Fishing Kit

[ScottC]

What do I need for a small fishing kit, able to fit into an 8oz tobacco tin?

[Realgar]

Line ( obviously ) I'd go for some of that braided cheap crab line it's as tough as anything, fit a snap link ( clip and swivel ) to it and then keep a short length of monofilament to make hook lengths from.
A few hooks - range from size 10 - 18 - they take up little space, maybe a trebble hook too. A few bits of split shot, maybe a small ledger weight and a couple of floats. Wine corks work fine or you can make quill floats out of feathers. To attatch a cork I get a piece of twig, loop the line over one tip wrap it around a couple of times, and then jam it into the cork. Sling in a couple of small spinners for good measure and that should suffice.

Casting is a question of chucking it like a sling shot, it's suprisingly accurate - and dangerous if you don't watch the hook end.

Realgar

[jakunen]

I'd personally add a small PLASTIC disgorger. You may get fish you can't eat and that way you can safely get the hook out without killing the fish or losing your fingers. (Even jack pike have bloody sharp teeth).

Make sure the shot is lead free for UK use. It should be if you get it from a shop, but if its from an old relatives gear, it probably is lead.

And I'd recommend either micro-barb, or something like the Preston Pinch hooks. They are much kinder to the fish and easier to remove (from your hand/clothes).

Rather than crab line (which is normally pretty bright as I recall?) I'd ask a friend who does carp fishing for some braided line. Or you can use the central threads from proper paracord.

[ScottC]

Ok well I'll put some of the things I have in the house into it first.

Could you tell me what these things are from left to right and what they are used for if you know :biggthump :

[ScottC]

Right well I have some big hooks (don't know the size, came with a survival tin i bought ages ago) and some small size 20 hooks to nylon that I've just added. I've got some Specimen Plus 8lb line. And some BB and AAA shots.

[ScottC]

I've just chopped off some of the end of a disgorger so it would fit and added a fast flowing float(only size i could fit in). Any information on what the items in the picture are?

[Realgar]

Ok well I'll put some of the things I have in the house into it first.

Could you tell me what these things are from left to right and what they are used for if you know :biggthump :

Well you've a couple of weights on the left - used for ledgering, the two objects next to it are either olivettes - a light weight that's threaded onto the line or plastic beads from a predator rig used to stop a sliding section.

then you have a couple of bits of snap tackle - a swivel and clip which is usualy tied swivel end first to your main line allowing easy changing of hook lengths.

the remainder look like float rubbers used to hold the line to the float, they might be ledger stops which are a sort of ring and plug affair used to stop a weight sliding down the line.

As for disgorger, I like to use a pair of snipe forceps but you do need something. You might want to think about a priest - I use a mallet as things like zander take a lot of bashing.

The crab line is fairly bright but I've caught roach, carp, zander and crayfish on it, braid would be a better choice but I already had the crab line.

Oh - scissors or a razor blade for cutting line - essential - and barbless or debarbed hooks I quite agree. Once you've had one in you you will too.

Realgar

[ScottC]

Well you've a couple of weights on the left - used for ledgering, the two objects next to it are either olivettes - a light weight that's threaded onto the line or plastic beads from a predator rig used to stop a sliding section.

then you have a couple of bits of snap tackle - a swivel and clip which is usualy tied swivel end first to your main line allowing easy changing of hook lengths.

the remainder look like float rubbers used to hold the line to the float, they might be ledger stops which are a sort of ring and plug affair used to stop a weight sliding down the line.

As for disgorger, I like to use a pair of snipe forceps but you do need something. You might want to think about a priest - I use a mallet as things like zander take a lot of bashing.

The crab line is fairly bright but I've caught roach, carp, zander and crayfish on it, braid would be a better choice but I already had the crab line.

Thanks Realgar.
A question, what is Ledgering?

Oh - scissors or a razor blade for cutting line - essential - and barbless or debarbed hooks I quite agree. Once you've had one in you you will too.

Yes all my hooks are barbless :biggthump

[Ed]

Right.. let me see....
The first 2 are weights.... look like sea fishing ones but great for weighing down a crab line. Not sure of the next 2. Next you have a couple os swivels for making 'rigs' and then float rubbers for attaching floats to lines.

I would also add a small string bag (like you get in persil washing tablets) as these are great for crab fishing.... these is a pic of me doing this on the site somewhere.... do a search for crab fishing.

Remember that handlines are a big no-no on british rivers, so only use at sea, or make a rod when fishing on a river where you have the correct permission.

A few coloured beads are good for making lures, flatties love em ;-)

As for a handline, either make one yourself to fit in the tin, or buy a cheap kid kite, the handles/line holders fit in a tobacco tin and you can get a fair amount of line on them.....

