Fishing nets - design?

baraqyal

baraqyal

Joined
Nov 30, 2000
Messages
860
Lately I've been messing around a little with some fishing line, trying to build a decent fishing net. Unfortunatley, I have no clue as to what I'm doing. In a real/longterm survival situation, nets seem like a good option for catching large quantities of smallish fish - especially without having any fishhooks. Does anyone know how to make a good net easily? Especially one that can be made out of a good cord?

Or am I completely wrong in thinking that nets are useful? Is there a better way to fish without steel hooks/polymer line?

I would think nets would be useful. With a fine enough net, you could probably also catch birds and bats. Anyone know a good way to do it?
Thanks!
-- Rob
 
Hi Rob,

Get yourself a ready made "survival" Gill-net it won't cost much, about $12 I think, and it's a small package.
Brigade Quartermasters writes about it:

"No trip to the wild is complete without a survival fishing net. This 12' x 4' net will let you catch dinner if the water is flowing. Mesh size traps edible fish as they swim by."

Go to:
http://www.actiongear.com/cgi-bin/tame.exe/agcatalog/results.tam?rlk=9624377

to see it, it is about 12' by 4' with 2.5" mesh.

I used to make fishing nets myself 25+ years ago when I had friends among professional fisher in Zeeland (province) in Holland and they taught me how to knit a fishing net, it' called "Boeten" in Dutch and was lots of fun.
A while ago our older Scouts used the same technique but using thicker "packing" cord to knit themselves a hammock it was a lot of work but verry satisfying.

Best scouting wishes from Holland,

Bagheera


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Nets are an excellent means of catching fish, I would think. Don’t forget about other types of fish traps, too.

I agree with Bagheera about the gill net. Here’s another source besides Brigade Quartermaster:

http://www.epcamps.com/page376.html

homepage: http://www.epcamps.com/website/home.html

Instructions on making a gill net from 550 cord can be found in FM 21-76, the US Army survival manual, as well as US Air Force manual 64-4 (that’s the big one, not the little one). Here the gill net from an online copy of 21-76 :

http://www.aircav.com/survival/asch08/asch08p11.html

start of the manual: http://www.aircav.com/survival/asurtoc.html

homepage: http://www.aircav.com/default.htm

The net for catching birds is called a mist net. I don’t know of a good source for these, however. An online search should turn up more info. I saw a program on tv about them once.

Warning- just possessing these nets may be illegal in some places.

You can also improvise a dip net out of a mosquito head net and go after the little ones. Greg Davenport in his book says to make one from a tee shirt, etc.

Good luck, and let us know how your net turns out.


 
Good advice above. I've made nets, some for fishing, but there are other practical uses. It's relaxing, and I enjoy it, but it takes time, and if it's a matter of having a means of catching fish with you, a net already made weighs no more than the line that it takes to make one, so you might just as well buy one and carry it.

Walter
 
Thanks for the advice and the links. Buying a pre-made net is a good idea, but I always have the fear of leaving it at home when I really need it. (Same goes for all things, I guess). I think my eventual goal would be to make one out of some sort of natural based cord.

It hadn't even occured to me that possesion would be illegal. Of course, I'm not planning on possessing one outside of the big city here, where live game fish are in very short supply.

Thanks for starting me off in the right direction. I'll post again with some results/links.
-- Rob
 
I can send you a picture of how to fishing nets are woven. The picture won't paste here. You may want to email me your email address and I'll email you the picture.

bugsymalone@mediaone.net

bug
 
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