Fishing For Survival: Top 5 Tips Revealed

Fishing For Survival: Top 5 Tips Revealed
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Ever found yourself in a survival scenario within the wilderness with little or no fishing gear at your disposal? Such a situation might be not only stressful but also dire. You’re bound to be hungry and frustrated. Luckily, one way of fending for yourself or your crew is by hitting the local waterway and hauling out some fish. By employing some survival techniques, you should be able to find some fish to eat.

The following are the top 5 fishing tips for survival:

Find Bait That’s Native to The Area

You should find a rotting or old log and then turn it over. The chances are high that you’ll be presented with insects, worms, and grubs that fish love. You should also keep an eye on the shoreline. Most probably, you’ll discover minnows as well as other creatures swimming around. They make excellent bait.

Where you see minnows, grab a stick, and whack the water. By doing that, you’re most likely to kill or stun a few which you can utilize for bait. Since your actions will create noise, ensure you collect as much as you can. Before fishing, you should wait for some time.

The Best Time to Fish Is at Night

Plenty of fish, especially the bottom feeders, normally feed at night. Consequently, find a great chunk of bait, perhaps some smaller fish that you caught earlier and then keep the line out through the night. It’ll surprise you the amount of fish you’ll catch. As you leave your fish gear unattended, ensure you tie the line tightly to something. Even a tiny 1 – 2 lb fish can be able to pull your fishing gear into the water.

Fish On Flowing Water

An effective fishing tip many people don’t know is that fishing on flowing water is better compared to stagnant water. However, if you’re fishing in a pond or lake, it doesn’t apply. The tip applies to tidal areas and rivers where you should find some little water flow but not a raging current.

Some little flow is great because it’s effective at attracting fish. Feeding fish tends to hang out behind logs or rocks so that they don’t fight the current. When your bait fish swims by, the fish can then ambush it. Therefore, the best places to fish are docks, logs, rocks, etc.

Consider Natural Poisons

While you shouldn’t practice poisoning outside survival scenarios, there’s no harm in utilizing natural poisons in shallow water pools. So what is meant by ‘natural’ poisons? Here are some things that are readily available to poison fish but are harmless to humans:

  • Lime – You can make it by burning and crushing seashells. They’re great at poisoning fish in the shallow pools.
  • When used in large adequate quantities, young nut husks from walnuts are effective at poisoning fish.
  • Plenty of plants can accomplish this goal. However, you’ll have to do extensive research before heading out.

By using this strategy, you’ll be able to gather a substantial fish amount.

Hand Fishing And Grill Net

Hand fishing is as primitive as your fishing can get. In this kind of fishing, you can use your bear hands to pull fish from its watery lair. Based on your geography, various names are used to describe this activity. Some of the names include:

  • Stumping
  • Fishing tickling
  • Grabbling
  • Gurgling
  • Catch fisting
  • Hogging
  • Graveling
  • Noodling

All you need to do is put on gloves and step into the murky waters to grab some catfish.

When it comes to gill net, you can utilize the nets to grab fish as they swim through your net’s opening. As they do that, the fish will end up getting entangled. Gill nets are highly effective at different times in different places. Nonetheless, they yield incredible results when fish are on their migratory run.

Tips to cook fish for survival

After looking at some fishing tips for survival, it’s paramount to know how to not only prepare but also cook and store your fish in a survival situation. Improper cooking fish, cleaning or storing it can result in your fish becoming inedible.

You should never consume fish that appears spoilt. It’s important to note that cooking doesn’t transform spoiled fish into edible one. The following are some signs of spoilage:

  • Peppery or sharp taste
  • Peculiar odor
  • Sunken eyes
  • Suspicious color
  • Slimy rather than wet or moist body

You should also use the right equipment to prepare and cook your fish. Since fish spoils very fast, after catching, you should prepare and cook immediately. Because in the wild you don’t have tools such as the top electric fillet knives, a pocket knife would be handy to cut out the large blood vessels and gills. While you can cook it over an open fire, the best way to do it is to boil. Doing so will ensure you obtain the most food value.

Conclusion

So tragedy has come your way. You’re on the run and have run out of something to eat … As you ponder about depleting your food supply, you just recall you have an emergency fishing kit. If you find yourself in such a situation, the above are the fishing tips you should employ to help you grab some fish.

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fishing reels

Taking Care of Your Fishing Reels

fishing reelsDo you want to be able to maintain and repair your own fishing reels? Most anglers do, but the problem is that it’s not that simple. The best fishing reels these days are just as complicated as the most sophisticated automatic watches, and they come with tiny parts that work in mysterious ways.

