Fishing in the wild

I was doing some research on wild edibles around the area i lived and I came across a plant called the wild cucumber, which can be used to poison fish by grinding up the seeds and throwing it into the water.

I don't think fish hooks and poles will be available in situation X and spearing fish is almost impossible for me. What better way to catch a quick meal for yourself and your community than by making fish float to you!

So i looked up more plant species that can be used to poison fish and I found this site, it has many great plants to use to poison fish and get yourself a fast meal! When I was at the frio river, the fish would swim around a small grove of under water plants, I figure if i throw some natural poison in that vicinity, then I would get at least 2 or 3! Though these should be used sparringly because you dont want to kill the entire school in case you get hungry and run out of plants and other natural resources to eat.

Fishing with Poisons

reply to post by LeTan

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Thanks for thinking about what I consider an important resource, or tool for Our mental survival toolbox...... One more thing which could help us survive.

I am not too keen on poison, but I'll check into the link. I find a fishing line, and hooks don't take up that much room in a BOB.
S&F

NIce info.

As someone has said, you can fit line and hooks in something as small as a survival tin. You can also get telescopic rods which will slide down the side of your BOB and not take up much room. The reel is the heavy/large problem. I'd recommend a centre pin reel used in fly fishing, they are light, small and versatile.

If you're in a situation where you need to fish you really only need the hooks and line. Set up a line with around ten hooks on, tie it to a rock and weight the other end. Throw this out over the river/lake and leave it there baited up for a day. Levaing you time to do whatever else you need to do.

Don't do this in the UK on practise missions though, it's an illegal form of poaching and not a very nice approach to fishing.

I checked out the page and some of the plants could be a
good way to poison yourself as well. I have never heard
of indian cucumber (medeola virginiana) being used before
but I can attest to it's use as a wild edible - it's one of the
very best tasting wild edibles you can find, very much like
a mild cucumber. The seeds are so tiny I can't see how you
could harvest enough to use as fish poison.

Of plants used in the eastern US the Horsechestnut (castanea
dentata) and mullein (verbascum thapsis) were widely used
by native tribes as fish poisons apparently with no ill effects
on the people who ate the fish. I saw that plants with saponins
were also mentioned which would include Yucca (yucca filamentosa
spp) as well as Bouncing bet or Soapwort (Saponaria officianalis).
Saponins are not reccommended for human ingestion.

Another plant mentioned, Indian hemp (Apocynum cannabinum)
contains cardiac glycosides which are extremely dangerous. It does
make some of the most excellent cordage but I would definitely
NOT try that plant as a fish poison.

That said, fish poisoning can be a very effective method of harvesting
fish but only works in waters that are still, not moving say as in a
creek. Creeks can be dammed up and then fish poison can be used.
Good mention Letan, this is one more method of keeping yourself
alive and is a good contribution to the survival thread. If anyone
wants to use plants for eating or fish poisoning I would heartily
recommend researching those plants from more than a couple of
sources. Many websites and some books commonly plagiarize
information from other sources so caution is the keyword here.
S & F.

I watched my grandfather 25+ years ago put walnut hulls into a burlap bag, smashed -em real good and put it in a pond like a tea bag.
It worked! Lots-well all fish, frogs, crayfish, etc etc came to the surface beally up..

I am not advertising specific brand names but I wanted to post some images of fishing poles that might serve as a solution to portability. Just to let everyone know what your options are.

Solid small fishing rod.



Here are some telescopic fishing poles.



If you would rather fly fish here is a telescopic fly rod.



A Pen Type Fishing pole is an excellent solution and serve well for portability and some fit right in your pocket. Pretty sure the reel is stored separately but still very small.







There are also some other types of pocket fishing poles made by a few different companies.



And if all else fails, or there are monetary constraints any ice fishing rod would probably do as well.



HOPE THIS HELPS!



[edit on 21-9-2009 by DaMod]

reply to post by DaMod

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Wow, I have got to get me one of those pen style fishing rods. Thanks for sharing those links there!

survival fishing pole - rip telescoping antennae from car, add string.
weight and bait. tada!

If you decide to 'make' a rod, as in Tom Sawyer, or to use 'native' bamboo, be sure to tie off the bitter end (the end of your line opposite from the hook) of your line to the butt of your new rod. In the event your field-made rod snaps, you will not loose your line and rig.

Thanks but no thanks . . . eating fish I just poisoned ain't for me. How could you control the poison? Seems like a waste poisoning an entire pond. Catch a few fish, eat them, leave the rest to grow bigger, reproduce, so you can eat more later.

I'm an avid fisherman and probably have a dozen or more poles. They don't take up much room in a BOB, especially the collapsible ones. As and14263 said, all you really need is a rock, line and hooks -- set up a baited trot line, leave it there to catch fish all day while you do other stuff, come back in the evening and collect your meal!

Unless you're fishing in a very small lake, I can't see poisonous plants being anything but a waste of time - surely running water would have an effect on things...

Instead of spending all of your time foraging for poisonous plants, why not build a fishing weir? They've been used for thousands of years for a reason - they're simple and effective. Fish traps and fishing baskets are also relatively easy to improvise - in that they can be made while sitting in front of a warm fire, as opposed to scrambling around the hillside trying to remember what wild cucumber looks like.

reply to post by LeTan

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It is an option I'd be careful with because if the fih dies from poison
and you eat the fish, it may or may not be cooked out depending
on the type of poison.

You are right to mention that at some point ppl will run out of fishing
line and hooks, at that point one option is called a hoop net, they catch
fish like no tomorrow if you can build one right.

Picture of a hoop net, best used in streams or rivers

Any type of fish trap will do the job, hoe to build one from sticks and
such is available online. One of the simple ones is called a barrel
trap but until it is a survival situation the hoop net and fish traps
are illegal in the US.

2 piece fish trap made from sticks and cordage

It is also an expendable but a megger used for testing electrical
insulation will shock the fish to the surface.

Again, all the above are illegal unless in a survival situation.

POISONING FISH IS VERY DANGEROUS. Fish meat spoils VERY quickly, and when poisoned, it will actually break down faster. So not only are you ingesting whatever it is you poisoned it with, you also lose lots of nutrients, and run the risk of eating spoiled meat, which in the wild, is a killer.

Fishing in the wild is honestly fairly easy. Forget the pole. Forget the spear.

You create a net using two thick branches and any type of fabric tied between. Then you simply wade upstream for a while. Or, if you have enough fabric to create slack, you just secure it to the river bed with some worms or something in the slack.

Also, WD40 attracts fish like you wouldnt believe, so if you have some of that in your BOB(which you really should) a little of that on your net will actually make fish swim right into it.

I don't understand why anyone would poison their food source. Sure you may get a few poisoned fish out of it that you can actually eat but the rest of the supply is gone now that you where dumb enough to poison it.

I say catch fish the traditional way and conserve the population as a resource for survival. What happens if your stuck out there for 6 months or more? Wouldn't you want a place to fish then as well?

What are you going to do be a nomadic pond poisoner? Sounds counterproductive to me.