Fishing tackle survival kit?

[Anderoo]

If I was starving then I wouldn't give a sh*t if it was illegal or not !

 

Me neither! In fact I'd give any fish loads of time to swallow the hook.

 

I'd go for 5 or 6lb line straight through to a size 10 hook and try to dig up some worms as bait. Squeeze a split shot or 2 on the line a foot or so from the hook. I'd tie the end of the line to a long stick (willow or something quite bendy) so add in a bit of a buffer so the line didn't snap.

 

Interesting question! Makes a change from the usual 'my unhooking mat's more comfy than yours' thread! In fact I'm now quite hungry...

 

PS buy a spool of 100m of line, which will last for ages if used in small amounts (keep it out of direct sunlight) and a couple of packets of hooks. That's all you need really. Watch the 'rod' tip for bites.

[Steve Walker]

I'm sure any one of use could catch fish for food given a spool of line and a packet of hooks, but I wonder if they would actually be of any use to someone with no experience and no watercraft? We've all seen beginners blank on easy waters despite having a complete starter kit, simply because they've no idea what to do with it.

[Newt]

Thus my suggestion in #7.

 

Mike - this is a friendly bunch and we have members all over the Island so if you would like a makee-learnee day on the water (for the catching part - probably not the cleaning and eating), say so.

 

I'd be happy to show you the whole thing from rigging and getting bait through to eating the end results but it's probably further than you want to go for that.

[Vagabond]

My kit would be 50 m of 20 lb braid wound on a small empty plastic coke bottle. No worries about sunlight degrading braid, and its strong enough to hold a decent sized fish. Forget monofilament, it might have degraded by the time you need to use it.

 

The line, stored that way, can be cast some distance, even by a beginner. Hold the bottle by the neck and cast off the "fixed spool" formed by the rest of the bottle.

 

Selection of hooks from 4 down to 12 (12 is probably the smallest you can thread 20 lb braid thro' the eye) You need at least a size 6 for a big lobworm. Barbed hooks, and let the fish swallow the worm - this is a survival situation, not catch and release.

 

Packet of swan shot (not worth considering smaller) Two swanshot are enough to cast a reasonable distance with the coke-bottle fixed spool

 

Rubber tubing of various sizes (couple of inches of each). An eighth of a inch cut from one of the right diameter can be used to turn a convenient twig, bird quill or reed stem into a float - but it is easier to cast with just the baited hook and a couple of swan shot on the line about a foot above the hook.

 

If Steve Burke is looking, the above gear will cast an upstream worm far enough to get you a trout supper!

 

Steve Walker has a point about experience being needed - but extreme hunger will result in a very steep learning curve !!!.

 

... but Mike, make a point of looking for fish every time you cross a clear stream, even if you have plenty of food that day - knowing where a fish might be is more than halfway to catching it.

 

I have deliberately assumed you are hiking in high country, where small streams are common, and the trout the most likely catch. Fishing with a float in slow or still water with smaller baits will certainly catch fish - small, muddy flavoured coarse fish, but if you are hungry enough.......

Edited March 2, 2007 by Vagabond

[greg long]

i can see it now.

 

Mike: But your honor if i did not eat the fish i would have sureley died.

 

your honor: its still illegal, you should have not taken the fish and eaten it, you will now have to pay the court £1,000 and be banned from fishing for the next 2 years.

 

seems like a good idea to have a little emergency pack at the ready, even having it in the glove compartment of the car would be handy

 

I keep mine in the back of the van........I get an emergency every time I pass fishable water..

[Dick Dastardly]

I would go along with Vagabonds sugestions but with some hook to nylons.Always carried a little kit similar to what he sugests in my kit whilst in the army. More fore fun and to prove it could be done than to actually survive of course but would be quite confident.

 

Just slightly off subject but maybe the recently bannished Mr M was right about the racist undertones that exist in our sport? I say this as eveyone here has been more than happy to help Mike out but only recently were up in arms about "Eastern Europeans,Kossovans,Poles"etc etc doing arguabley much the same.......................

[Vagabond]

I would go along with Vagabonds sugestions but with some hook to nylons.

Thanks Budgie - nice to know we would both survive

 

The reason I advocated 20lb braid straight through to the hook was the potential combination of a fish on a handline (no rod to absorb shocks), novice angler , and possibly a decent sized fish (beginner's luck!).

 

Wanted to minimize the chance of a break-off with a hook left in the fish.

[ayjay]

I can't see any need to carry anything more than line, hooks and a few shot either.

 

Just wondering if you are planning on catching anything else, i.e. rabbits pheasant etc. or will it be just fish?

 

Have you gutted a fish before? It's not difficult by any means and if you're hungry anything goes, but it might be something else you want to try in easier circumstances first.

[Guest Ferret1959]

Spose with a noose of braid rabbit could be on the menu.

 

 

 

 

 

Or maybe tabby cat.

[Guest tigger]

Don't forget your rod lisense or you'll have the mighty EA to fear !!!