Survival Fishing Kits

[Rick]

I sit on a 1500 acre lake. I have two nets that I keep at home, not in my pack. If needed I could simply drop them in and do whatever I need to do while they are fishing for me. There are no leaves or snakes or bears or otters to worry about. You're searching for reasons to downplay the net and that's fine if you don't want to use one but not everyone is in your local. There are places and environments where they work just fine. They wouldn't be outlawed for game fishing if they were not effective. While you are sitting on the bank catching one fish I'll be at home making potable water (or whatever needs done) while my nets catch multiple fish.

[TXyakr]

No problem Rick, I was not trying to be disrespectful. Everyone's idea of wilderness survival is different. My primary home is definitely not in the wilderness. If suck out on a large lake or ocean I would most likely choose to use a gill net, but in a forest or high desert it would not be high on my list of fishing tools if there was a stream or small lake with fish.

[Batch]

I sit on a 1500 acre lake. I have two nets that I keep at home, not in my pack. If needed I could simply drop them in and do whatever I need to do while they are fishing for me. There are no leaves or snakes or bears or otters to worry about. You're searching for reasons to downplay the net and that's fine if you don't want to use one but not everyone is in your local. There are places and environments where they work just fine. They wouldn't be outlawed for game fishing if they were not effective. While you are sitting on the bank catching one fish I'll be at home making potable water (or whatever needs done) while my nets catch multiple fish.

You got turtles. Them are some fish stealing bastids! LOL

[Batch]

@Batch cool stuff, I like trying new things, good to know ways to prepare unusual critters.
I was about 6 years old on the Tapajós River in Brazil when I tried alligator for the first time, never had any in restaurants as good. (Munduruku people knew how to prepare it.) So question is: What methods are best to catch them (if legal in the area)? Almost caught a small 12" alligator by hand when I was about 16 years old but it got away. We also had turtle eggs on the Tapajós, much easier to catch. lol

I use a snag hook and rod and reel from land. I have hunted from all sorts of boats and the land based hunting in our Storm Water Treatment areas is the best. But, it has its own challenges. It makes them Swamp People look like a joke. LOL

I have to cut my line on a running gator and hook the line and tie blood knots to get the fight back on. We go in the water to pull them out. Its much more intense.

[Rick]

I was not trying to be disrespectful.

It wasn't taken that way. Just discussing.

We go in the water to pull them out.

Really? Really? (Note to self - make list of reasons to avoid people from Florida. Start with this.)

[TXyakr]

Great tips Batch. I have never managed to catch a gator or cayman not even a small one that jumped out of a hole at a friend's property on tidal bayou but it was exciting. Most would say it is not worth the risk of injury but depends on your technique and skill level and size of gator I suppose.

I was watching that "Dude you're screwed" show that I find entertaining and Jake the former Navy SEAL is on an lake island in Nicaragua very hungry and there are 2 medium sized gators on the beach and he just chases them away. He had cordage and a blade seamed like it may have been possible to jump on smallest one pin it, tie it's mouth shut, then legs and cut throat. TV can make things look smaller than they are and he was on a tight schedule as well. So his decision was probably best. Then he got on DIY sinking bamboo raft and paddled out into the gator infested lake for hours, LOL.

[TXyakr]

I wonder if a good frog gigging spear or similar device would even work on a small gator. Gar: spotted, long nose, alligator and other species have such tough scales that sticking it in by hand without the use of a powerful bow is very difficult. Also I was looking at various state regulations and some will not allow fetching on fishing arrows or spears. Wow definitely need to know the law before leaving the house. Regulations on seine nets is also quite restrictive.

[Batch]

Really? Really? (Note to self - make list of reasons to avoid people from Florida. Start with this.)

I have to cut my line on a running gator and hook the line and tie blood knots to get the fight back on. We go in the water to pull them out. Its much more intense.

After gators have had a little pressure on them they get skittish. They'll stay on the far side away from the bank and almost right up against the cattails out in the middle. You have to use a light enough rig to cast a large weight controllable enough to get it between the gator and the cattails. These are long casts and you have to kind of wlak the hook in while its in the air.

then when you get that hook in you have to finesse him in to get another hook with a bigger rig in him. Then when you get him close enough you through a snag hook that is tied to a rope. This basically a bridge or pier gaff. Then you can lean back on him some.

but, while you are playing the gator out and especially while you only have him hooked once with a lighter rig. You have to follow him up and down the bank. The bank may have patches of grass over your head and brush near the edge of the bank. If the line gets fowled in that, we'll hook the line down the bank where its clear and then cut the line near the rod and run down to the hooked line and tie a blood knot or a double uniand get back in the fight.

It all depends on how you have the gator hooked and what the bank is like where you finally land him. If it is under cut the gator may get hung up and if you have him hooked in the back legs he'll have the joint of his tail and the rear leg up against the bank. Usually with his head biased to one side. If you can get a rope wround his head or tail you can lift up and haul him out. Once he gets moving they'll usually start to roll and that makes them move a lot easier. But, I have had them just stand up and stiff leg the whole way out.

If you can't see or reach the head and the tail is bent under the bank. Then you have to reach in and grab the rear leg and or tail and start hauling the gator out so that you can get a rope on them or bang stick him. You can lean over a big gator off balance trying to lift him out with all of your weight leaning you down bank right into the gator. Or, you can slip in feet first grab that the rear leg or tail and start dragging.

