Survival fishing. Unattended trap.

So you are in a remote area, and your starting to get settled in. You have your shelter, you have you water, but now it comes to the crunch. You need food.

Theres a river near by, but theres not enough people in your group to have one stood by a river bank all day catching death of cold or sunburn.

So what to do ?

Well, first off select your location. A bend in the river where water slows down is a great place to start - slower water means safer fishing and easier trap placement. It also narrows the choice of route for a fish to travel through the water.

So, a bendy stretch with some over hanging greenery is ideal for our needs as shade makes fish come closer to the surface and feel safer.
Heres an example of what I am talking about.



So we know where we aim to place our trap. Now lets build it.

First off we need to know roughly how deep the water is - so we wde out with a measuring stick and mark off the depth.

Next, we need six solid shafts of wood that are say 15 % longer than our depth marker. Trim these down and sharpen one end to form a stake.

Now, taking three of these stakes lash them together to form a tripod or tee pee construction.


So we have the foundations for our fishing trap. Here we get out from our bob either some 25 Lb fishing line or para cord, which ever you prefere. I have used both with alot of success. We attach this to both of the tripods securely.


We then get some more line and hooks (of course I assume every body has fishing hooks in their survival kit - if not, why not ?) and make three or four free hanging lines along the length of our top wire.

These will dangle freely in the water and can be baited and lured to what ever specs you see fit. I would use a combination of fly and shiny lures. Best of both worlds this way.

Avoid weighting them too heavy as they will just present a straight line in the water to a fish, and that can spook them, instead try for a mid river sink, or no weights at all just hooks and bait.

Taking the entire trap out into the water and planting it firmly into the river bed we will end up with some thing along these lines. A trap thats both covert in nature, and able to be left alone for a few hours at a time, leaving you free to focus on other tasks. the simple beauty of it is also that it can be left in situ for a large amount of time and become a feature of the river to fish.. thus making them lazy and complacent.



So, I hope thats some thing you can relate to and possibly mull over whilst prepping yourself for what evers coming down the pipeline.

Daniel.

Now, do note that the trap is entirely under the surface of the water for a number of reasons.

1) it creates no surface disturbance, thus giving it an element of covertness - if a person cannot see it they will not be alerted to your presence.

2) Fish will swim near structures, but avoid structures that break the skyline unless its absolutely neccessary or there is a source of food near by. This makes the fish get used to the trap and thus will more likely take the bait offered.

3) The water itself camouflages our suspend line. if the line was above the water it would caste a glaring shadow in sunlight on the surface. Fish avoid this like the plague and you will catch nothing at all.

Hehe, nice one Dan.

Where I live its called a 'Trot Line' and its done with 50+ hooks at low tide on the sandbanks or in estuarys. Just make sure you get back to the lines before the seagulls or other humans do. I used to 'trotline' as a kid with my dad - very efficient way of fishing.

Try varying the height of some of the hooks/snoods - that way you can get different types of fish.

This is something that my family and I are well versed in, we run trot lines, limb lines, and jug fishing.

How To Make a Trot Line You can dumb this down using only the main line hooks and a weight.

Limb lines are the easiest, just attach a length of line to a overhanging branch with a hook and bait, walk away from it and check it once in a while.

Jug fishing usually requires a boat

Here are some videos to help you:







BTW I'm not related to any of these people in the vids, really I'm not!!

reply to post by Wotan



Well I used it alot when lazy boy exploring - come back once in the evening to check - so I thought i would add it here so people can try it out or comment on how they do it.

50 lines would take AGES to hang...lol.

Also my way has the benefit of being able to be left alone and covert.


[edit on 11-7-2008 by Dan Tanna]

reply to post by Dan Tanna


Yeah it does ..... lol.

Well, as you know, I live on an Island so I am surrounded by the sea and we have no freshwater rivers to speak of, so 'trotlines' are ideal. Bait is easy enough to dig - its worth the effort of several hooks - when you get several nice fish on the same line

But you could adapt it to whatever amount you want in hook numbers 10-100 - its designed for tidal banks on the seashore. Once the tide has covered the hooks & bait, then you are free to do whatever till the tide goes out again. You could also run several 'trots' out at different spacings up and down the sandbanks.

The secret really is to have these pre-prepared. Make these when you arent doing anything else. I used to make these in my living room whilst watching TV as well as all my other fishing traces.

Ok we are going to try this at the weekend. I don't like fishing..I'm a bit squemish, but I'm sure my man won't mind doing any eewy stuff - I'll stand there and read out the instructions..lol.

reply to post by Merigold


Hahaha

That reminded me when I used to take my ex fishing. I always ended up putting the worms on the hooks for her and taking any fish off the hooks.

