Anyone carry a frog/fish gig in their kit?

tknife

tknife

Joined
Mar 18, 1999
Messages
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I had always seen these in with other fishing equipment and thought they'd make a good tool for my kit http://www.buckshotscamp.com/Fishing-Frog-Spear-Sales.htm the only thing stopping me was the size. They are sort of big, or awkwardly shaped and hard to keep in a kit.
Another thought was to caryy a few large nails, maybe use a Dremel to put a barb on the tips. I dunno, just thinking out loud, what do you guys think?
This would also make a good rodent skewer or defense tool.
 
tknife said:
I had always seen these in with other fishing equipment and thought they'd make a good tool for my kit
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I thought the same thing but figured if I really need one I could just make it as needed. All I need is another "must have" to try and stuff into my PSK:o ;)
 
Less Shroud has made a frog/fish spear on a couple of shis shows. Really doesn't look very difficult to do. I've also taken a 16d nail, sharpened both ends and bent one end slightly to do sort of the same thing. Lash it to a thin pole and I should be able to spear fish/frogs, or just about anything.

Charles
 
If you're close enough to spear a frog, you're probably close enough to wack it with a stick, or catch it with your hands. I caught 5 last weekend when fishing got a little slow.
 
i have one of those same frog spears.... i've had it for about 10 years or so...:o

i scored a few TOPS hoffman harpoons, in the group buy over at KF.... i love it.... such a handy little guy.... it's always in my pack..... here's a pic with a few other knives..

mike
IMG_0944.jpg
 
I have a couple of lightweight bamboo walking sticks that have built in fish/frog gig spines. I bought one fish gig and cut the tines off- take the tine and set it into a T nut from the hardware store(.06 of a dollar), expoy in with JB Weld, insert tine into hollow end of bamboo and cap it with a rubber chair tip cap. I tie a 3' peice of inner strand para cord to the chair tip(hole in it and push the tine through a predrilled hole in the cap, slip cap back on stick and tie thread to pole. If cap/tine comes off pole when stuck in fish, the thread lets me retreive the fish.
Total cost each is about a 1.00 and maybe 15 minutes to make them.
Bill
 
Here's part of my main BOBs food gathering kit. Not shown are any weapons that I carry.

foodkit.jpg
 
Tknife, I think a gig is a great idea, but my feelings on this are colored by the fact that I live in a part of the country that has puddles, ponds, lakes, ditches, creeks, and rivers all over the place. Obviously, gigs are generally intended for frogs and fish, but they are just as effective on snakes and small mammals, and might be even on birds if you are quicker than they are, and maybe on small turtles if you are lucky enough to stick some skin.

I agree that packing a gig head in your personal survival kit might not be easy to do, but it's worth considering if there is any way you can put one in your pack or your bug out bag. To complicate things even more, I prefer the gigs that have 5 prongs, rather than those with 3 prongs as shown on Buckshot's Camp's website. Mine has a central prong with 4 more arranged around it in a rectangular pattern. They are mostly straight or parallel when you get them, but I put a slight bend on the outer prongs to spread them out maybe half an inch more at the point. It gives you a little better chance of connecting with something edible. Walmart sells gig heads where I live.

Have you ever heard of a writer on survival subjects named Ragnar Benson?
He discusses gigs at some length in one of his books, but it's been a long time since I read it and I can't remember which book that was in. He was also promoting a design with several prongs (4?) arranged around a central prong, but he had used some that were handmade in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, or somewhere in that part of the world. From what he said, gigs like that are very highly valued there and greatly add to the quantity of food that a family can obtain.

You may know this already, but gigs are not usually thrown like a spear. They are used to stab or stick with. The idea is to slowly sneak the point down toward your target until you are close, then you use a quick, short jab to stick what you plan to eat. If you are going to stick a fish of any size you will do best to try to pin it to the bottom of shallow water and grab it with your other hand. The barbs on the gig's prongs may not hold in a big fish.
 
I have a 3 prong frog gig, and a 5 prong fishing spear point. They are big and bulky but fit in the 1060 size of Pelican air tight containers and still has room for some other fishing stuff. The Pelican just fits perfectly in the outer pockets of my Alice Pack.

Ciao
Ron
;)
 
Thanks for some great responses guys. Mike, those are some nice blades, and I have also been considering the Harpoon. (WHo makes the top knife in your pic by the way)
Longbow, your pic is showing pretty much what I had envisioned, as part of my fishing/snare gear. Do you put a guard or cover over the points?
Dr. Mudd, yup I believe it was Mr. Benson that first got me thinking of buying a frog gig. And I definitely would see it more useful as a small game or bird getter. Not many streams or ponds around my stomping grounds. But LOTS of snakes, ground squirrels, rabbits and birds.
 
tknife said:
Thanks for some great responses guys. Mike, those are some nice blades, and I have also been considering the Harpoon. (WHo makes the top knife in your pic by the way)
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t- it's a beauty... s30v blade with black and green micarta scales...it was made by john t. wylie(45guy)... he's out of nevada.... he's a local over www.customknivesandguns.com loo him up.... his leather work is amazing... i was almost more impressed with the sheath.....:D

mike
 
sherlockbonez said:
If you're close enough to spear a frog, you're probably close enough to wack it with a stick, or catch it with your hands. I caught 5 last weekend when fishing got a little slow.
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Really? Seems whenever I see 'em the little (and not so little) buggers are half behind a bush or in 2 feet of water or something. We caught plenty by hand when I was a kid.... maybe I'm just getting lazy in my old age... ;)

This topic came up a couple months ago (I'm sure a couple months from now it will again, too). IIRC runningboar made a basic copy of that Tops harpoon and was pleased with it. Could be easily made with a bench grinder or even just files. Doesn't even have to be heat-treated really, if you don't need a true edge on it. A $4 bar of welding steel would make a whole bunch of those. :thumbup:
 
mtnfolk mike said:
t- it's a beauty... s30v blade with black and green micarta scales...it was made by john t. wylie(45guy)... he's out of nevada.... he's a local over www.customknivesandguns.com loo him up.... his leather work is amazing... i was almost more impressed with the sheath.....:D

mike
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Yeah I remember him from the other forums. It looks like a really great field blade. I can't afford to look him up, not just yet anyway, I may end up buying something! :D
 
tknife, the best I've come up with, until I find something better, is to place cork over the sharps and I glued a 1/4" thick piece of wood to the cork.
 
My BOB has one like the leftmost in Longbow's picture. Weighs very little, icluding a self-tapping screw to attach it to a pole.
 
Something similar you might try is a few LARGE fishhooks, that can be straightened and lashed to a pole. Sometimes they will need to be heated before you can bend them.

Another good thing for frogs is regular sized hooks with bright cloth tied to it.
Walk the banks and let the hook hang a few inches above the water line. You'll be suprised how many frogs can't resist it.
 
Back when I was in my teens, my brother-in-law would take me wading in the creek at night spearfishing. We used three or four pronged gigs and I'll just say in the right place you can harvest a lot of fish in a very short time. A great survival technique imo.
 
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