Cordage for fishing line

[Fire Starter]

I have a long held aspiration to catch a fish, on a fishing rig, made completely from natural materials, by me

I have already made the complete set! hook, line and sinker and have experimented with various rigs .

I have fished with it on many occasions but never caught a fish. Except the one that broke my cordage line and got away.

The most frustrating thing to happen is losing 30 feet of nettle cordage I think it must have been a big one.

The cordage is always the weak link for several different reasons.

1) It tends to snap (very frustrating)
2) It does'nt last very long in the water v's effort put in to make it
3) It tends to unspiral in the water.

Does anyone have any reccommendations as to what I could do next, to solve these problems. If anyone suggests mono filament I will scream the forum down

Suggestions welcome

 

[Toddy]

Horsehair is the traditional line for fishing. There have been a few threads, and discussions, on this. e.g.
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=8665&highlight=horsehair
Plaited seems to be the way to go with it. If you want some then I suggest a barter offer to Swyn or some of the other horse keeping folks.

Cheers,
Toddy

 

[Glen]

First thought :
Labour intensive but if you made 3 thinner strands and platted them together, at least for a main line, it might stop that section from unraveling, then just a few feet of normal twisted cordage down to the hook. Giving les to unravel which would be quicker to replace.

 

[torjusg]

I have read somewhere that many Native Americans used nettle line for fishing. With a leader made of womens hair.

I have made a braided nettle line. Approximately 1,5mm thick and very strong. Have yet to use it more than once though, without success that time.

As I have also heard, when using horse hair. Use hair from the stallion. The mare pee on it, making it brittle.

 

[spoony]

think you can get plumbers hemp from b and q which is horses hair,

 

[gregorach]

think you can get plumbers hemp from b and q which is horses hair,

You can, but it certainly doesn't look or feel like horsehair... It looks like tow - the low-quality fibres that get discarded. It's good enough to practice with, and it makes an OK cordage, but I certainly don't think it's good enough for fishing line.

It does make very good tinder though...

I could probably make a decent cordage from my own hair - it's certainly long enough, and there's plenty of it...

 

[Ahjno]

If anyone suggests mono filament I will scream the forum down

Monofilament
I made some myself in science class years ago (useless)

What about braided willow?
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=8238&highlight=patrick+fish

There's another thread with fishing kit made by Patrick. IIRC the pics where posted by Stuart, but not sure on that. I'll try to dig the thread up ...

EDIT:
Found it:

Thread I was talking about:
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?t=6429&highlight=stuart+fishing
Line was made from nettle though.

 

[Fire Starter]

Thanks for all the tips lads - plenty to be going on with now!

 

[Stuart]

Patric is definately your man for this, I'm sure he'll be along soon with some helpful tips.

untill then some pictures of his homemade fishing kit might provide inspiration

 

[Goose]

think you can get plumbers hemp from b and q which is horses hair,

Plumbers hemp is...hemp!
It is definitely plant based as it works as tinder, horses hair (or any hair?)would singe and smell if you used it for taking a spark?

 

[weaver]

one word..... SPIDERWIRE!

 

[Ed]

I have a fishingline I made with thin strips of goatskin twisted into a line. Its strong (very) when dry but becomes weaker when wet. I solved this with a light surface coat of oil to waterproof it and it seems to work a treat.


Ed

 

[Fire Starter]

I have a fishingline I made with thin strips of goatskin twisted into a line. Its strong (very) when dry but becomes weaker when wet. I solved this with a light surface coat of oil to waterproof it and it seems to work a treat.


Ed

Interesting stuff Ed. How thick was the goat skin and what length do you need for a good fishing line is it twisted up?

 

[mrostov]

In my possibles kit and in my various emergency stashes I always have a small fishing kit with at least one sewing machine bobbin full of 50# Spider Wire. You can also sew with it. It's the diameter of 10# mono. You can also sew with it and it's extremely strong for many other purposes, such as lashing things together.

In the excellent movie 'Snow Walker', the Inuit girl was played by a native girl was was actually skilled in primitive living in the arctic and used those skills on a regular basis and she made sure her gear was authentic for the film. Part of her gear was a homemade, primitive fishing rig and the way she used it and cast with it was quite interesting. If you haven't seen the movie I highly recommend it.

 

[Ed]

Interesting stuff Ed. How thick was the goat skin and what length do you need for a good fishing line is it twisted up?

The skin was fleshed and scaped to be a drum skin, so it was very thin. I cut the skin into 1mm (aprox) wide ribbons and made the cordage in the usual way (ie twisting, not braiding).

One point though..... goat skin can be very tough when dry and can break when twisting it to make the cordage...... so ..... Soak the ribbons till they become pliable and make into cordage, then let it dry. You may notice (as it always happens to me) when the cordage is dry, it has become loose so you will need to undo it and re-do it dry which is easier now as the skin braids have been 'wet formed'.

Not really sure how much I used as I was using the offcuts after finishing the drum.... I just kept adding more till I had 10m

Its really strong stuff when dry and makes excellent binding, but remember you will need to waterproof it for a fishing line as it becomes weaker when saturated with water.

Hope this helps

Ed

 

[Pipistrelle]

I made some fishing kits using willow and hawthorn hooks, the willow last well in fresh water, elder makes a great float.