[gr8outdrsmn]

Hey everyone. I have not really done much fishing, but am wanting to put a fishing kit in with my survival gear.

I can carve a spear or I have harpoons I made out of old spade bits to attach to a staff for fishing.



My question to you guys is, what weight line would you pack, size hooks, size sinkers, etc?

Any advice/suggestions you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[George Hedgepeth]

Use mostly small sized, but STRONG hooks- like #8 forged bait holder patterns. Do include a few bigger hooks for set lines. Pack some light line- say 6 pound, and some heavier stuff like 30 pound spider wire. The light line is for catching bait...

[tjwilhelm]

Great spear-tip idea!!! Thanks! Also, good lookin' recipe for fried bannock on the table, too!

Personally (and I'm sure others will have different opinions), I don't carry large hooks and heavy line; and, I don't carry artificial lures. IMHO, 10 lb. test is sufficient, with an assortment of hook sizes (nothing TOO BIG), and, some split shot.

In a survival situation, you need to think about energy -- energy you take in vs. energy you expend. You'll likely be fishing from shore, and if it's just you, and maybe a few family members, a half-dozen, palm-sized bluegill, or a few bass will make a sufficient meal; and, it doesn't take much effort (energy expended) to harvest them. On the other hand, if you snag something big, like a big catfish, you can spend 20 minutes or more trying to land him (big energy expense), and he may end up releasing himself, anyway (big energy waste). Also, a really big fish may be too much to eat at one meal, and then you have to deal with preserving the leftovers, and coping with critters who will be after what's left of your dinner.

For bait, watch the water and the shore. What's on the fish's natural menu for the day? Mayflies? Tadpoles? The bait you need will be there. You don't have to carry it with you.

Also, keep in mind, in a survival situation, other options for catching fish may be much more productive than a line and hook on a stick. Gill nets (17' X 6' GILL NET - 1 1/2" SQ. MESH FISHING SURVIVAL - eBay (item 120436996422 end time Jul-18-09 21:17:16 PDT)), fish traps, and "Yo-Yo" automatic fishing reels (ZWN-272 - Automatic Fishing Reel "YoYo" 12 Pack 60# Test Nylon Line) may be a much better bet for getting yourself fed with some fish flesh.

That's my 2 cents

[TapDuncan]

TJ, I couldn't have said it better. Great ideas.

[vthompson]

I have 20lb. spiderwire fishing line rolled up on an empty spool for thread and I have an assortment of hooks and sinkers as well. I have a couple of small spinners and a couple of dry flies tossed into the mix as well. I have it stored in a tube that is about 5 inches long and 1 inch in diameter. I keep it in the side pocket of my BOB.

[TapDuncan]

VT--Great idea, this is why I come here, to expand my limitless mind, Thanks!!!

[spagirus]

TJ is right that you do have to think about energy expenditure vs. energy gain for food. Some books and folks have the opinion that fishing is really just a waste of time in these terms. I don't know what kind of fishing they've been doing, but when I do it it's relaxing as heck rather than exerting at all. I think fishing should be on the top of someone's survival priorities. Fish is a good source of protein and other vitamins (depending on the fishes you catch), and it tastes good, and really cleaning fish, once you get the hang of it, is also not that much of an energy expenditure. I personally keep several little fishing kits in all kinds of places on my person at all times. I mostly use smaller hooks as perch and little bass are going to be your main staple in terms of fishing. You can catch a big fish on a little hook, but not the other way around. I keep several hooks and sinkers and different strengths of fishing line (and dental floss, see my other post on that).

There are two things different than other folks that I would suggest carrying and using: crappie jigs and cord for a trot line. From personal experience fishing for leisure and out in the boonies to supplement my food while camping, I have found that there is nothing better than those feathery, fluffy crappie jigs. They look like this Trying to use lures much might be kind of an energy investment, but these little guys work so well you are almost guaranteed to catch fish, and darn near any kind of fish that lures will work on. I would swear by them, and they work great with a cane pole kind of set up, which is what you'll be using in a survival situation.

Now, the best thing to do is set up a trot line, because that is an extremely minimal energy investment, and it is cathing fish for you while you are doing other things (like setting snares, which do the same thing). I keep some extra cord in my kit just for this purpose, though you can use 550 paracord too (I like to use it for other things though). You just tie several short strands of fishing line to this cord then stick a hook and sinker on the end of each strand of line, put some bait on the hooks, and either tie one end to one side of the bank, and the other to the other side; or tie a rock to one end and the other end to a tree on the bank and let it drop. Then come back and check it later and hope for some catches (you might even have one fish per strand of line). I almost always catch at least one or two fish on a trot line.

I like your spears, but you'd better get some practice in using them, though frog gigging is really easy, fun, and produces darn good eatin. I also carry a flecktarn sniper veil, which has many uses, including using it is a gil net or small seine net (which you can make by adding weights to it, or by tying it to two sticks to use as handles). You can also make a net out of mosquito netting or your mosquito headnets (I have a bunch of the former, but I need to get one of the latter) or you can weave one out of cordage (if you've really got nothing else to do I guess). Oh, and another advantage of fishing is that you can keep the ones you've caught alive until you are ready to eat them. You can either make a little cage in the water to keep them in, or just keep them on a stringer in the water (I'm sure they don't like this much, but I've had them survive on a stringer for at least a couple of days before, but I guess they could last even longer). This feature of fishing is nice because you can catch as many as you want and just have a stock of them ready for you when you want to eat. You may catch several one day and none the next, but that's okay because you've got access to some that are still alive and when you do decide to kill them they'll be fresh enough to eat as sushi (raw catfish and perch are actually not that bad, salmon is my favorite sushi even when I order it at a restaurant, though bass is not that great raw, but if you're hungry...)

Anyway, there's my advice, take it for what it's worth.

[George Hedgepeth]

"[b]TJ is right that you do have to think about energy expenditure vs. energy gain for food/B]"

That is why I love limb lines and trot lines so much!



"they'll be fresh enough to eat as sushi (raw catfish and perch are actually not that bad, salmon is my favorite sushi even when I order it at a restaurant, though bass is not that great raw, but if you're hungry...)"

This is not a good idea at all- unless you want a colony of tapeworms. Most saltwater life is safe to eat raw, Fresh water is a NO-NO!!!!! The salmon used in sushi is caught in salt water.

[spagirus]

Sure enough, I sit corrected. I never knew there was a big difference with fresh and saltwater fish having parasites, but I just did some research on it by typing 'raw fish parasites' in google, and yep parasites are more probable in freshwater fish. Good to know, thanks for alerting us all to that George. I have eaten some fish I've caught raw (mainly just to see what it was like because I like different kinds of sushi), and never had a problem, but I haven't done it that many times, and I probably just got lucky when I did.

[ColcordMama]

Keep in mind that the classic romantic image of a fisherman sitting on a grassy bank holding a fishing pole in his hands, chewing on a blade of grass, is a lovely mind picture, but in a survival situation that fisherman probably has lots of other extremely important things he needs to be doing instead of sitting there. School yourself in building water traps and funnel diversions and the like, so the stream does your fishing for you while you get busy building a shelter or digging a latrine pit or whatever it is you needed to do.

It's sort of like standing by a forest trail with a club, waiting for a rabbit to come along so you can whack it on the head. Dig a pit or rig a trail snare and get on with your business.