Hope that helps

:-)
Ed

[jakunen]

Arsley bomb. Static lead with elastic link. 2 barrel leads for legering across gravel bottoms for barbel. 2 snap links. The rest look like float rubbers...

Legering is a system of fishing (normally without a float) that was designed by a guy called Fred (brains just gone phut!) somethingorother, IIRC.

Basically you use a senstive tip on the rod (a swing tip or quiver tip) to indicate a bite. Nowaways there are various butt indicators too as well as electronic alarms.

The idea is to get the bait to the bottom of the lake or river and hold is static - the second leger from the left is similar to the old coffin leger deisgned for use on fast flowing rivers liek the Avon and Ouse.
The weight can either be fixed or running, the idea here being that the fish swims off with the bait held losely in its mouth, feels the weight and panics, charging off and setting the hook.

Not a method I'm very good at as I prefer float fishing and I'm never quick enough to strike when legering...

[Ed]

ooops, someone beat me too it :-(

Get yourself a book on fishing, or get one out of the library.... or do a search of angling webites and have a looks. There is alot of infomation out there about tieing different rigs (hook/line set ups) and lot of info about the fish you are catching, where to find them, hook size, bait etc....

Ed

[ScottC]

Ok thanks for your help

My kit now holds:
2 weights for Ledgering
AAA and BB shots
2 swivels
some 8lb line (I'll get some braided line)
small scissors
disgorger
fast flowing river float
bread punch
Float rubbers
2 Barrel leads
Persil net bag
Large hooks
small hooks
Unrelated items Included in tin
snare wire
needles and thread
a button :-P
Anything else?
Thank you! :biggthump

[jakunen]

You may want to add some lighter line. Sometimes fish can get spooked if they see the heavy line.

What a lot of us do is to tie the hook onto a lighter line and then attach that to the heavier line. You only need 4"-18" of the weaker line.

This also helps if you get 'snagged', either hooking a log, rubber boot, motorbike, or when the fish swims into such after having been hooked. You can break the hooklink and so just lose the hook, a little line and maybe a few shot, but you keep the float etc.

[steve a]

Jakunen, Arlesey bomb, designed by Dick Walker with a bit of help from Fred Taylor, developed for fishing long distance perch fishing at clay pits in Arlesey. Two great old gentlemen who developed many techniques and gear.
Dick was an Engineer who had a family business producing lawnmowers and Fred whos still around is just an old moocher but a brilliant Cook,angler and all round good ol'boy.

[jakunen]

Steve, thanx for that mate!:biggthump

Been racking my brain trying to remember who it was! (Shouldn't have left it in the jar by the bed this morning I guess)

[SquirrelBoy]

Remember that handlines are a big no-no on british rivers

Can I ask why they are illegal ? :?:

Probably a silly question but im not a fisherman... yet ):

[Great Pebble]

Although it won't fit your tobacco tin, were I looking for a means of emergency fishing, I'd get myself a gill net. I'd still carry the gear for a night line, but I'd definitely want a gill net if I was purely after food, for emergencies you understand. Purely for emergencies.

[Ed]

Can I ask why they are illegal ?

Who knows why they were made illegal.... probably because many poachers used to use them as a pastime..... just chuck the hook in while walking by the river.

In law, you need a rod license to fish on inland waterways, and a rod license allows you to use 2 rods (i think).... not a handline..... and you can't get a handline license so they are illegal by default.

Ed

[SquirrelBoy]

Cheers Ed :biggthump

[Realgar]

Yep two rods per license but you can hold two licenses. I've just Emailed the EA to ask what the status of handlines is - see if there's an offical line on it since the EA site doesn't mention them at all. The three license system has been done away with - your basic job covers all coarse and non migratory game fish and the expensive version allows salmon and sea trout too - but you have to submit a statement every year stating how many you have caught.

As for the handline thing, since fishing poles are allowed it doesn't take much to tie your line onto the end of a stick.
Realgar

[Ed]

As for the handline thing, since fishing poles are allowed it doesn't take much to tie your line onto the end of a stick.

Yep :-) I seem to remember being told by the EA that the only legal way to fish was with the correct licenses and permits, a rod, hook and line.... hence pole fishing is about as minimal you can get.

Ed

[jakunen]

IIRC, hand lining was banned because of the salmon and sewin poachers.

Why is it, as Stuart pointed out, that preactically all forms of survival techniques for gathering food are illegal? I've ecen heard of people being prosecuted for actauuly surviving emergency situations because they used their brains and caught food (illegaly) to survive!?

Its a crazy world we live in...

[Ed]

Why is it, as Stuart pointed out, that preactically all forms of survival techniques for gathering food are illegal?

Because they are the most efficient and cause the biggest dent in the local environment..... and economy if money is being made from the environment ;-)

Ed

[jakunen]

Yeah, but it crazy that you can be prosecuted for using them in a survival situation! I just wish I could remember the details of the case...

