Fishing Set

[Bushcraft Medic]

hello,
im new to bushcraft and today i went and bought a swedish firesteel,35lt rucksack, web-tex survival kit, water bottle, maya dust, survival knife, mess tins, solid fuel cooker, spare solid fuel.

i was wondering how to use the fishing set in the survival kit if anyone has any picture guieds please PM them to me also can you review some of my items for me??

Thanks,
BM

 

[Ed]

i was wondering how to use the fishing set in the survival kit if anyone has any picture guieds please PM them to me also can you review some of my items for me??

If you let us know what is in the fishing set I'm sure we can help you out. Just remember though, alot of these sets are designed for 'hand lines' which are illegal to use in the UK on inland waters..... if that is the case you'll need to make yourself a pole ..... Have a good read of the fair game forum as that is where all posts to do with hunting/fishing etc are ...

Hope we can help


Ed

 

[falling rain]

I'd advise making up your own fishing kit. The survival type kits arn't that great to be honest. Lures, feathers, tinsel flashes and hokkai's etc are fairly useless in a fishing kit unless you have a rod and reel to 'work' them. Using hooks and bait with a handline is a far better option for sea or freshwater (as Ed says though freshwater handlining is not allowed). Just about every fish in the sea around the UK coast is edible. Some are of course better than others but they'll keep you alive in desperandum. Watch out for weevers (Echiichthys vipera, lesser weever) and greater weever (Trachinus draco) (which are exceptionally easy to catch) they have viscious poisonous spines on the gill covers and dorsal fins, which will cause extreme pain if they jab you. http://www.glaucus.org.uk/weever2.htm I caught these regularly as a kid, and placed my foot (with boot on of course) on it's head to unhook them. They are edible though, especially the whitish, greenish belly flesh. The fish you are most likely to catch that arn't so tasty are pouting, ballan wrasse (strong jaws for prising limpets off rocks .......I kid you not, thats one of their foods, so watch your fingers in a wrasse's mouth) and weever. They are all greedy and take bait easily, but they can be eaten if you're hungry enough. Other species that you're likely to catch from the shore with a basic fishing kit like a handline (ie not a beachcaster or special rigs) which are good eating are pollock, mackerel (summer and early autumn) eels, dabs, flounder, plaice. All perfectly possible to catch with a handline like you see the kids on holiday using.

My survival fishing kit would consist of,

An orange/red (kiddies) handline
A packet of various sized sea hooks (not too big though)
4 booms
a few weights 1 or 2 ozs is enough (you have to carry the fishing kit amongst all your other stuff remember)
A small spool of line of 6 - 8lb breaking strain for making traces off the booms.
Bait you can dig on site. Worms from the estuary rag and lugs, and shell fish from the estuary and sea shore, best are mussels, razor clams, limpets and most other shellfish will do the job. And live prawns if you can find some in the rock pools (hook through the tail to keep them alive and moving and more attractive to the fish) Crabs are good bait too, especially when they are shedding the old shell (peelers) and the new shell is still soft. If you catch a small fish (such as a joey mackerel) you can cut some of the white belly into 'small fry' shaped strips and use for bait too. In the old days fishermen used dried sole skin lures to catch bass and other fish. If you dry some fish skin in the sun it makes a good bait to carry around with you and will keep for a few days.

You can buy ready made up rigs from tackle shops which are useful to have in your survival kit. A 2 or 3 hook paternoster (8th rig down here)http://www.fishingbig.com/fishing_tackle/fishing_rigs/sea_rigs/ is a good rig to use from pier or rocks which is where you'd need to fish with a handline dropping into deeper water. I've caught flounder from the shore by swinging the handline around and lobbing it out as far as I can and just leaving it for a while. All flatfish tend to grab the bait and swallow quickly before they realise there's a hook in it so it's very common to have a flatfish that has swallowed the hook.

I'd definately think about making up your own kit though, rather than using the ready made ones. You can be more specific with the componants, that really will give you the best chance of catching fish and no gimmicky type equipment.

PS always wear some kind of old plimsoles, deck shoes, old trainers or water type shoes like canoists wear etc when paddling in the sea and you won't have any problems with the weevers.

 

[oldsoldier]

Making your own kit will cost you very little money as well. I tin of hooks, a bag of weights, and a couple of lures (I have a spinner and a spoon in mine), and, the most expensive part, the line, 8lb test, may cost you maybe $10 all told. Simply put it into an old tin (I have a mints tin for mine), and you're ready to go. Simple & effective.

 

[ilan]

If you are in the uk you will need the rod licence which to be honest unless you go fishing a lot is not worth the bother . Most waters in the uk are private and you will still need the land owners permission as well Fishing is big bussiness . Of course you can go sea fishng for free which is the best bet use or make a long line like a childrens crab line . When i was younger i watched a old chap set a long line from a beach at near low water 20 hooks set on a long line between two stakes set in the sand normaly done at night low water and recovered the following day the same person also used to set a conger line from the rocks .
Of course you can use the fishing line and small hook to catch other things as well But only in a survival situation not normaly found in this country .

