Guest Post – Four Methods For Catching Fish

\”Are YOU Ready?\”

This is  a guest post by Rambo Moe of www.prepredforthat.com

This article will outline 4 different methods for catching fish in the wilderness. It is meant to serve as a life hack for beginners wanting to learn the basics of fishing. This is a skill everyone with any interest in survival should have, so let’s get started.

Four common techniques used to catch fish:

Bait Fishing

This is the most commonly known method for catching fish (though not the method that catches most fish). It requires bait, hooks, and fishing line.

Attach a hook to some fishing line. Attach some bait to the hook. Set the line somewhere where fish frequent.

It’s a simple process… but not necessarily easy.

Bait

The most common bait associated with fishing is worms (nightcrawlers are often chosen). Insects and smaller fish are used as well, and bait from the surrounding environment works well (such as shrimp).

Artificial baits are widely used and are effective as well.

Hooks

Traditional fishing hooks work great. If they aren’t available to you, these materials have all been fashioned into fish hooks and used successfully:

· Bones

· Animal Shells

· Steel wire

· Pins and needles

· Nails

· Wood

· Thorns

Fishing Line

You can use regular fishing line or dental floss if you’re in a pinch.

Places to Bait Fish

The best places for bait fishing are places with lots of fish, or places where fish eat. In practice this often means along the edges of the habitat of the fish. Here’s a list of 10 ideas:

1. Flooded wood cover

2. The edges of weed beds

3. In feeding frenzies and fish schools

4. Where currents intersect

5. Near the shoreline

6. Places with large temperature differentials

7. Places where the floor bed drops

8. Places strong currents lead to

9. Among rock piles

10. Where seagulls feed

Spear Fishing

Spear fishing involves impaling fish with the sharp end of a spear. It’s definitely a fun way to score dinner.

Keep the tip of your spear just under the water’s surface. Wait for fish to get close, and then stab powerfully downward, pinning it to the floor. It will take some practice to get used to light refraction.

Reach down with your free hand, and hold the fish against the spear so it doesn’t shake loose. Lift with both hands out of the water.

Places to Spear Fish

This method is most effective in clear, shallow waters with many large fish.

Fish Traps

Another option is building a fish trap. We will cover three here.

Fish Nets

Place a net across a river or stream. The current pushes them into it, and keeps them stuck there.

Fish Baskets

Underwater cages with small openings that face the current. Fish are pushed into the cage, and can’t escape because the current traps them.

Tidal Traps

At low tide, fashion a large cage area that rises to just above the surface of the water. When the tide rises, fish swim into the area. When it lowers again, they find themselves trapped.

Places to Make Fish Traps

This depends on the kind of trap you use, but a common theme is to have the opening face the current. The current pushes them in, and keeps them stuck there.

Chop Fishing

This is probably the most entertaining method on the list. Wade into shallow waters at night, with a flashlight in one hand and a machete in another. After a minute turn on the flashlight to draw fish towards you. When one gets close, strike hard with the blunt end of the machete.

Where to Chop Fish

This method works best at night, in shallow waters with many large fish.

For some fun extra reading, be sure to check out how to start a fish farm.

Good luck and stay prepared!

Rambo Moe regularly writes about outdoor survival skills, DIY projects and a bunch of other things at www.preparedforthat.com.