This next one is for those who live on islands and /or near the sea shore with a rising / falling water level.

This takes alot more effort to prepare, but with a bit of preperation and hard graft this will last months if not years and will be easy to up keep.

First off, you need to go out into your woods and collect yourself at least 20 arm length pieces of wood to make our stakes with. More the better.

Cut these down into stake that will drive down and hold well in the sand.

The shape below is what you are aiming for, and yes you do need small gaps between the stakes that are small enough to keep bigger fish in, but large enough for water to run out.



Next you need to see where your tidal flow is and build you trap. You can face it either way but facing the incoming tide is going to give you the best chance to catch some fish.

Drive the stakes down into the ground and you will end up with a long lasting and effective fish trap.



One very important thing to note. You must know how deep the tide is in your desired trap location and make sure the stakes are cut to match, otherwise fish are just going to swim out of the top of it....



[edit on 11-7-2008 by Dan Tanna]

Hey Dan great idea!

I'm off to the scottish border in 2 weeks so I'll be sure to try this out, what size hooks would you suggest to use? I'm not very clued up on fresh water fish round this area so any info would be much appreciated

Hi Fred - I use a mix of 10's and 8's for my own baited traps with even some 6's tagged on.

It all depends on what you have in your kit at the end of the day . Even hooks down to a 14 size will suffice and catch some thing thats edible!

Also, remember bait too. if you have a larger bait, go for a slightly larger hook to accomodate this.

Thanks Dan I'll pack hooks ranging from sizes 2-10 and make sure I've got all the swivels and bait I need to.

Hopefully I'll catch something this way, I used to do sea fishing a few years back but gave up when I caught nothing but crabs

Originally posted by fred3110
Hopefully I'll catch something this way, I used to do sea fishing a few years back but gave up when I caught nothing but crabs

............................. Dude, thats wrong in so many ways....

Just remember that you will need a stronger than average line (say if you use 6 -8 lb line go for a 10-15 lb line as the fish will fight the line till it is exhausted.

Originally posted by Dan Tanna
This next one is for those who live on islands and /or near the sea shore with a rising / falling water level.

This takes alot more effort to prepare, but with a bit of preperation and hard graft this will last months if not years and will be easy to up keep.

First off, you need to go out into your woods and collect yourself at least 20 arm length pieces of wood to make our stakes with. More the better.

Cut these down into stake that will drive down and hold well in the sand.

The shape below is what you are aiming for, and yes you do need small gaps between the stakes that are small enough to keep bigger fish in, but large enough for water to run out.

Next you need to see where your tidal flow is and build you trap. You can face it either way but facing the incoming tide is going to give you the best chance to catch some fish.

Drive the stakes down into the ground and you will end up with a long lasting and effective fish trap.

One very important thing to note. You must know how deep the tide is in your desired trap location and make sure the stakes are cut to match, otherwise fish are just going to swim out of the top of it....



[edit on 11-7-2008 by Dan Tanna]

Ive used this before in rivers. While it is a lot more work than a set line or a trot line, it is very useful for aquiring a good amount of fish in one afternoon or so. What Ive done after constructing the trap is Ive had one person either on the bank next to the set with a net to scoop the captured fish out, then another person walking the river smacking it with a stick to scare the fish in my direction.

I just read that back to mysef hahaha!!!! For clarification I'm talking about THESE crabs!

Good point about the line...last thing I want is to catch something then the little bugger slip away

Mannn I set myself up for that

reply to post by fred3110



uhhh huh didn't you just ?

As for the fishes getting away, I hate it when that happens!

Originally posted by fred3110
I used to do sea fishing a few years back but gave up when I caught nothing but crabs

Yeah that's the problem with those big beardy sailor folk .

Promised myself I wouldn't reply to that one but I cant help it.. Sorry.. back to work

bahhh you dirty minded people

Been checking on ebay for fishing line...you can get about 1Km of 15Lb line for £6 so I'll order some of that, the fish wont get away if I can do anything about it!

Great advice, I'm vego but will definitely cast some lines if the SHTF. I'll be packing some fishing gear into my BOB, now I have an idea what to put in, thanks heaps for the tips.

Excellent info Dan and all, and it has the proper elements to me: Follows the K.I.S.S. principle, utilizes naturally occurring materials (except for the very portable hooks, sinkers and line), and can be arranged such that it isn't immediately obvious to a passer-by. I've added my rendition of your drawings into my "uh-oh" sketch book.

In the hardware section of our resources, I have a bundle of about 100 X 3-foot long 1/8" wire, as well as several rolls of tie wire. In a pinch, I'd make a wire rectangle, create an inward slanting hole, anchor it to something solid, and bait it with soldier or land crabs. Switch to rotted fish parts, and catch a lobster or two. weeee!

Good thread