 

[Longstrider]

BM, I think Falling Rain has the right idea. Making up your own fishing kit is normally the better option. That way you can not only be sure of the quality of the kit you carry but you can also tailor the kit to the type of environment that you are likely to find yourself in.
As I live about as far as I could be from the sea in the UK I carry a fishing kit that is geared towards freshwater fishing. The line is lighter (I carry 4lb and 10 or 12 lb line ) and the hooks are smaller, generally some 14's some 10's and some 6's. My weights are a small selection of split shot and a few small ledger weights of about 1/4 oz. I will sometimes carry a small lure or two but these are are of a type designed for jigging in freshwater for fish like perch, chub, trout and pike.
As said, fishing with a hand-line is unlawful in freshwater in the UK, so I tend to fish with a makeshift rod cut from hazel or willow.
Fishing like this I have caught many fish of good eating size, mainly trout and perch (Perch are better eating than trout in my opinion if they are big enough )

You MUST have a Rod Licence if you are going to fish in freshwater anywhere in the UK. (Available from any Post Office) Handlines are unlawful so you have to fish with a rod of some sort. The instant you have a stick with an attached line and hook it becomes a rod in law and you only need to be caught fishing once without a Rod Licence by an Environment Agency Bailiff to leave yourself open to a fine that could run into the £thousands. You also need the permission of the holder of the fishing rights on any piece of water. There are some places where the fishing is free (you still need a rod licence) but in most places the fishing rights are either controlled by an angling club or the landowner. If you want to take the fish to eat make certain that you have specific permission to do so. Most freshwater fishing clubs (Coarse fishing, not Game fish like trout and salmon) have a strict "Catch and Release" policy and killing the fish you catch could lead to a prosecution for Theft.
All these rules and regulations might make the prospect of a "little spot of fishing" seem like a minefield, but they have been put in place over the years to protect the fish and waterways of this little island of ours from the destruction that would have otherwise inevitably have been caused by those morons that would gladly "rape" any resource they could get their hands on.

A picture of the items in your survival fishing kit or a detailed description of its contents would help us to better explain the usefulness or otherwise of the kit.

 

[Bushcraft Medic]

you get, line, 3 hooks & clip lead weights

 

[nobby]

you get, line, 3 hooks & clip lead weights

Buy a telescopic rod, loads on ebay, and a good baitcaster reel. If you are going to fish you're unlikely to be doing it for survival in the uk so you may as well do it properly. In exchange you get the higher likelihood of actually catching a fish.

 

[Longstrider]

you get, line, 3 hooks & clip lead weights

Ah... My guess is that you're not a fishing man

By the sound of it, you've probably got the sort of kit that someone in a factory who has never fished in their lives has put together so that they could add the words "Fishing Kit" to the kit list.

You would definitely do well to take a trip to the local fishing tackle shop and ask there for the sort of bit and bobs that will actually be useful. For freshwater I'd go with a spool of 4 or 5lb monofilament line, a small tub of split shot ("BB" size is probably as good as anything for general "survival type stuff) and a packet or 3 of hooks. Hooks can be bought ready tied or loose. If you don't know much about fishing and you've never tied a hook to nylon monofilament line you might be better off with ready tied hooks. If you buy loose hooks be sure that they are "eyed" not spade-end ! The knot you need to tie a spade-end hook is an art in itself, and one that even some dedicated anglers struggle with Add perhaps a couple or 3 small "Arlesy Bombs" (Ledger weights) of perhaps 1/4, 3/8 or 1/2 an ounce and you'll have all you need to catch fish other than bait (which you can always gather along the river bank).

For sea fishing I'd get something like 10 lb to 15lb line, hooks of sizes 2, 1, and 2/0. you can either choose to carry weights (you'd probably want at least 1oz wieights if not 2oz) or rely on your foraging skills to locate something useable on the day (Old spark plugs are good, as are stones with a hole through them)

Check out a couple of fishing sites on the web to find out which knots to use for the line. Nylon fishing line is very slippery stuff and normal everyday knots are next to useless for strong, neat work.

 

[Longstrider]

Here's a picture of the kit I carry for freshwater fishing.
The spool of line is 4lb breaking strain, but I wound quite a bit of it off and re-wound it all on one side of the spool so I could put some heavier line on the other side to give myself the option of using some of either. The little red pot (with clear lid) is what I bought the BB split shot in. I broke out the little strengthening flanges from the inside of the spool so the little red pot would wedge inside it to save space and to keep all the kit in one place. The Arlesy bomb ledger weights are about 1/4oz. The hooks are size 14 (thats the smaller ones) and 6's. (Was not until I tipped it all out to photograph that I realised I'm short on hooks... Need to re-stock ! )
All of the hooks and weights fit in the little pot, which then wedges tight inside the spool of line.
The pen is only there for an idea of size.



Edit to add... You can't have too many hooks. They are the bit you are most likely to lose. You either lose them on snags like weed or sunken branches etc or you drop them whilst trying to tie them on. They weigh as good as nothing and take up no room, so keep plenty "in stock".

 

[wingstoo]

I have made up a few leaders, and next on the list is to get some kite string for the main line, I have several packets of hooks of various sizes, any weights can be made up with small pebbles...Watch out for eels when fishing though, can take your hook, line and sinker and make a right mess of the thread.


LS