Fishing w/ trotline

Lets say we are hungry and our significant other is VERY hungry and our kids are starving.(we made a quick getaway from the riots in the city and our short term rations are gone).
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We are camped near a small river/ large stream. Why not fish to get alot of protein quick. The question is....what is the best way to do this? How about a long line suspended out into the river with shorter lines w/ hooks suspended every few feet along this line? What would we use for bait? How would you suspend it?
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Maybe a gill net would be better? How would that work?
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Man I'm getting hungry...gotta go fishing. Thanks
Bill

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Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way!!!!

[This message has been edited by bigvon (edited 01-20-2001).]

[This message has been edited by bigvon (edited 01-20-2001).]
 
C

CH

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Dec 10, 2000
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641
Trotlines work great. I've used them for years and caught everything from snakes and turtles to 35lb catfish.
 
What would you use for bait in a survival situation?
Bill

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Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way!!!!
 
Guts from small game, nightcrawlers. I've never paid for bait to be used on a trotline.
 
No set amount of time really. I check mine daily in case something that I don't want gets caught, that way I can let it go before it dies. Also, to put more bait on if needed. I've seen people go a few days without checking them, but by then I wouldn't want to eat anyting caught. In a survival situation I would check once in the morning and once at night.
 
My second uncles (all backwoods boys) showed me how to fish with a trot line when I was about 10 years old. They would go down to the river, find frogs to put on the treble hooks and then toss the weighted end (a few links of logging chain) across the river to almost the other side.

We checked it the next day and they would always have something on.... many times, LARGE Sturgeon.... sometimes just a walleye or two... maybe some catfish....

Anyways... for survival purposes, I think this would be a great method of getting something decent to eat.

Jon
 
You can also use a fish trap. It takes slightly more time to set up, but can be made with only found materials.

You can make a semi-permament one using rocks or stakes in the creek itself, but this requires a wadeable creek, and will slack off in production unless there are migrating fish.

A basket one can be used in larger streams/rivers, but will take more time and effort, especially to those of us unpracticed in basket making. It has the nice feature that it can be moved around if it starts producing too little.

Stryver
 
On one of the PBS cooking shows they showed a technique for using a trotline with the tide. Run out the line and bait it at low tide, wait a tide cycle and pick the fish up at next low tide. Pretty neat!

Mike
 
You can buy them pre assembled if you like, but it's usually best to make your own at the site. Use heavy nylon line that comes on a spool, found in hardware and fishing shops, along with some strong hooks. Obviously, the size of the hooks and the rig itself will depend on where you are at. You are basically just suspending a piece of string across a creek, river, or cove with hooks attached to leader lines. The depth will also depend on where you are, but 3-6 feet has worked best for me in lakes. Another option is jug lines and limb lines. They can be made on site from garbage that you will probably find anywhere, like 2 liter coke bottles, bleach jugs, and in the case of limb lines, a strong but flexible limb overhanging the water. Tie a piece of line with a baited hook attached on the end to a jug with the lid on, or a suitable limb. Length of line depends on where you are, same as with the trotline. Make a bunch of 'em, then you are free to do other things. It's trapping for fish
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[This message has been edited by Clayton Hufford (edited 01-22-2001).]
 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by bigvon:
We are camped near a small river/ large stream. Why not fish to get alot of protein quick.</font>
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Because it's not protein you need urgently?

 
<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by counsel-of-record:
Beats eating roots and plants, which to feed several hungry people quickly would take considerably more effort. </font>
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I take it you'd also prefer looking for your lost keys under the streetlight instead of in the dark where you lost them because it's easier?
 
Catching fish requires much less energy than looking around for plants, and is much more rewarding. I know I can eat whatever I catch, but I may not be sure about that big pile of leaves I picked, or the roots I dug up. Personally, I'd set up some limb lines, etc. and go looking for a salad
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. That's the beauty of trapping. It works without you having to be there, so you can go foraging for other things to eat, or busy yourself with purifying water to drink.
 
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