RSS/Feed
Home
Staff
Schedule
Location
Courses
Links
Gallery
Gear
Application
Bush Craft & Wilderness Survival Articles, Gear Reviews & Videos |
|||
A Primer on Set Hooks and Trotlines - Part Four
by Keith A. Williams
Sometimes you just can’t find a suitable limb in a spot that you think may be a prime location for a line. Whether this may be under a tree, stump, log jam, or just a snag sticking out of the water, all is not lost. The technique for this requires the addition of a short piece of bicycle inner tube with an overhand knot in each end. About five inches from end to end will do nicely. To employ this you tie off an existing line to the object, and tie one end near the top of the line, and then create a slack loop a little way down and then tie it off to the bottom of the section of tube. You can do this with an overhand knot, a couple of half hitches, or whatever other knot that you happen to be handy with, as long as it is secure. This works well, as when a fish runs with the bait, he will pull against the stretchy rubber instead of the unforgiving line, in the same fashion as the limber pole or branch. I have heard of people just tying on tubing without the loop or cord, but the cord is a better variation because should the fish ever succeed in breaking the tubing, the loop would still be attached and the fish would likely be too tired from its efforts to break the main line. These are so handy to have around; I advise having a few pre-made in advance. Just take care to check the tubing from time to time for dry rotting.
Careful consideration should be given to the hooks that you will be using. Some hooks offer better advantage for catching certain types of fish and, generally speaking, you can put more bait on a larger hook - and therefore it is possible to catch larger fish. While larger fish are a nice, there are larger numbers of smaller fish than larger fish in a given area, and they are often more tender to eat. In the end, the way you go about it will depend mostly on personal preference. When I was growing up, we fished for relatively large catfish, and therefore used large J-hooks, but I am in the process now of phasing them out in favor of circle hooks. These have an advantage of usually sliding out and hooking the fish at the corner of the mouth, and I have come to prefer them for catching catfish.
On to PART FIVE
|
|
Do you have your own tip to share?
Send an email to georgehedgepeth(at)hotmail(dot)com
Briar Patch Outdoors
219 Holmes Street
Durand MI 48429
(989) 288-0168
Learn about backwoods-living, pioneer skills, survival, subsistence hunting, historical trekking, living history, experimental archeology, period living skills, wilderness survival skills, Primitive Survival Skills, Stone Age Technology, Workshops and Classes, Anthropology, Archeology, Artifact Replication,
stone age, stone-age skills, earth skills, native technology, ancient skills, wilderness survival training, outdoors, hide tanning, braintan, brain tanning, nature, awareness, tracking,
medicinal plants, edible plants, prehistoric skills, cordage, fire by friction, kayaking, atlatl making and throwing, arrow, bow, flintknapping, dart, baskets, stone tools, aboriginal skills, traditional, workshops, classes, old ways,
Country Living, Voluntary Simplicity, Simple Living, Homesteading, survival product reviews, back to basics, alternative medicine, wild foraging.