Doing what comes naturally: Survival Fishing.

Hello my friend and welcome back.  In today’s post, we are going to look at doing what comes naturally: Survival Fishing!  Like most of you, I keep a few fishing supplies in my bug out bags.  But what if you didn’t have these for some reason?  What then?  This is the topic of today’s post and I hope you enjoy it.  Grab a cup of coffee and have a seat while we visit.

Man has been catching and surviving on fish for thousands of years and in some cases, it was their only form of meat.   Now, fast forward to today when we have all of our fancy rod and Reels with our artificial baits.  They are great, but they won’t last forever.  In some cases, you may not have any equipment at all and then what will you do?  Unfortunately for most people, they have lost the knowledge of how to fish without any of the modern equipment we now have.

Should you ever find yourself in a position where you have nothing but a knife, and need to catch fish to survive, here are a few ideas and ways that our ancestors used and can still be used today.

The Cane pole – The cane pole has been around a long time and is actually an excellent way to fish.  Simply find a long straight piece of cane or a sapling preferably 6 feet or longer.  The longer the better in most cases and it should be as strong and light as possible.  It should be thick on one end and thin on the other, this helps for telling when a fish is pulling on the bait.  I think you get the idea!  Next, you need some string or twine of some kind.  If you have some Paracord with you, you can remove one of the strands that run through the middle of it.  This makes excellent fishing line and works great when you have nothing else.   If you haven’t any Paracord, then look at what is available.  I have even used long pieces of small green vines, as well as tying strips of long green grass together, when there was nothing else.  These won’t hold a very large fish, but will help you catch something to eat until you can find something better to use.  Use your imagination and you will be surprised what you can come up with.  Next you will need a hook.  How do you make a hook when you don’t have any?  You would be amazed at the things that you can make a very effective hook out of.  We have all seen the ones made out of old pop tops that are all over the Prepper websites, but what else could you use?  Here are a few ideas:  Scour the banks and try to find an old dead fish with nothing left but bones.  Oddly enough fish bones make great hooks and are usually easy to find.  Once you find some, look for one that is sturdy and about ¼ to ½ inches long.  Sharpen both ends with your knife.  Now tie your twine around the middle of the bone.  Next we need some bait.  Any kind of worms you can find usually make good bait.  Slide a small piece on the ends of the hook and push them towards the middle of your bone hook.   The way this works is that when the fish swallows the bone, and you pull on the string. It forces the bone to turn sideways in the fish’s throat basically hooking the fish.  If the hook is too big to come out sideways if not you can now pull your fish right in.  This technique takes a little practice, but it will work and work well once you get the hang of it.

Next is the trap line –   With this one all you do is find a good tree limb that is flexible enough to bend down and spring back when released.  The only thing is that it needs to be on the water side of the tree.  By using two sticks with one stuck securely in the ground, tie the middle of the line to the other stick and cut a notch in both sticks.  Pull the string down and hook the two notches together as you would in most noose traps.  Then throw the other end of the line with a baited hook as far out into the water as you can.  When the fish swallows the bait and tries to run, it will pull the two halves of the stick triggers apart and release the limb which will set the hook and hopefully secure your fish.  As a tip, you may want to make the section of line that goes into the water short enough to pull the fish completely out of the water once the trap has been triggered.   Again, practice is the key to any of this and practicing it is something that every Prepper should do as often as possible.

As a friend of mine recently reminded me, every challenge is an opportunity to prepare for SHTF in some way or another so make the most of them.  Well, that is it for today and I hope you have enjoyed today’s post.  Until next time, stay safe, stay strong, and stay prepared!  God Bless America!

-The Sargent-