The Good Old Rod And Reel

This is the only way of fishing that I know. And I have learned doing it even without the rod. It's fun to fish in the lake because of the abundance of fish. I cannot say the same in fishing at the sea. And for my bait, it is also the traditional earthworms. With the fish that I catch, the usual cooking is broiling.... it's the best for lake fishes.

 

Any fishing is fun.
A bad day fishing is better than a good day working.

 

Not considering the legalities involved since the laws vary so drastically from place to place I will tell you there are a LOT of ways to put fish on the table for a meal.

Using hooks you can use a rod and reel with natural baits, a Cuban yoyo hand fishing set up, throw lines that are tied off to poles on the shore, limb lines anywhere that a limb projects out over the water, Trot lines with a lot of baited hooks, snagging where you put several big treble hooks on a line and after letting it sink to the bottom you retrieve it by jerking it hoping to hook a passing fish, A bunch of hooks placed close together across a stream that snags passing fish, All the many artificial lures and flies that imitate live bait, Jug fishing where you attach hook and line to a floating jug that is free floating, spring trap hook sets, yoyo reels.

Alternative methods include spear fishing, Bowfishing, Electrofishing where you stun the fish with electricity, Blast fishing with bombs, Poisoning fish with all sorts of things both natural and artificial that mostly work by removing the free oxygen from the water, Gill nets, cast nets, Seines, Hoop net traps, box traps, weir traps, Grappling by hand.

I consider a gill net almost a must for a bugout bag. Placed across a stream you can then actually drive the fish to it by going up stream and making a lot of noise as you wade down it. A small mesh seine is another almost surefire way to get some small fish.

My survival kit includes a lot of fishing gear. It is light and it you live someplace like I do where there is fishable water all over the place it is a better choice than hunting. Without the sport fishermen and commercial fishermen taking out tons of fish every year the fishing will only get better and better as time goes by. Without a freezer you will only want to catch enough for a meal or two at a time here. In areas where it gets a lot colder they might be able to freeze and store some for later in the winter but here you just never have a day that it doesn't get above freezing.

Little fish are just as nutritious as big fish. They are more plentiful, less wary of fishermen and generally live closer to shore making them easier to catch. Scaled fish can be gutted and cooked on the coals without removing the scales. They will sort of steam inside the skin with the scales still on them and the scales are easily removed from the cooked fish. If you scale them they are better boiled then the meat will just shake off the bones and you can make a stew out of the meat and skin that is good. If the scales are removed it is harder to broil them without the meat falling off into the fire.

I have several rods and reels that are specifically made to be portable and small packages. A couple are actually great survival tools. I also have made several small Cuban yoyo reels and carry small eye bolts that I can screw into a cane pole or limb to make a rod. This will extend your fishing range.

I fish a LOT and will never suffer from hunger. I have never had a day when I didn't catch enough to feed myself. Part of the reason for that is that I don't go and only fish for one species of fish. If I'm fishing for supper I will find some thing that wants to bite. Around here that is generally catfish and bluegills but crappie, Largemouth bass, White Bass , Yellow Bass and Gars are usually around too. We also have some just HUGE turtles that are good eating too and frogs are always on my menu if I find them. The Gators are getting more and more common and they are great eating too. LOL, I think that is why people in Texas and Louisiana don't get bit like they do in Florida. When you start eating THEM they learn fast to stay away from people! Gators that hang out around where people are will eventually end up on someone's table.

 

Yup...lots of way to put fish on the table or in the freezer if needed.

We used to use a lot of hand lines...

I have a few of those Yo Yo gadgets but have never used them.


I've caught a lot of striped bass on hand lines ...even made a disposable pole from a 2 foot piece of bamboo..from inside of a rug. Put a cheap yard sale reel on it with 25 lb test line and attached it with hose clamps from the auto part store.

The eye on the end is a large tie wrap.... only the end of it super glued and then wound with the same 25 lb fishing line to secure it..then super glue over the wound 25 lb test winding.

Caught many a striper with that rig...not much finesse to it but it is for dinner not sport.

In a survival situation it will be similar...dinner ...not sport. We use plastic shad minnow lures on a weighted jig hook.

No matter for what it is you fish...net ...pole...spear...you need to know the habits of your prey.


Also some other cautions....

Once I left three pan sized stripers on the pier...in the wee hours of the morning ...I was by myself...and walked down the pier towards another fishing spot.

When I came back...one of my fish was missing. I looked around and there were those two bandit eyes watching me.
A raccoon had helped themselves to one of my stripers. I count that to lessons learned.

We are as humans not the only hunter/predator/opportunist out there.


Thanks,
Watcherchris

 

One of the simplest and best fast fishing setups that I have used a lot of times is to take a plastic coke bottle and wrap a bunch of line on it. You use this as your reel and when you cast you point it at the place you want to throw and then throw the bait with your other hand. It is like a spinning reel and you can get great distance from it. When you bring it in you wrap it back on the bottle. This keeps it from getting tangled up. In Mexico they use these with homemade spoons for a variety of fish.

The reason for the "Coke" bottle is that the old Coke bottle had a waist and seemed to cast a little better. The Cuban yoyo is like this in the shape of a spool. They can be had in 4", 6" and 9". The bigger ones "retrieve" the line faster as you wrap it back on.

I have made small fishing kits like this out of larger pill bottles with the line wrapped on the outside and the hooks, weights, swivels and lures inside. I usually wrap several types of line on them for different uses. Monofilament casts better but under it I usually have a layer of strong braid super line in the 50lb class for limb lines and bigger fish.

https://www.amazon.com/Challenge-50...48172&sr=8-5&keywords=cuban+yoyo+fishing+reel

https://www.amazon.com/Kathy-Handhe...48172&sr=8-6&keywords=cuban+yoyo+fishing+reel

 

Your raft duck trap reminded me of a couple of old indian tricks....

When the water is warm you make a grass collar with the grass sticking up higher than your head and fairly thick. You wade into the water so just your head is above the water and slowly sort of drift out to the ducks. When you get close you can grab them by their feet and snatch them under. You break their neck and tuck them in your belt and move on to the next one.

You dig a trench starting on the bank back into the bank and as you move from the water it grows deeper. You put corn or seeds that they will find and walk into the trench eating this. They feel safe because they can lift their heads and look around. The thing is once they are in the narrow trench up to their necks they can't spread their wings. You can run up to the water end of the trench and they are trapped. Ducks can't jump hardly at all and aren't climbers.

Another way to get ducks is with a fishing line. Toss some things out on the water that they can eat and then put a hook in one. I have actually caught a bird one time on a surface level trot line. He was massively mad when we found him!!

At night most predatory fish move up into the shallow water to feed and we would go out just before dark and and pull our lines up tight right under the surface. During the day we let it lay flat and unbaited on the bottom so it wouldn't get snagged by the bass fishermen. We caught a lot of fish in water that was only a couple of feet deep this way.

 

Do you make your forged fishing hooks? The line in the picture also looks homemade. They look very historically accurate.

 

The species of the American Southern Redneck has shown itself to be of superior genetics in that its membership engages in such pursuits as dynamite fishing. Zero pretentiousness is exhibited in such noble harvesting techniques. Mother Nature avoids the yahoo and you should too.

 

I have a little Bass Buggy that is a lot like that only there are two seats. It is great for ponds.



I have to admit that I have blown a few pipe bombs in the water over the years. I had to find something to do with the powder from a bunch of bad old gunpowder.