Fishing Hook Tutorial

[PatrickM]

Fish is a fantastic source of protein and the seas and inland waters have always been harvested by mankind.
When living in the wilds, we can avail ourselves of this resource by using the many fishing techniques that are
available, eg netting, trapping, spearing and angling.

Hooks can be fashioned from many different materials that can be found in the wilds and can be made in
various shapes and sizes to suit specific fish. This is but one.

Refer to thread "Important Piece of Kit? Tutorial" to see how you get to this stage:

Draw out shape of hook using a piece of charcoal

Using hand drill with flint tip, drill out a series of holes. Note small slithers of wood inserted in
split to hold the antler steady while drilling

Holes completed

Knock out the middle sections, leaving a U shape

Using flint, scrape away until you have refined the shape of the hook

Start to whittle the hook down further by scraping away fine slithers

Round off inside of hook, leaving the barb more defined

After scraping, the side profile should look like this. This shape is more efficient when striking
the hook in the fish

Hook is almost complete. Work a deeper recess into the barb and finely scrape to a smooth
rounded finish

Completed hook bound on to fishing line (here made of braided willow) - Tight Lines Folks !

 

[tomtom]

great tutorial, and the finished article is beautiful, your obviously very skilled but is it actually robust enough to catch a fish?

 

[Ranger Bob]

Excellent!

 

[PatrickM]

Hi Tomtom,

Thanks for the kind comments. The answer to your question is yes.

I have made hooks from many materials over the years and have fished in salt and fresh water for many different spieces (with both successes and failures!)

This style of hook is very effective - it is based on modern hook design. Antler is a robust and flexible material, bone hooks are more brittle but you can overcome this by altering the style and shape of the hook.

Hope this answers your question

Patrick

 

[Ed]

Again, what can i say.... fantastic tutorial


Ed

 

[Stew]

Good stuff Patrick!

So how would you change the shape for bone hooks? Would denser woods (ie Boxwood) work as well?

Also, a hook size obviously limits how small a fish you can catch. Would you scale this down or use a different style of hook for smaller fish?

 

[MagiKelly]

Fantastic, as are all your tutorials. I only hope that someone is taking all your tutorials and putting them on the main site. Either that or making them sticky.

 

[JoshG]

Fantastic, as are all your tutorials. I only hope that someone is taking all your tutorials and putting them on the main site. Either that or making them sticky.

Agreed. Can't wait to try this one...

 

[~Dan~]

every time i check back on this forum i look forward to seeing one of your tutorials they are so informative and the finsihed articles are always just truly amazing

 

[Stuart]

Fantastic, as are all your tutorials. I only hope that someone is taking all your tutorials and putting them on the main site. Either that or making them sticky.

all of Patricks tutorials will be put on the main site in the articles section over the coming weeks

 

[moduser]

Stuart,

That's great news.

thank you

 

[odin13]

whoa great tutorial!!!
its great to see some tutorials with pictures, really nice work, and for all your other ones.
really nice job of the hook too

 

[Fire Starter]

Absolutely incredible Patrick. Looking at this I can really see what Bushcraft is really about.

Thanks for showing this. :You_Rock_

 

[Infragreen]

Respect!

Will I be able to do that in bone, or do I have to use my antler supply?