And as has been pointed out on previous threads, and in the frontis piece of some of the more survival oriented schools, if you can't practice in a non-survival situation, how will you be able to survive in a REAL survival situation?!

Sorry that this is detracting from the real thread of the thread, I just find it somewhat non-sensical...

[leon-1]

Just a note on barbless hooks, they are very good if you are going to be playing a fish with a rod, but they are bugger all good if they are being used for night lines (the fish fights and gets away because there is nothing to keep him on the hook). All military fishing kits use barbed hooks for this reason, they are not interested in sport (lets face it on a night line there isn't any sport in it anyway) they are interested in results. They also do not have time to be sat waiting and watching a fishing line as there are a lot of other things that require doing (gathering of bedding, firewood and foods as well as shelter construction).

Compact fishing kits are for survival not bushcraft since thier very nature include the likes of barbed hooks to be used in survival situations and the majority of techniques used with these kits tend to be illegal.

If you are going to fish in the bushcraft theatre you may as well take a telescopic rod, they don't take up much room and if you have a fishing license then you will happily be within the law :-).

[jakunen]

Leon,

Totally agree, for survival use with a night-line, use barbed hooks, but if you are hand-lining or using the good old birch-pole, then pinch-barbs are preferable from a conservation point of view.

My kit contains both to handle either situation. And a photocopy of my licence.

[mr dazzler]

To fish in fast water for trout I used a small little assortment of kit.
Small rod
Fixed spool reel
2 or 3 pound line
small 1 or 1/2 0r 1/4 ounce leads- cylinder ones or round balls to roll along the riverbed, squarish "coffin" ones to grip it more to stay in one place. (weight depending on state of water level and strength)
lead shot to fix position of lead sinker (12 - 18" leader)
small hooks 14/16/18 (approx 2-3 mm accross there throat)
Surgical forceps (Hook removaling)
Little worms out the auction mart dung heap or bigger lob worms out of garden/river banks/woods; wasp grub a good trout bait too
Relied mostly on touch to detect bites especially in flood water when they would find little eddies and quiet spots near the banks
Good fish are often close by (within handline range if you aint got a rod and reel in your kit)
My best out the local river (avg 8-12" long) was almost 19", and I got that on a size 22 with a worm's collar bait while getting a few minners (for dead-bait). Literally inches from river side, and that fish was mad Gave me a filthy look as it popped its head out the water then tried to run into sunken branches. Hooked right in the corner of its jaws. Netted it in the end though.
Free-line fishing even more direct-you fasten a hook on your line, add a bait (I used lobworm - decent weight) gently swing it out into the swim and let the current move it towards fish
If you aint got the r&r, as was suggested then try using a whippy green branch to get more control and direction.
Sometimes you see a eddy or little spot behind some rocks and you almost certain theres a fish there, great buzz of anticipation as you plop the bait, and guide it around, and when a fish takes, hoo-hoo as Homer simpson says.
Mostly youve just got to be quiet, patient, stay low and hidden so the fish arent spooked by your silhouette. Might be of some help.
Good luck, and "tight lines". :wink: :wave:

[leon-1]

Leon,

Totally agree, for survival use with a night-line, use barbed hooks, but if you are hand-lining or using the good old birch-pole, then pinch-barbs are preferable from a conservation point of view.

My kit contains both to handle either situation. And a photocopy of my licence.

Fair do's mate :biggthump

[ScottC]

Just a note on barbless hooks, they are very good if you are going to be playing a fish with a rod, but they are bugger all good if they are being used for night lines (the fish fights and gets away because there is nothing to keep him on the hook). All military fishing kits use barbed hooks for this reason, they are not interested in sport (lets face it on a night line there isn't any sport in it anyway) they are interested in results. They also do not have time to be sat waiting and watching a fishing line as there are a lot of other things that require doing (gathering of bedding, firewood and foods as well as shelter construction).

Compact fishing kits are for survival not bushcraft since thier very nature include the likes of barbed hooks to be used in survival situations and the majority of techniques used with these kits tend to be illegal.

If you are going to fish in the bushcraft theatre you may as well take a telescopic rod, they don't take up much room and if you have a fishing license then you will happily be within the law :-).

After putting up the list yesterday I decided it would be better to include some large, barbed hooks just incase I happened to have it on me in a survival situation. The last thing you want when your tired and hungry is for dinner to get away! Thanks for the tip about Night Lining.

Jakunen, willl photocopies still count to a warden? If there's no problem I should really be putting a copy of my licence in there.

[leon-1]

After putting up the list yesterday I decided it would be better to include some large, barbed hooks just incase I happened to have it on me in a survival situation.

Scott, as far as the hooks are concerned look towards about a size 8, you can catch a large fish on a large hook, but you can catch large and small fish on smaller hooks :wink: