# Self Sufficiency/Living off the Land or Off the Grid > Fishing >  Survival bait

## shackwater

Let me begin my saying I'm new to the forum and if this topic has been covered to death, I apologize.  Other than digging for earthworms, catching grasshoppers, and getting gallfly larvae from goldenrod, what are some sources of bait for survival fishing (provided you already have a rod/reel) for trout, bass, perch, walleye, etc. ?  Thanks for the help.

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## hunter63

Fly fisherman will try to tell what bugs have just hatched, so to match a artificial fly, nymph, helgramite or other artificial bait. 

Ad in minnows, (Uncle use to carry a 1 ft square fine weave dip net and corn meal in the pocket of his fishing coat for dipping minnows).... frogs, or even other fishes eyes.....

Never tried it but I believe the cameo face nets or mosquito netting would work......

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## Graf

I try and use whatever is in the immediate area because usally that will be what they are used to. If it flys,crawls,swimsor hops its on the hook till I find what works.

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## marshmasters

Hey guys, I'm new to the forum as well.  I agree with both posts here that whatever is natural and abundant near or in the water source you are fishing will be the best bait.  Although if it is winter and you are having a hard time finding live bait then anything shiny that you could secure to a hook might land you some dinner.  The mimicked movement of a distressed bait fish and the "flash" the shiny object creates could very well trigger a bite.  I have done this in mountain streams in north Carolina on backpacking trips and although the catch numbers don't stack up like having real bait, you wont go hungry.

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## Rick

Smaller fish and minnows will hit just about anything that lands in the water. Often a bare hook is all that's needed. You can use them for bait. 

Or, you can make lures out of paracord.

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## Wildthang

So what is the difference between natural bait and surival bate? I bet the survival bait costs a bunch more:Scared: When my dad would run out of bait, he would either dig worms or shoot a bird with his .22. One sparrow or almost any kind bird can supply you with bait for several hours.

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## Rick

I'm holding out for tactical bait.

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## hunter63

....we used to tell pilgrims, that we use new born kittens for musky bait.....and watch them recoil in horror....well moist of them did.

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## Wildthang

> I'm holding out for tactical bait.


Thats funny Rick, it probably comes in the handle of one of those holow handle Rambo knives which would make it truly tactical. And nobody would even know you have it!!!

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## Tokwan

In malaysia it will those small mini frogs, worms, tree bugs, insects or fruits that fish eats...yep..some fish decided to become vegetarian and eat fruits.

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## randyt

Kick apart old rotten log and such and use the grubs for bait.

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## crashdive123

> I'm holding out for tactical bait.


Here ya go.  http://www.sbsbaits.com/

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## Batch

> In malaysia it will those small mini frogs, worms, tree bugs, insects or fruits that fish eats...yep..some fish decided to become vegetarian and eat fruits.


When the ficus outback is dropping fruit. I can watch dozens of Triploid Grass Carp roll. I take a #2 hook and hook 3 fig berries. Guaranteed about a 10 pound carp.

We used a rake to run through the bank side grass in the water. Then followed with a dip net. You could catch fresh water shrimp and crawfish as well as minnows using that technique. In a pinch a branch and a scoop of any type could be used.

A scoop of dirt under any big tree that had leaf litter always produced grubs and worms. We had a tree in Fort Meade that was a one shovel tree. One scoop of a shovel under that tree and we was good fishing cane poles all day.

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## Tokwan

Weher I live, there is this what we call River Lobsters...big prawns with long tentacles like claws..very tasty..very thorny (or should I say horny?).
I would get a piece of Bemban (local soft wood) and soak these Bembans for a week..so that they rot and smell like hell. I would get a ladies stocking and put these bembans in..the prawns come near and their thorny tentacles like claws would get stuck to the stockings. Nice tasty prwns...google "udang galah" and you will see these prawns...

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## Rick

Man! Those things are huge.




> Here ya go. http://www.sbsbaits.com/


I skipped the middle man and just ordered the fish.

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## kyratshooter

> I'm holding out for tactical bait.


