Friday, January 11, 2013

A quest for fish

I have never hunted an animal in my life, I have never gathered nuts and wild edibles and made a salad and yes, I have no experience with farming what so ever. But like I said before I do have experience when it comes to fishing, therefore fish will be my primary food source in the near future.

At the moment I have several fishing poles in different shapes and sizes, with and without reels, telescopic rods and those that come in 2 sections or more however they will take up too much space during my journey and since a fishing pole can be made from a branch it's not worth the trouble.

But I will be bringing some fishing equipment that is too hard to make such as thin and strong fishing line, softbaits, leads and a couple of hooks in different shapes and sizes. I'm even thinking about taking a small reel with me to attach to a selfmade pole.

Just a few items from my fishing kit.. softbaits, hooks, gorge hooks, some line,  a diy teaspoon lure and a diy sodabottle fishtrap

There are 3 ways in order to catch fish.. by luring them, by trapping them and also by catching them (without the luring so to speak).

Luring fish
The method of luring fish and catch it (fishing pole method).
Every long and strong branch can be turned into a fishing pole and even hooks and fishing line can be made in the wilderness and anything heavy and small (such as stones) can be used as leads.
In order to lure the fish we need bait.. worms are the most traditional bait and they can be found by the dozens after a quick search but in theory any insect or bug can be used as bait.
Larves and maggots are also plenty, free and they smell lovely (for the fish that is).
This method of fishing of course takes patience all you have to do is keeping your eyes on the bobber/float and wait.

Trapping fish
The method of setting a trap, often with bait, and wait for your meal.
There are a lot of different fishing traps. from the well known native basketry traps until underwater deadfalls. The trap I made on the image above is also ridiculously simple. It's just an old soda bottle with the top cut off, then the top is put back upside down and sewn into place. Then in goes some weights so it sinks, some bait and then it''s just a matter of waiting.
The best thing about setting traps is that after placing the trap you can get back to your daily business and just check the traps a few times a day.

Catching fish
The method of spotting a fish and catch it directly.
Bow fishing and spear fishing are other ways to catch a meal and there are some people who even chase and catch fish by hand. No need for bait in this scenario

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