But you can perform some preventive measures to keep your fishing reels working well, and you can clean them yourself provided that you take certain sensible precautions. Here are the steps you need to take.

I never was a good fisherman, but when I was a young Marine, I had a kayak and one of my favorite things was to take it out into the intercostal waterway and fish (and explore).  If you want a good kayak to go with your fishing reel, I have great site to help pick out a good kayak.

Preventive Measures

Here are some preventive measures you can perform on your fishing reels so that you can protect your reels and also minimize the amount of cleaning you need to perform afterwards:

  • Before you get on the water, use a petroleum distillate such as “Real Magic” from Blakemore. It doesn’t hurt marine electronics, and it protects the reels from the waves slapping the kayak or from paddle spray. It minimizes UV damage and corrosion, boosts casting distance, and reduces line memory.
  • After a whole day of fishing, you can also use a reel cleaner on your reels. You just spray the cleaner on your reels, and then lightly wipe it down to keep the salt and moisture buildup from resulting in corrosion.
  • You can also get home and use a simple garden hose with a light spray to rinse off any debris and salt from your reels.

The Cleaning Process

Of course, sooner or later even freshwater anglers will need to clean their reels properly. Saltwater anglers need to clean their reels after every fishing trip. While you can always opt to have the reel cleaned by your local reel expert, you can always do it yourself. Here are the basic steps you need to take, though you will need some additional specific steps for particular models:

  1. Have all your tools ready on the onset. Your reel may have come with a wrench, along with a list of parts, so have those ready. You should also have a standard slot head screwdriver as well as a Phillips. You’ll also need an old toothbrush with soft bristles, a toothpick, and a pair of tweezers. A pencil will also come in handy later, as well as a mat and some masking tape.
  2. Have your cleaning supplies ready as well. Here you need a cleaner that gets rid of contaminated oil and grease. This can be any reputable cleaning compound for reels, or even lighter fluid. Then you need a lubricant with contains reel oil and reel grease. You should your Blackmore Real Magic handy as well.
  3. Hold the reel with the same hand. This is crucial when you start to disassemble the reel. If you’re right-handed, hold it with your left hand and use your right hand to take it apart. This way, everything stays oriented the same way and you’ll find it easier when you put it back together again.
  4. Keep track of your reel parts. It can be scary when you start disassembling your reel, since there are a lot of parts to track. To do this properly, you need to have a mat ready for all these parts, and then you should have a line of masking tape under the parts so you can number them as you pull them out. This way, you can put them back in the right reverse order and you won’t have any parts left over afterwards.
  5. In general, reel parts are designed with metal parts attached to fiber parts. With a few exceptions such as metal gears, for the most part you don’t really see any metal parts that bear on another metal part.
  6. Use the tweezers for the wire clips and the springs. This can help you handle these small parts properly. If you’re not careful and you use your fingers, you can lose these parts very easily.
  7. Take care of the fishing line first before you take off the spool. You can secure the fishing line with masking tape or you can strip all the line off the spool. Either way, do this first before you remove the spool from the reel. If you don’t secure the line first, the line can get caught between the frame and the spool. That’ll make the removal much more difficult.
  8. Clean the various parts with the appropriate biodegradable cleaner. Gasoline isn’t a good cleaner for grease and dirt removal, since it can damage the plastic components. That’s why you should also use soft bristled-toothbrush, as hard (or brand-new) bristles can damage the plastic as well.
  9. Use the toothpick to apply the grease. You only need a light coating anyway. Also you need to apply the grease on the bottom of the teeth of the gears. Putting the grease on the top of the teeth can cause the gears to throw the grease everywhere.
  10. Use lighter fluid to clean the bearings. That should remove debris and dirt from the bearings. Afterwards, check that they can spin so you’ll know they’re really clean. Then use a drop of synthetic reel oil for each bearing.
  11. Reassemble the reel. Check that you put them back in proper reverse order, and that you have no parts left over. Then you can check it out to make sure that everything works the way they’re supposed to.
  1. Apply Real Magic to finish things off. Just back the drag off, and then you can apply a little Real Magic to the exterior. That will protect the finish and the line.

What you have to remember is that your fishing reel is your most important tool if you really want to catch fish. If you perform these simple maintenance measures, you can keep your reels working properly for many years.

Getting the best fishing reels won’t do you much good in the long run if you don’t take care of them properly. You save money from having to buy too many reels too frequently, and you also save yourself a lot of frustration when your worn-down reels let you down when you finally have a huge fish biting on your bait!

Improve Your Security On The Water

Improve Your Security On The Water
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If you want to enhance your security on the water, you need to be realistic about the boat.  They are not very secure, are targets for thieves, and not always well secured, but that does not mean you cannot improve your security on the water.

Always:

  • Lock anything valuable out of sight in a strong locker secured by a strong padlock;
  • Lock up emergency money away from other valuables;
  • Keep your curtains closed so that no-one can look in;
  • Keep unused ropes, fenders and other items out of sight in your cockpit, lockers and cupboards -and always lock them;
  • Make sure that your life raft and outboard motor are secure, as these are valuable and attractive to boat thieves.
  • When you go ashore from a dinghy, always remove your oars or paddles, rowlocks or pump, and secure the dinghy with a strong chain and padlock.
  • If you are the victim of boat theft, call the police immediately and tell the harbormaster or boat yard manager. Check to make sure that your boat is still seaworthy and hasn’t been badly damaged.
  • If you can, check that neighboring boats haven’t been broken into as well.
  • Get to know other boat owners in your marina and work together to keep the marina secure.

You can do the following.

  • Keep an eye on other boats, as well as your own.
  • Report any strangers at the marina to the harbormaster or yardmaster.
  • Don’t give your marina access card or key to other people.
  • Never tell anyone else the access code to the marina.
  • Don’t let strangers into the marina, however genuine they may seem.
  • Keep the marina gate closed at all times.
How to Make a PVC Fishing Button

How to Make a PVC Fishing Button

How to Make a PVC Fishing Button
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I first saw this Fishing Button on a Doomsday Prepper video from Scott Hunt, but I have also seen it in many other places online.

After making some modifications of my own, I decided to make a couple to stick in my bug out bags.

It is smaller and lighter than the other PVC fishing pole used in project 26 of my 52 Prepper Project’s Book, and much more efficient to use than the sinkers in chapter 37 – which places it straight in the middle of your options.

Depending on how much you like to fish, how good you are at it, and how likely it is that you will encounter areas where you may end up fishing while out exploring you may want to keep one or more of the three options available to you.

As I have said online, in print, and in person, I think PCV is one of the DIYer’s best materials, and anyone with a little imagination can use this inexpensive material to solve all manner of problems them may have.

Material:

  • Small plastic fishing bobber
  • PVC end cap – size needed is determined by the size of your bobber. The easiest thing to do is to buy a bobber and take it with you to the hardware store and match it up.
  • Small fishing hook
  • Lead split shot sinker
  • Fishing line
  • Small washer
  • Rubber band

Tools:

  • Hacksaw blade
  • File
  • Small drill bit and drill

Procedure:

  1. Cut two slots ¼ inch deep and about 1/3 inch apart on the bottom end of the PVC Cap.
  2. Turn the cap on its side and carefully saw the plastic to connect the slots cut into the PVC cap.
  3. Once the connecting cut is deep enough, snap the square of plastic between the two slots off of the PVC end cap.
  4. Flip the cap over and repeat steps 2 and 3 on the other side of the cap.
  5. Using a file, carefully clean out the two notches made on the bottom end of the cap.
  6. Set the cap down on a firm work area and carefully cut two more parallel slots ¼ inch deep, and 1/3 inch apart across the top of the PVC cap.
  7. The cuts on the top of the cap should be in line with the cuts you made on the bottom – It should look like an “H”.
  8. Connect the slots by cutting into the side of the cap just as you did in step 2
  9. Snap off the plastic between the two slots – it may be harder on the top than the bottom, but have patience.
  10. Clean out the notches with a file, just as you did on step 5
  11. Take a small drill bit, and drill a hole about 1/8 inch away from the bottom corner of one of the notches you made.
  12. Tie a small hook to a length of fishing line, and add a couple of lead sinkers near the hook.
  13. Thread the line through the hole drilled into the PVC cap.
  14. Tie the washer to the other end of the fishing line.

To Pack:

  1. Insert the bobber into the center of the PVC cap.
  2. Place the hook on the outside of the cap, and pull the barbed end of the hook down and into the notch cut into the cap – this keeps it from getting loose and sticking you.
  3. Pull the washer end of the fishing line through the hole, which will tend to lock the hook into the cap.
  4. Wrap the line around the notches until all the line is secure.
  5. Stick the washer between the loops of fishing line and the side of the cap.
  6. Wrap a rubber band around the fishing line to keep it from unraveling.

