or other bug of some type and go fishing. I could only get the line out in the water about fifteen feet if I had a six foot "rod". If I had more than nine feet of line I would simply wrap some of it around the end of the pole. I caught many fish using this method. If the stream was a little to fast to fish without a sinker, I would find a small rock to tie on my line. I did not have real sinkers so sometimes I would carry a couple of small bolts and nuts or even small nails to use for sinkers. I like to get out about once a year with just my survival fishing gear and sit by on a stream bank and fish. I still almost always catch fish. They may be chubs, shiners, suckers or carp, but they are fish and they are edible. When you are in an actual survival situation, you cannot be picky.
Carrying this equipment is not really a problem. Any small plastic container or leather or cloth bag will work. I even have one friend that simply uses the correct size zip-lock bag. Personally, I use film canisters. I have taken two of them and connect the two tops. I glued the two tops together and then put a small bolt and nut right in the middle to hold them together should the glue let go. Before I added the second length of heavier line and the Mepps spinner, I only needed one film canister.
I also have a smaller kit which is contained in the outer part of a large ball-point pen. This is one with the screw-off top. First I take out the part that holds the ink. Next I drop in about four split-shot and about five or six number eight hooks. Add to this about twenty feet of six pound test line and you have a good fishing rig. This one can be carried in your shirt pocket in a plane or anywhere else. These kits along with a good knife are all one really NEEDS to survive under most circumstances. Next week I will get into a little more about how to actually catch fish, whether you have a rod, a net, a fish trap or any other means of fishing.
posted by Knifeman | 7:22 PM
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