tickling trout

[leon-1]

tickling is definately classed as poacing ( not sporting wot)

I caught a nice trout in a rock pooling net tied to the end of a stick once though (unfortionately thats probably poaching as well)

If all else fails spear gun? dynamite? Hand grenades? Bleach? the possibilities are endless

Prepare to be arrested under the prevention of terrorism act :yikes:, bleach, you would probably be prosecuted be the EPA , if the bleach has tainted the meat and you eat enough of it then prepare to go to hospital, do not pass go, do not collect £200 apart from paying the fine to the local authority.

 

[Tantalus]

i would suggest wandering around in the countryside with any of the items listed would render you liable to arrest and prosecution

poachers can also have their assets confiscated , so if you drove to the area your car could be forfeit as well

:roll: Tant

 

[Realgar]

There's always the snatching hook - again illegal but a bit more subtle and discriminating than TNT. What about getting an otter?

 

[gurthang]

If all else fails spear gun? dynamite? Hand grenades? Bleach? the possibilities are endless

On a more serious note, apparently the leaves of dogs mercury (I think) have some kind of relaxant in them and if you get enough of them in the water the fish will float to the top, I dont know how much youd need but if anyone knows anything about this I'd be interetsed to find out.

I know for a fact that there are some rain forest plants which do a similar thing but not living in a rain forest they are those particular plants are of limited use.

 

[bambodoggy]

Yes, there are fish poison plants in the uk but you're right, they are also very illegal.....think they are thought of up there with Gill Nets and the like...only ever ok for real emergancy's and we don't have those in the UK as the nearest phone box is never more than 10 miles away!

"Getting an Otter".....oooow, if you do you can cook up a "Chicken Tarka"....it's like a chicken tikka only O'tter!!!!! Sorry, crap joke and it sounds better than it reads but it's always amused me since I was a nipper and my grandad told me it just after I'd read Tarka the Otter :rolmao:

 

[gurthang]

an otter trained to catch fish for you now thats an idea

 

[bambodoggy]

They do that in the Ganges delta in India....I was watching a wildlife show about the indian wolf....or was it tiger (i've watched on of each recently) and the local fishermen do actually train otters to catch fish for them, apparently they are allowed to eat 1 in 10 fish as their reward!!! What a tops idea! ):

 

[steve a]

There is a method of fishing with a otter, an otter or otter board is a wooden devise with a keel, to the back of this you attatch a long line which has many droppers with baited hooks. The otter is then sent off across the water pulling the long line behind, the line is then tied off, normally to a stick under the water where it will not be seen and the otter left to fish until collected later. Not legal anymore but still used by some moochers in Southern Ireland on the lochs.

 

[Moonraker]

On a more serious note, apparently the leaves of dogs mercury (I think) have some kind of relaxant in them and if you get enough of them in the water the fish will float to the top, I dont know how much youd need but if anyone knows anything about this I'd be interetsed to find out.

I know for a fact that there are some rain forest plants which do a similar thing but not living in a rain forest they are those particular plants are of limited use.

There is a good article on the use of plants as fish poisons here:

Primitive Ways -Fish Poison

Also more info here:

Fish-poison use in the Americas

The two primary chemicals that occur in most plants used for stunning fish are saponin and rotenone.

It is the saponin constituent of Dog's Mercury (Mercuralis perennis) that would be used for this purpose. They are many other plants in Britain containing saponins including Horse Chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) which are toxic to both humans and animals.

Saponins normally break down in the digestive system and must enter the bloodstream to be toxic, but fish take in saponins directly into their bloodstream through their gills. The toxin acts on the respiratory organs of the fish without affecting their edibility. Saponins also cause the breakdown of red blood cells that help the toxin to spread quickly. Even though the effects of the poison are powerful, they are not usually fatal. Fish that are washed away into untainted water revive, and canreturn to their pre-toxic condition. Because of this, the fishermen would have to gather the stunned fish quickly as they floated to the surface.

Saponins are one of a group of glucosides found in many plant species with known foaming properties when mixed with water. Saponins lower the surface tension of water allowing the formation of small stable bubbles. The amount of foam created by a crushed plant sample, shaken with water in a jar, is a good indication of the amount of saponins present.

Saponins have been used in modern times in the manufacture of fire extinguisher foam, toothpaste, shampoos, liquid soaps, and cosmetics and to increase the foaming of beer and soft drinks.

Plant Families that contain significant saponins are: Amaryllidaceae, Convolvulaceae, Dioscoreaceae, Lamiaceae, Lecythidaceae, Liliaceae, Loganiaceae, Meliaeae, Menispermacea, Papilionaceae, Solanaceae, Sapindaceae, Sapotaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Solanaceae, Verbenaceae.

source: http://www.primitiveways.com/fish_poison.html. Primitive Ways -Fish Poison

The use of poisons for fishing is actually legal in the UK if you have a licence. The UK Environment Agency is responsible for granting licences for the use of noxious substances for the taking or destroying of fish, under the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975. Rotenone is most widely used in fishery management in this way. I doubt a licence would be granted for personal use and would most probably require the consent of the proprietor and for the purposes of fish management only.

So this would be best labelled under 'survival skills'.

A lot is discussed about their uses in South America etc as a primitive skill, but they were undoubtedly used in Europe and Great Britain too. In know that this method (using an indigenous wild plant) was used in modern times during the recent conflicts in former Yugoslavia in order to supplement the food for soldiers in the field. So the knowledge is still alive in some places.

Personally, given that it is a selective method and unwanted fish generally recover without ill effect, I think it is not an unreasonable method of catching fish in a bushcraft situation; i.e. enough for personal use in the field and not for poaching/ profit. And as a skill that our forebears would have used in the same situation. I don't make the laws however

Saponins are used in bushcraft as they have foaming properties and act like a soap (where it gets it's name from). RM once demonstrated this when he rubbed horse chestnut leaves together with some water and showed the soapy froth produced and used this to wash with.

 

[gurthang]

Wow thats a lot of info,

Thanks Moonraker :You_Rock_

 

[woodrat]

it seems I read somewhere that black walnut husks ,groud or crushed, put in burlap bag and put into river would stun fish. as I remember it, the down side was it only worked in slow moving,relatively warm water. I'll see if I can find that info and get the exzact lowdown for you.

 

[Ed]

Yeah I've read that aswell but can't remember for the life of me where..... But I do know they contain iodine (hence the oulour of your hands when peeling them) .... and I guess its not paticulary good for fish.

Ed

 

[demographic]

When I was about 7 years old I went to the pools of an almost dried up river (the Caldew as I remember) with a mate from school, you could reach under the rocks and feel the trout, tickle them then snatch them out of the water.

If we cocked it up we could see where the fish went to anyway so went to the next rock and tried again.

Might have been against the law but I don't suppose that being so young that the water watchers would have hung us for it