To Use:

  1. Remove rubber band.
  2. Unwrap line.
  3. Remove bobber
  4. Pull fishing hook out and pull line until the washer is pulled up into the PCV cap.
  5. Wrap line around endcap, leaving enough line free to cast.
  6. Attach bobber and bait hook.
  7. Hold cap in the palm of your non-dominant hand and let string out between your index and middle fingers, wrapping the rest of your fingers into a fist.
  8. Hold the baited end in your dominant hand, swinging the hook in circles.
  9. Cast the hook, by aiming and releasing the swigging hook in the direction you wish to fish.
  10. When a fish bites – set the hook by holding the cap firmly, and pulling back sharply on the line.
  11. Enjoy your fish.
diy fishing gear

How to Make Portable PVC Fishing Gear

How to Make Portable PVC Fishing Gear
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First of all, before I show you how to make portable PVC fishing gear I want to rant about prepper plans that are not as smart as many think.

Generally speaking, I think that for the VAST majority of preppers, having a “mountain man plan” of bugging out to the wilderness and living off the land is a dangerous fallacy.

In fact, there simply isn’t enough land to support everyone that has the skills to do so.  Additionally, many individuals even think they have the skill level but don’t.

Although this may be true, it does not mean I don’t think that a well-rounded prepper should not have wilderness survival skills and equipment.  Nor do I think that practicing outdoor skills is not fun and useful in its own right.

Consequently, I am looking forward to teaching Tell about outdoor living as he grows into manhood.

In the meantime, I want to share a outdoor living DIY tool.  It is a PVC fishing setup that takes up very little space in a pack, and is pretty versatile if you have the skill to use it.

Alternatively, if you really want a sturdy line, you can use braided fishing line.

How to Make PVC Fishing Gear

Parts

  • 3/4-inch MIP PVC plug
  • 1 inch diameter schedule 40 PVC pipe (12-inch piece)
  • 1 inch diameter PVC cap
  • 18 inches black parachute cord
  • 1 roll athletic tape
  • 80 feet 3- to 10-pound-test fishing line
  • 2 thick 1-inch-diameter rubber bands
  • 3 of your favorite fishing lures
  • 6 size-10 fishing hooks
  • 8 size-5 split-shot weights
  • Black spray paint (optional)
  • Hacksaw
  • Drill with 1/4-inch bit

Procedure

If you’d like to have a black fishing pole, paint all of the PVC parts now. Let them dry near a heat source for an hour, or overnight at room temperature.

  1. First, insert the ¾ inch MIP PVC plug into one end of the PVC pipe.
  2. Next, cut a ½-inch-long slit into one side of the cap. Make the slit twice as wide as the saw blade is thick.
  3. After that, drill a ¼-inch hole through the top of the cap.
  4. Tie the ends of the parachute cord in an overhand knot and thread the other end of the resulting loop through the hole in the cap.
  5. At the open end, cut a ½ inch long slit into the side of the pipe.
  6. Put the cap on the pipe. Starting ¼- inch from the base of the cap, wrap 4 inches of pipe with athletic tape.
  7. Cut a 1⁄16 inch deep groove across the pipe 4 inches from the plugged end. Do not cut through to the inside of the pipe.
  8. Tie a clinch knot into the end of the fishing line. Make sure the line rests in the slit, and pull the knot tight.
  9. Pull the fishing line toward the plugged end and wrap a 3-inch piece of tape around the pipe to cover the knot. This will not only hold the knot in place but also ensure that the line doesn’t snag on the knot when cast.
  10. Wrap about 80 feet of fishing line around this piece of tape. Don’t cut the line yet. Just cover the wraps with the rubber band to hold them in place.
  11. Using a clinch knot, tie your favorite lure to the end of the line.

Add Lures:

The inside of the tube is now your tackle box. Fill it with extra hooks, split shot, lures, and bobbers. You can even put a pocketknife in there.

Finally, put your newly tied lure into the pipe as well. Capture the fishing line in the gap formed by the slits in the cap and pipe. This gap will prevent the line from getting kinked and weakened.

Now you have a highly portable rod and tackle box.

To Use:

  1. First of all, take off the cap and pull out the tied lure. Replace the cap and remove the rubber band.
  2. Next, pull 3 feet of line off the spool and hold the rest of it on with your thumb. Swing the lure over your head in a counterclockwise motion. When you’ve got it swinging as fast as you can, whip the lure toward the water and take your thumb off the spool.
  3. Finally, slowly wrap the line around the pipe to reel it in. When you feel the fish bite, give the line a quick jerk to set the hook and reel it in.

I like having some portable fishing gear in my kit but its not as efficient as using normal fishing gear.  Plus I miss not having my electronic fish finder.

If you have pictures of you using such a piece of equipment send them to me, and I will post them here…