Now, it isn't technically legal. But, some people who have worked all day and then gone gator hunting all night until like 5 or 6 in the morning. well, they don't want to have to skin them right away. So, they may take the gator home that alive.

When we first started hunting the STAs for gator. we used a john boat. But, you can't use a motor and so a big gator or even just the wind can take you a long way from your truck. I see some people are leaving someone in the truck to follow the boat. Also now they let you hunt during daylight. So, I might modify my technique.

Here are some folks fishing for gators in my favorite spot STA 1 West. I don't know these people.

[Rick]

I would bet if you lived 65 million years ago you would have been out there trollin' for T Rex.

"Start with small club. Thump on tail. Run like wind. Get bigger club......"

[crashdive123]

Deep fried T Rex tail......yum.

[TXyakr]

Very cool Batch. That is a large gator in video. Many years ago on some river tributaries of the Amazon some friends and I used an outboard canoe at night to search for caiman, red eyes reflecting back in flashlight (similar to birds). Then we would shoot them. Big problem was a wounded caiman would just slide in and drown if the outboard did not spook them first. This method of snagging them seems much more effective. They wear out fairly quickly since they are built for sudden bursts of speed not long fights, but still seems likely you could break an arm or something. Fun stuff. In survival mode I would go for the smallest one.

[hunter63]

Here how I hunt dinosaurs....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bohI-J9pe4c

Here , Lizard, lizard, lizard......

[MrFixIt]

I'm pretty sure that a frog gig wouldn't work well for a gator.
Maybe a baby gator...?
I think I would forgo the gator and stick with frogs. They don't bite back...

[Batch]

I have a harpoon for gator that I rarely use. When you stick them with tip it toggle under their skin and you usually have to cut it out from the inside. We used it more when I used to hunt the lake or other areas from a boat.

I use a four point frog gig on a graphite telescoping 12' pole. Wouldn't do nothing but piss even a small gator off.

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If you hunt with Muzzy Bone Crushers on your broad heads(I shoot MX4 125 grain for all my bows). That is the same type of tip that goes on the harpoon toggle. Then you have aircraft cable and you tie rope to that. The harpoon shaft is designed to pull free and float on mine.

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[TXyakr]

I would bet if you lived 65 million years ago you would have been out there trollin' for T Rex.

"Start with small club. Thump on tail. Run like wind. Get bigger club......"

From CBS "Big Bang Theory" TV Show Season 8, Episode 4, on Oct 6, 2014

"Leonard: What? You're afraid of both dinosaurs and chickens.
Sheldon: Yes, but tell me a dinosaur chicken salad sandwich wouldn't hit the Mesozoic spot."

http://www.tvfanatic.com/quotes/yes-...ouldnt-hit-th/

[ElevenBravo]

Ive NEVER EVER had good luck fishing, either fly nor cast.

I must be doing something wrong.

If I had a fishing kit in a survival situation, Id end up starving to death, Im sure of it!!!!

EB

[TXyakr]

Ive NEVER EVER had good luck fishing, either fly nor cast. EB

Luck is only part of it. A good holiday or birthday gift for you may be a guided fishing trip.

I wear the heck out of fishing/hunting guides with questions (on the rare occasion that one will take me). I am sort of like Atz Lee's wife Jane Kilcher (Alaska: The Last Frontier on Discovery Channel). She asks far too many questions and drives her father-in-law crazy. But that is how some of us learn.
I.e. throw your lure/bait where the bait fish are looking for their food and at the time of day the bait fish or nymphs are feeding etc. Think like a fish. Same thing for hunting land based game. A good hunter or fishing person who knows what they are doing can collect more food in less time than a passive trapper much of the time especially in a true survival situation using "speculative tracking". Some of my best guides were indigenous people whose languages I barely spoke, and my father who only answered my first 6 - 12 questions then stopped. He was also a man of few words. Also the laws are very specific therefore many traps and gill nets etc in most parts of Texas, N.A. and Europe and many other parts of the world will get you fined, your gear, boat confiscated and auctioned off with the former possessions of other poachers. I try to always avoid violations of the law. Practice helps me to improve my skills which is second only to psychology in wilderness survival, fines and jail time reduces practice time.

Edit: Joke about guy looking for car keys, same thing hunting/trapping fish/game with whatever improvised means go to where they most likely are:
http://quoteinvestigator.com/2013/04/11/better-light/

The law in Indiana has not changed much since 1901: the mesh size was increased from 1/4" to 1/2" for Seine nets (gill nets still mostly illegal exempt for limited commercial fishing which requires expensive permits). Casting nets mesh size maximum is 2" now. source: Indiana DNR.

"Laws of the State of Indiana, Passed at the ... Session of the General Assembly"
https://books.google.com/books?id=Y7...201901&f=false

If you are on a private pond or lake a gill net may be legal but it would make more sense to just go ask a property owner on the waterfront to call for assistance, if you were struggling to survive.

[hunter63]

The thing to remember that anyone can catch fish....as long as they are "surviving" with paracord and a safety pin, or thorn.....nothing to it...maybe feed you self for years......
BUT
May 15 fish guns, 3 boats, 3 tackle boxes, (and a spark plug) waders, and many books and magazines don't do the job sometimes.......but I'm just fishing,.... not surviving....
Oh well

[ElevenBravo]

Thanks TX for the encouragement to find a guide, Ill have to save up for it but it sounds logical! My fishing skills are self taught, I wouldnt mind having a mentor or teacher, even if for just a little while.

EB

[Tokwan]

You might wanna learn from Bear Grylls...