THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

[Deleted User]

In a survival situation, I'd be inclined to use night lines for fishing.

Regarding hand lines, be careful when using them in salt water as, if they dry with salt still on them, they'll cut you to pieces, if they slip through your bare hands.

greenbee

Bear in mind that if you are practising fishing before TSHTF you need to check the rules as to where you can fish from, using what, for what. Many estuaries now ban inshore fishing from boats and you have to fish with a rod from the shore until beyond specific markers. And you can only catch certain types of fish of a specific size.

Having said that, freshly caught mackerel cooked on a stone on a driftwood fire are delicious

Karmacat

DfV, thank you, thats really interesting. I cast an eye on the links page and came to http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/nmfs/index.html which included "history and methods of fisheries" as well as "natural history of useful aquatic animals"

DigForVictory

I'm so lucky to have had parents who firmly believed even daughters should be taught fun & useful things. I just wish I could find a better photo of the mackerel line as it was blissfully easy to use. The point about rinsing is well made - I think we were told to sluice everything in tapwater after each session. (All part of the clean up, I suspect!)
The gutting - not such fun, but as step two towards a platter of fresh mackerel, the most foolish & delicious fish this novice ever caught?

I'm proud to say one son has a rod license and is creeping up on the gentil art of fly fishing - I may persuade him to take me on one of these tranquil afternoons out, even if my rod license would be Far more expensive.

I may just study the plates & contemplate tatting my own net. Always a handy skill, & nets can be used to carry things home as well as catch things. Says the proud owner of her grandmothers string bag which holds a fearsome volume of onions as needed.

Nearly all hobbies will have a place somewhere in a murkier future, even if only keeping wits & fingers nimble. That said, being able to eat from what's available outside means the storecupboard lasts longer.

thriftwizard

Another one who grew up fishing for mackerel with her Dad here! Usually on lines that were very much like crab lines, but with more "branches", sometimes with little metal spinners attached if the fish were feeling shy. He also used to take us fishing at the local reservoir & taught us how to "guddle" or tickle trout from the brook at the bottom of the field below our home. Some fish were always gutted, cooked & eaten in situ, others taken home for further reference. We too used biscuit tin lids! We didn't have a BBQ; hadn't even heard of them, but we did lots of campfire cooking.

My younger brother has a fishing kayak now & spends every decent summer evening he isn't up at his lottie out on the bay filling his freezer for the winter. He's just beginning to learn how to preserve & pickle extra produce & catches; I'm quite envious! But sadly we both feel that there just aren't as many fish in the sea as there used to be...

GreyQueen

Fly fishing.

I once had a half-bald bright orange feather duster among the kipple I was offloading at a carboot sale. An old boy bought it.

I must have looked a bit surprised because he told me what he wanted it for (material for hand-tying fishing flies).:rotfl:

The cornerstones of material culture are knotting and twining and the very first human artifact is believed to be the baby-sling (think about how hard it would be to forage with an infant or toddler in your arms).

If you can make twine and nets, you have bags. If you can weave or otherwise twist baskets, you have containers. Even containers which can hold a living coal from a fire, as the prehistorics would have done.

Weaving is a good way to turn things like rushes and reeds into mats, which could function as floor-covering or window/ door coverings in one's primitive hutment.

I've had a go at weaving with the New Zealand flax plant's leaves (as taught by some Maori people in NZ). These people historically had no mammals to skin for leather and no textile plants other than the flax, and can do amazing things with this unprepossing material.

If you want to experiment, you might have some of this in your garden already, it's certainly a staple feature of municipal plantings in many areas, being virtually indestructable.

westcoastscot

I still catch mackerel in season here with a handline off the shore - lovely!!
Making/mending nets and creels has brought a side income for me for years, but you can make a fair pass at netmaking using a solomons' knot crochet stitch for those that hook! for knitters big needles and garden twine or facecloth cotton suffice :-)

mardatha

Another one here who grew up with a dad who liked fishing. Mackeral by the dozen (yeuch!) but I did enjoy a nice fresh crab.
GQ I absolutely love the blue flower of flax and have tried to grow it here several times but it dies.

thriftwizard

Our flax and New Zealand flax are quite different plants - New Zealand flax or phormium is as tough as old boots! I have a large one to dispose of before I can move my little polytunnel into its final position; weaving material might just be the best use for it. Not sure I have anything big enough to "ret" it into something I could spin...

Karmacat

westcoastscot wrote: »

I still catch mackerel in season here with a handline off the shore - lovely!!
Making/mending nets and creels has brought a side income for me for years, but you can make a fair pass at netmaking using a solomons' knot crochet stitch for those that hook! for knitters big needles and garden twine or facecloth cotton suffice :-)

WSC, thats fascinating - have you any pics of what you've done? Even a website or a blog? I'd love to see.