I have found that if one sits in the boat until dusk and nothing has happened it is time to throw a stick of dynamite into the water!

Or you have this option;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BARABe6bccw

sometimes you can just run the boat down the river, forget about bait and just try not to get hurt when the fish come to visit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK836PUx1-0

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## Rick

I would never admit to it but if you figure when I started with the phone company you might be able to figure out there were still magneto telephones around. A ground rod on one end of the boat and a ground rod at the other end + a good crank of the magneto will = fish. Not that I would know about that. 

This is the way the boys did it while still stateside. They used grenades for bait. 

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## Awanita

nah rick I wouldnt know about that either game warden just wanted to know why my dads minnow bucket had a crank handle hanging out the side. He wasn't to concerned about the wires and chain. LOL.

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## xjosh40x

Well in MS, catfish are easy to find but without heavy line you may loose all your fishing gear. That being said some 550 cord striped down to single lines tied to overhanging branches called "drop lines" baited with almost anything with strong smell will catch them. Bream, crappie and bass are also plentiful. Any bug will catch them. Or finding an old soda can, poke a few small hole in it, bait with some candy, crackers or small bits of guts, sunken in a hollow water will catch minnows. The guts ad met from other animals works well on bream. Lizards and frogs ( not toads ) work well catching crappie and bass. Grubbs and trumites in logs. Flying insects. And as was already mentioned you can recreate some love bait in the wild.

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## OldFlJarhead

Man! Those would make some great gumbo!

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## kyratshooter

I found this site that has instructions for making the fish stunning electrical system from a 12V electric fence charger.  

This is illegal in my area but if one were in a survival situation and the materials were available it is good knowledge to have.

I know that many hunting/fishing guides out west use portable electric fencing to contain the pack horses, so having the makings is not far fetched as it sounds.

http://www.amazing1.com/content/down...ISH90INSTR.pdf

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## Tokwan

I am very against this as it kills all the smaller fish.

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## Rick

tokwan - It's illegal just about everywhere in the US. You could reduce a lake to simply algae and shelled fish in no time if it weren't.

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## hunter63

> I am very against this as it kills all the smaller fish.


When you are saying "Tactical".....I gonna guess we aren't worried about  legalities or saving the planet.......we wanna eat.

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## Rick

Then there's also the burlap bag with walnuts method.

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## hunter63

Got a lot of black walnuts around here.

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## Rick

Nothing like a rainy night in the woods this time of year. You could get knocked unconscious!

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## Tokwan

> When you are saying "Tactical".....I gonna guess we aren't worried about  legalities or saving the planet.......we wanna eat.


Yep, but then, we gotta eat for a long time and we should always find a way so that nature can provide us food for a  long time or maybe infinity. If we kill everything in one shot...then we will eat once. 
I am also worried about when people decided to practice and then in them practice runs,...did more damage. I would rather people practice how to catch fish in a better way...and at the same time allow nature to recover so that she can continuously provide us for a long long time.

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## hunter63

(pssssst, I playing devils advocate here) 

I taking "tactical" as success/win/eat now..... worry about tomorrow later.
Now if was camping, or living, or even surviving......???

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## Batch

> Nothing like a rainy night in the woods this time of year. You could get knocked unconscious!


I had not much experience and was standing under a tree in Bainbridge and a couple them bad boys came down near. Are you freakin kidding me! 

I'll take my chances with the gators. Y'all can keep your murderous trees.

Did you put them on a list Rick?

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## Tokwan

> (pssssst, I playing devils advocate here) 
> 
> I taking "tactical" as success/win/eat now..... worry about tomorrow later.
> Now if was camping, or living, or even surviving......???


Okay..since you 're gonna be the devil..let me be the Ghost Rider...hahahaha...looks like a new addition to Hunter's survival kit is gonna be a battery and wires...hahahahahaa..but still as we depend on nature, we should also be taking care of it..cos survival is not only for a day...it should be for the days to come. If we are talking for just one day, no point in stocking food for winter or no point to have a survival kit when we are lost, it would be better to carry a couple burgers or just some food for the one day to survive...still I would like to press that in survival, one of the things we should do is to ensure we survive continuously...until whatever predicament we are facing is over. Things like poisoning the streams ( in Malaysia some people are using the Tuba root), electrocuting the fishes or even "bombing" the fishes...(yes they do this in Malaysia ) are now illegal and they can be arrested. It is so hard and tough to keep the waterways and lakes clan, let alone ensuring the marine life flourishes to enable our survival.

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## hunter63

You are correct of course......But sometimes I think we ( a general WE) do a lot of things for the here and now.....with little thought about tomorrow, in the name of survival....like survival makes it OK.

All that stuff is illegal as it should be.

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## Batch

> I found this site that has instructions for making the fish stunning electrical system from a 12V electric fence charger.  
> 
> This is illegal in my area but if one were in a survival situation and the materials were available it is good knowledge to have.
> 
> I know that many hunting/fishing guides out west use portable electric fencing to contain the pack horses, so having the makings is not far fetched as it sounds.
> 
> http://www.amazing1.com/content/down...ISH90INSTR.pdf



Probably not the same rig. But, they used to make up a rig that IIRC was made from military phones or radios. They made a package that would fit in a ammo can and they could chuck the whole thing over board and not worry about it. Up until the 1990's it was not illegal to run from the FWC and lots did. 

Anyway, they called that monkey fishing down here. There is a book called "Backcountry Lawman: True Stories from a Florida Game Warden (Florida History and Culture)" by Bob H. Lee. And that seemed to be the main thing about the book and catching monkey fishers. He did go into how he outsmarted other poachers. 

Here is a video with the author and his favorite quarry. Now best friends.




But, these are just plain Florida crackers. The everglades from top in the Kissimmee chain all the way down to the Cape Sable and beyond has been tough country. Loaded with outlaws that made the wild west look timid and tame. Some great books written by Tom Shirley and Glen Simmons and Totch Brown. There are some good stories about a great time to grow up in the glades.

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## Tokwan

I for one practice the following when I camp and also try out new ideas and practice my survival skills...
1. Try not to cut any branches or damage any trees. I would use bamboo mostly as bamboo has a faster growing rate and they recover quickly. The bamboo pieces are individual and do not all the bamboo from one stump. 
2. If you need wood, use the ones on the ground or dead branches for firewood, and if you really need to cut of a branch..and you need a few, take only one branch from one tree and the others from other trees..this will help the tree to grow bigger and stronger.
3. When I hunt..I limit my self to only jungle fowls and porcupine (because the population is greater) and I only shoot 1 or 2 of them. I do not need to stock for winter as we have no winter.
4. When I fish in the streams..its usually carps and I only fish 2 to 3 fish..adequate for my lunch and dinner. This is only if I am out of food. Usually I bring my own food.
5. I make sure I take out whatever I bring int the forest leaving only my footprints and my human waste which are buried and t must at least 100 metres from a stream or water source. 
I live by this strictly as I love the forest, and I dread if its taken away from me. 
I have camped on someone's land a few times and they know me. They do not mind as when I leave, they said the place looks much better.

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## MrFixIt

> Probably not the same rig. But, they used to make up a rig that IIRC was made from military phones or radios. They made a package that would fit in a ammo can and they could chuck the whole thing over board and not worry about it.


I saw (and participated) as a child in "phoning" fish.
You're right Batch, we used a TA-312 military field phone. Throw the leads out in a slow moving sandy bottom creek and crank away.
We would stand out in the water with dip nets and catch the stunned fish. Any that were too small were released. (they would wake up after a few minutes and swim away).
I didn't know it was illegal till I was @ 16 years of age, when the game warden walked up on us "phoning".
He made us put back all the fish, confiscated out "phone", and told us if he caught us again, we would go to jail.

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## Batch

Down here it never really mattered. You could catch all the fish you wanted to eat fairly easy. And commercial fishing was netting or long lining for the most part.

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