I've never seen a fishing gear thread for SHTF/Survival talks.

I think that fishing will be a decent way to survive. Most fish are edible, and are capable of sustaining their numbers on their own, unless people start catching them by the 100#s with nets.

So what fishing pole/reel setup do you have planned for surviving when it all goes south?

Sewing bobbin with some spiderwire ( about 25 - 50 yrds aprox. ). About 25 - 50 assorted hooks ( including trebles ), several small jigs and some sinkers.



Make your own pole with a stick, and do some snagging or brim fishing with the stick. Run some limb lines and check about twice per day in a stagnant AO.



Very compact. Keep your weight down.

It depends on your area, but if you have rivers, creeks and lakes around, yeah, fishing is a good source.  Be warned, even experienced anglers will spend hours fishing and catch little depending on all the factors.  You have two types of fishing…active and passive.  Of course active fishing can be time consuming, but doesn’t require as many calories as other food collection methods.  Passive fishing, such as trot lines, using Yo-Yo reels or Speed Hooks are excellent…just like animal traps, and they allow you to set multiple hooks for increasing your odds and still allow you to multitask to do other chores.  A combination of the two is a good strategy, but just like traps, fishing requires time, so it will slow you down if you have a short suspense on your travel arrangements.

A compact fishing kit is easy to assemble and with a couple of additions will make a good repair kit as well.  I’ve built a couple in small containers that include sewing needles and even a mini razor blade.  Fish line (my preference is Spyderwire or similar line) is great for clothing and gear repairs as well.

As to lures, I like dry flies, small spinners, plenty of hooks and even treble hooks.  Those small plastic worms and lures don’t do well in the mini kits and they often get sticky and break down.  As you plan your bug out bag, consider a small container to collect insects.  As I hike or do any bushwhacking, I often run into several crickets, grasshoppers, etc. but when I’m ready to fish it seems like I can never find enough.  I cut my grass on Saturday morning and collected over 30 grasshoppers and crickets; these netted me almost a dozen small brim…thinking ahead is a tough skill for me, but it’s panned out well!  I know big lures will catch big fish, but depending on your skill and area, you’ll have to make that call.  For compact kits, I am much more successful on smaller fish (brim, trout, etc.) than larger bass or catfish (not a lot of experience with catfish).  

Casting can be a challenge and there are some soda can’s used which work well.  I don’t care for them as they aren’t too robust in the pack.  I’ve considered the smaller, narrower and stouter Red Bull cans, but anything similar will work.  Those plastic Tube Vault containers work well and you can store dry flies, lures and extra line on sewing bobbins inside.  I’ve seen some excellent PVC pipe projects that do the same thing…not a bad idea.

I love the compact Emmrod fishing poles and own a few.  They are very robust, functional and compact.  It takes a little use to working with a shorter pole, but for tight areas, they are the bee’s knees and they still can get some great distance when casting in open areas.





















I’m pretty much setup for trout and panfish, but with a little more preparation, I can do some bass fishing for more meat…

Here's my Emmrod fly rod and a little brown trout I caught for breakfast...wish I would have landed the other two hits I had!


I keep some Speedhooks and a couple of Yo-Yo reels with my compact trapping/snare kit which also includes a little frog gig:


ROCK6

My favorite from http://bepreparedtosurvive.com/Survival%20Kits.htm



Well thought out, complete, cheep, lite and full of win



     




     




     




     




     




     




     


       




         


         


       


       


         


         


       


       


         


         


       


       


         


         


       


       


         


         


       


       


         


         


       


       


         


         


       


       


         


         


       


     

1 -          Snap-Cap Vial - 3-3/8" x 1"	1 - 50+' 20 lb.          Power-Pro® Braided Fishing Line
1 -          Folding Razor Knife	2 - Eagle Claw® Size 10          Snelled Hooks
1 -          Berkley® 6" Wire Wound Leader	2 - Eagle Claw®          Non-Lead #7 Removable Split Shot
2 -          Eagle Claw® #10 Baitholder Hooks	4 - Eagle Claw®          Non-Lead BB Removable Split Shot
2 -          Eagle Claw® #8 Baitholder Hooks	1 - #3          O'Shaughnessy Hook for Gaff
2 -          Eagle Claw® #6 Baitholder Hooks	1 - Brad for attaching          Gaff Hook
2 -          Eagle Claw® #16 Snap Swivels	1 - 12" square Heavy          Duty Aluminum Foil
2 -          Eagle Claw® #14 Barrel Swivels	3 - Small Safety Pins

     




     




     
     17007 - Fishing Kit, Emergency,
Small -
     $9.95

 

Yo-Yo



*not legal in some areas

I have the emmrod but never got a chance to use it. I dont see it being much different than full length rod, esp. with a good lead weight on the line to get the hook out there.

Yeah, I can cast my standard Emmrod just as far as a 9 foot rod with the same reel....pretty amazing.  What's really cool is that you can actually "sling-shot" your lure short distances if there's not enough room to cast (more for my fly rod version).  Additionally, if you take the rod off and and reverse it and "thread" the handle into the large coil, it makes a very compact package for the backpack.

ROCK6

Trot/throw line materials: Nylon string (guess paracord would work too, though I've never used it), circle hooks (rocks for weights), maybe an old bike innertube for static tie-offs on throwlines, plus bike innertubes are just plain handy. some swivels and hardware if you want to get fancy (caught plenty of catfish under very not-fancy conditions)

Bait getting gear for lines: light line, perch hooks (stick pole)  <<longer term, throw net and/or trap materials>>

Screw that, try the Ronco Pocket Fisherman!!!  I actually caught a few fish with it yesterday.  Works well, casts well, and has a tiny compartment for your fishing gear.

Now it's buy one get one free.  I have one in the BOB and one in the truck!!

https://www.ronco.com/PocketFisherman/Default.aspx?source=google-fisherman

Limb lines , jug lines , yo yo's , fish traps  etc are my idea of "survival fishing"



Anything involving a pole equates to fun fishing (i enjoy that too).

Nice writeup on military fishing kit

Lots of great small fishing kits in this thread!

Rock6 pretty cool all the stuff you have in yours.

What are in the 3 bags below the yo-yo reels?

Thanks!  Those three bags are the Speedhook snares.  I've found the Speedhooks are great with smaller, top-feeding fish where the Yo-Yo's are better for the for the larger bottom feeders (i.e. catfish).

ROCK6

In SHTF, I'm going with a gill net.

If SHTF my fishing skills are so poor I will starve. Unless things go bad and I'm at the trout farm already...

That's why in a survival situation you cheat... gill nets, trot lines, a shocker, traps, etc.  

You don't have to be a master angler to catch fish, you just have to play dirty.  Besides, if you're hungry enough you'll learn quick.

I have a telescoping fishing pole and spinning real in my preps (along with an extra spool of line - for fishing or ???) plus an assortment of hooks, sinkers, spinners, plugs, flies, etc.  I live in an area with lots of rivers and streams so it is a solid option for food for us in an emergency.  The rod and real are nothing fancy and I think I may have got it at Wal-Mart or K-Mart but looks something like this one:



I have a small cardboard poster tube in my bob that protects the fishing pole and the real is in a small plastic box that has the rest of my fishing gear tucked around it.  We have other poles too, but this is in the BOB as if we need to "grab and go" it will make the trip even if I don't grab the tackle boxes and other fishing gear.  For survival, it would do the job just fine!

This is just my opinion.

Forget rod and reels as "active" fishing methods take too much time to catch decent quantity.
You need a "passive" method using many hooks at one time.

I have a 100 feet trot line 15 drop lines on it (every 5-6 feet) and 200 feet line with 35 drop lines on it with large carabiner at ends.  
The main line is just nylon paracord type with loops every 5-6 feet and each drop line is 50 lb. monoline with looped end so hooks can be changed.

You use secure it to shore on one end using the carabiner and rock or other heavy object on other end to fish on the bottom (for catfish).
Another method is to secure both ends to the shore (ideally on opposit shores) and attach plastic bottles on the top to fish close to the surface (for turtles).

For catfish you can bait the hooks with small fish, cut bait, chicken/pork skin or even chunks of bar soap.
For turtles use small fish or cut bait.    
I don't recommend small or fragile baits like earth worms as small fish will take them off the hook too easily.

You can set the line evening and then leave it out all night.  

If you going to be in one place for long term you can set out culver pipes in the shallow weedy shore to catch bunch of catfish and turtles at a time but that's another post.
 

Something I learned at "Fish Camp" when I was a kid (I have never really been much of a fisherman) is that using a fishing pole to catch frogs, crabs, and even birds is easier then catching a small mouth bass!  A pole is a tool, how you use the tool depends on the situation...

If I was starving, yea I would use nets and methods described above but sometimes proper gear will do what you need just fine!  It is certainly easier to bring a rod and reel then to try to recreate one later and they don't take up that much room.

Ger rid of all the plastic baits in southern states
They will melt in the heat

All the above look good other than that

I have heavy trotliine to make throw lines (tied to a tree)
Or just regular trot lines
Also I carry large and small hooks
Use small hooks to catch small fish on the go or once in a good AO
The use them to catch bait for larger hooks
Flys are great all around baits to have
Just dunk them near weeds till you find a school of sunfish in the south
Pole is a cut tree limb or if lucky a nice long Bambo pole that grow wild in a few places

Assuming you want an actual rod, telescoping, Emmrod, full size, etc rather than a stick, what type of reel makes the most sense considering reliability, usability, and versatility in use for SHTF?