survival fish hooks.

I love simple gorge hooks. I make them out of shards of deer bone that I have left over from other projects.
I have tried wooden hooks but have a few issues with them.
First, as have already been mentioned, they float. Most baits are not heavy enough to sink them well meaning that you will need more hardware to keep them under.
Once the wooden hook is well soaked through it also becomes a bit softer no matter what hardwood you make them out of. Wooden hooks also don't sharpen easily.
They start out with a nice point but it will blunt very quickly with use. Many people who make these hooks but don't really use them would be surprised how inefficient a wooden point is in penetrating a fishes mouth enough to keep it hooked. The way to get around these problems is to use a wooden hook in the "toggle style" instead of a traditional piercing hook style.
I, however, will stick with my bone gorges for perch and bluegill. They are easy and fast and they work great.

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What kind of baits work best for gorge hooks and exactly how are they baited? I understand how they work but it seems like the bait would just slip right off the end of the hook due to how it's tapered.
 
I use worms for bait. You can't bait the sides individually but use one piece of bait stretched across both sides. The purpose of that kind of hook is for the fish to swallow it so that the point "gorges" itself into the fish as you pull it in.
 
pitdog said:
I think gorge hooks might be one of the most easy to make and effective to use !

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/vertpaleo/aucilla11_1/hooks.htm
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Winner. Work well.

I'm gonna add that actively fishing with a line and pole (hunting too) is almost a waste of time. If you're doing it for education and recreation, that's fine. If you want to eat, sitting in one place fishing or hunting is not real productive (it CAN be, but how hungry are you?) You can make fish traps, and check/harvest them periodically. You could use a long line with a bunch of gorge hooks, stake it in, and check it later. While the lines/traps are in the water, check the animal snares you've already set (I could have a bunch of tasty venison every day or so, by putting snares on game trails, it's just illegal as hell everywhere). Forage, find water, etc. Come back later.
 
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+1 on the bone/antler/stone/thorn gorges. I've made and used them and they work quite well. Yes, with patience, practice and knowledge, you can feed yourself quite well on fish. Antler or bone can also be worked into circular hooks, and thorn into angular hooks, but gorges are much easier to fashion.

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With the thorn gorge, it doesn't matter if it floats. Many predator fish will attack prey from below, such as frogs, mice, minnow and large insects. Active fishing using primitive tackle isn't as futile as some might think.
 
Improvised fishing hooks are interesting. But the trouts around here (which I am interested in) need a No.10 or 12 sized small hook, to catch them. This would be a microscopic sized hook to whittle out of bone... So, I just make sure I have plenty of store-bought hooks in my kit.

Home made hooks may work better on fishes with bigger mouths.
 
It isn't obvious looking at the pictures, but the bait is slipped over the end of the gorge and the gorge is swallowed end-wise by the fish (think longitudinally impaleing a grasshopper, worm, grub or minnow). "Setting" the gorge by yanking on the line turns the gorge sideways in the fish's throat/mouth. A gorge of bone splinter or thorn can be made to the size of the target fish from tiny to huge. Some indiginous cultures still use this method.
 
I have been using safety pins as hooks since I was a kid, but I do a little mod to them before using them.

What I found out many years ago was if I could bend both sides of the head that holds the pin in place out past the point to where they are flat, but still holds the pin in the closed position, I had a spring loaded hook. Kind of like a mouse trap with a hair trigger. I hope I explained that clearly enough.

I could use a little larger safety pin, bait and set it and a small fish could swallow a larger pin now because when closed it has a smaller profile and more small fish shaped. Once it is swallowed, a little tug and the fish would flop and fight the pin would trip itself, spring free and lodge itself inside the fish.

With anything improvised it can be hit or miss, but this worked pretty darn good most of the time. Once you play with them a little and you get the "FEEL" for the set so the pin isn't to tight or to hair trigger, it works pretty good.

The other thing I have learned is to use a snap swivel and put it through the hole of the head and not your line. Some pins I have seen had a sharper edge than others and I wasn't going to take a chance on it cutting my line.

Just play with a safety pin and it will make sense I'm sure.
 
Heres some of the fish hooks I have made.

Hawthorn and willow
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Blackberry thorns and birch wood.
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the hook on the right is made from birch wood and an antler splinter.
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I just carved this one from a pear branch. It's solid and sharp. I can't wait to test it out!

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