Emergency Fishing Techniques

Emergency Fishing Techniques

written by Keith Sutton

If you're stranded near a waterway, fish are one possible source of food. All fish are edible, and nearly all are tasty.

In most survival situations, obtaining food ranks low on the list of priorities.  Survivors must focus on more immediate concerns such as treating injuries, creating shelter, attracting the attention of rescuers and obtaining water.  Starving to death is not an immediate problem, and the survivor who stays calm and stays put will usually be rescued long before lack of food becomes life-threatening.
Unfortunately, survival situations don't always end so quickly.  As hours turn into days, food becomes increasingly important in maintaining a positive attitude and healthy condition.

If you're stranded near a waterway, fish are one possible source of food.  All fish are edible, and nearly all are tasty.  In his Complete Book of Outdoor Survival, J. Wayne Fears, one of the country's foremost survival experts, states, "I am convinced that fish is the best source of edible wild food in North America for the person in a survival crisis.  Freshwater lakes and ponds, streams, creeks and rivers are abundant food reservoirs."

The problem, of course, is how to catch those fish.  If you have a survival kit with you and stocked it with fish hooks, lures and line, you're set.  We must assume, however, that you may not have any fishing tackle.

Remember these things as you consider emergency fishing techniques:

If possible, have a number of fish-catching devices in use all the time, preferably while you attend to more important concerns.

Concentrate on catching smaller fish, which are usually more abundant and more easily caught.

There's nothing "sporting" about survival fishing.  Use any method at your disposal, but only in a true survival situation.

Improvise; use whatever material you have available to create the fishing tackle you need.

Hooks, Line and Lures

Hooks can be whittled in the traditional shape from wood, shells or bone.  A simpler type is a gorge, which is a short (1 inch or less), straight piece of hard material sharpened at both ends and slightly notched in the middle where it's attached to the line.  Sink the gorge in a piece of bait.  Allow a fish that takes the bait to swallow it.  A quick yank jerks the gorge crosswise, lodging it in the fish's throat.

Hooks can also be improvised from many other materials, including needles, safety pins, nails, paper clips, thorns, a bird wishbone or claw, or a piece of metal cut from a can.  Don't overlook any possibility.

Line may come from threads in clothing and equipment, pieces of wire, dental floss, sinew from the leg of a deer, twisted bark or whatever else is available.  Most good survival books offer tips on improvising.

You can make lures from pieces of cloth, feathers or bits of bright metal fashioned to imitate natural food like a minnow or insect.  In many waters, all you need to catch fish is a small piece of red cloth attached to a hook.

Your improvised gear can be fished with a makeshift pole or as a hand-line.  Any extra should be used to create setlines attached to springy green branches overhanging the water.

Spears

There is practically no end to the makeshift spears you can concoct.  A sharp piece of bone, wood or metal can be lashed on as a tip, or you can simply whittle the end to a sharp, barbed point.  This type of spear is very effective when used at night with a torch while wading shallows.

A jawed spear often works better.  Split one end of a hard, green sapling, seven or eight inches up the shaft.  Cut sharp teeth into each flat side of the split.  Use whatever cordage is at hand to bind the upper end of the split so it won't split farther.  Open the "jaws," and prop them open with a twig strong enough to hold them.  When this spear is thrust down over a fish, the twig is knocked out and the jaws snap shut, holding the fish.

Noodling

If it's not too cold, and you can find undercut banks, holes beneath rocks, hollow logs and other dark recesses in shallow water, you may be able to catch fish by hand. In many parts of the South, this is called "noodling," and it's an excellent way to catch catfish, suckers and other species.  Try to block the hole so the fish won't shoot out, then reach inside and move your hands along the fish's side until you can grasp the mouth or gills.  You can also spear fish in holes, or catch them with a stout hook attached directly to the end of a pole.

Nets

In small bodies of water where minnows and other small aquatic animals are plentiful, a net improvised from a shirt or other piece of cloth stretched between two sticks can be effective.  Push it before you as you work your way toward a small cove or bank.  When you reach the shallowest water, lift it quickly and remove the catch.  At times, this method yields more food than fishing with hook and line.

Traps

Fish traps, or weirs, are very useful for catching both freshwater and saltwater fish, especially those that school.   To build one, drive stakes side by side into the bottom in shallow water to create a rectangular fence with three sides.  The open end should be on the downstream or downcurrent side. Next, drive more stakes to create a V-shaped wall that points into the open end of the rectangle.  The point of the V should be left open so fish are funneled into the weir.  Such a trap can also be constructed of rocks placed in similar fashion.

The trap's size will depend on the material at hand and the size of the water in which you're working.  Even small ones work well, but the best have side walls extending to the bank that allow fewer fish to pass by.  In muddy water, you may be able to herd fish into a trap, starting downstream and driving the fish in front of you.

Stunning

There are numerous plants throughout the world that natives use for poisoning or stunning fish.  Man can eat fish killed this way without ill effects.  Mullein and buckeye are both reported to stupefy fish when the leaves, stem, flowers, and in the case of the buckeye, the nuts are crushed and dropped into small shallow pools.  The crushed green hulls from black walnuts. and lime made from mussel shells cooked in a fire and crushed are said to work in a similar way.

Cooking Fish

Unless you can keep them alive in some type of trap or on a stringer, all freshwater fish should be cooked as soon as possible after catching to avoid spoiling.  Many contain parasites that make them dangerous to eat raw, so cook your catch by steaming it in a wrapping of leaves, boiling it in a makeshift cookpot, broiling it on a sheet of scrap metal or roasting it on a stick.  If you find yourself in a survival situation, it may seem like the best meal you've ever had.