Survival Fish Traps

The point of survival is that you must eat and survive until the situation changes. If you are where there are fish you need to find a way to catch them until you can find another source of food or your situation changes for the better. Here are a few ways to accomplish just that.

• The first type of survival fish trap would be the gill net. Use any material that you can make perforations in such as a jacket lining, tee shirt, or mesh from any material and attach it to some type of handle. With this “scoop” you can catch fish in the water by scooping them up with the device. You could also make something on a larger scale and tie it between a couple of trees or logs. You just need to make certain that the holes in the net or material are not large enough for the fish to get through. Then all you have to do is string up the “net” across the current of the stream or river and catch the fish as they move along with the water.


• Another type of trap is called the funnel trap. Round up a bunch of sticks that are long enough to allow them to be pushed into the bottom of the creek or river and still stick out above the water on the other end. Push them into the bottom and form the shape of a “funnel” with the wide end pointing out into the open water. Make a circle with other sticks so the narrow end of the funnel points directly into the circle. Make certain the sticks are close enough together that fish cannot get out between them. Put some bait, such as insects or worms or whatever in the circle and the fish will swim in to get the bait. They won’t be able to swim back out.


• Make what is normally called a “stakeout” trap. Take a rope or some type of line and string it between two sticks. Push the sticks into the ground and stretch the line across the water. Attach to the line as many short lines that can hang into the water and make it so they cannot slide back and forth along the line. These will be your bait lines. Use anything you can find to place on the bait lines to catch fish. That could be nails, thorns, pieces of wire, sharp pieces of wood or whatever will hook the fish. You can put bait such as worms, insects or any type of hook you can make on these lines. Just remember the smaller the better.