A Guide To Survival Fishing Without Gear

Survival Fishing Strategies When You Don’t Have Fishing Equipment

A Guide To Survival Fishing Without Gear

You’ll hear and read a lot online about how to fish to survive. A good thing to know!

But what happens when you need to fish to survive without equipment?

If you have the skills and know-how, survival fishing is no different from regular fishing. Where there is water there is also an opportunity to snag a meal regularly.

As such, the first thing you should do is pitch camp near a lake, stream or river, and use the tips listed below. These ideas should give you peace of mind to worry less and relax more.

With that said, here’s all you need to know to sharpen your fishing survivalist lifehacks. Get prepping!


Plastic Bottle Fish Trap

As it is, fishing is the best way to survive in the wild so the next time you go on a fishing trip, why not try soda bottle fishing?

That’s right! One of those small pop bottles you have lying around could be the catalyst to ensuring your survival in the wild.

And just so you know, this is not using a bottle to float trotlines.

Bottle fish trap held in the hand

Fishing with a plastic bottle has been around for as long as survival fishing. It is a great way to catch bait and easy to make. Besides, this technique doesn’t really cost much and it is an excellent way to participate in the recycling effort of old plastic water bottles.

You will need a line wrapped around the neck of the bottle to act as a survival fishing rod. Ideally, the bottle should be an empty 2-litre plastic soda bottle. Remember to remove the labeling.

The best thing about fishing using a plastic bottle is the fact that they float. And with that, you know that you are making a super fishing trap.

But before you cast you fishing trap, cut the top of the bottle and push it into the bottom section. Ensure the head of the bottle is secure into the body. Now, throw a couple of small rocks into the bottle to keep it anchored.


What To Use For As A Hook?

Now, what can you use as a hook?

For starters, you have have available materials all around you. One easy trick is to cut the tabs from a soda can at an angle to create an improvised hook.

And for bait?

According to Adam Parsons, a fishing expert and editor at Dream Guides, you can use anything creepy and crawly, or course. For instance, you can dig for earthworms or catch a grasshopper or cricket. All in all, live bait is better, but artificial bait will also be effective.

How to Catch a Fish with a Plastic Bottle

To use a plastic bottle for fishing, you should;

* Walk into the water until it is waist-deep.

* Then hold the bottle by the next using your weak hand.

* Using your strong hand let out about two feet of line and let it go in the direction you want to cast.

* Let the line roll away just like it would of an open-faced spinning reel.

* Yank and pull to retrieve your fish.

This technique is a handy fishing hack that will take some time to perfect.


Fish Snare Trap

Fish in the water caught in a snare

Fishing with a snare is simple to do near the base of a water body where there is fish, especially a stream or lake. The snare can be made from a fishing line, which should be stout enough to secure fish yet less noticeable until fish find the fatal noose tightly drown to its body.

When you bait your skewer hook that is a carved bone hook tied to a snare line, you can easily catch fish without attending to your setup.

How to Make a Fish Snare

The first thing you will need is a so-called ‘engine’ that will be a strong tree near the edge of the lake, stream or large river. Next, attach and tie a rope and a thick piece of wood from the tree.

This line that has the bait and hook is cast into the water whereas the wood will be your trigger. In this way, the fish is trapped when it swallows the bait and tries to get away because the hook will lodge into its throat and pull the rolling snare, thereby setting the trap.

Fish snare diagram

The notch should be an inch above the bottom of the wood. It should form a ledge with the bottom as the trigger.

Carve an identical notch that will form a ledge on the top of a piece of wood to act as your stake.

Remember that both the notch on your stake and your trigger need to match. They need to rest inside each other.

How to Catch a Fish with a Fish Snare

Now all you need to do is to bend your engine down to the water and attach both your stake and trigger. In this way, when a fish grabs the bait and attempts to get away with it, the trap will spring up and hook your catch.

As you can see, this technique doesn’t need your survivalist’s eyes to watch the hook and line in the water or snag the fish from the water by hand.

Remember to add some weight and hook to your snare. This will allow you to cast your line as far as possible. You can place this kind of fish traps all around a pond to improve your odds at capturing fish in freshwater.

When the sapling goes up, the fish is pulled from the water and a decent distance away from the ground keeping it away from predators and scavengers. It takes some practice to be able to snare fish successfully.


You Decide

So there you have it; an argument that you don’t need fishing equipment to fish. Hence, if you are in the wilderness without a fishing kit, do not despair. To snag a meal in the wilderness, you can use a plastic bottle or setting up a snare to fish.



Alternatively, you can also try other methods of fishing without fishing equipment, for example; hand fishing, using an improvised hook, line, or net, or even spearfishing.

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