Chapter 16

Sea Survival

THE OPEN SEA

Fishing Aids

16-58. The accessory kit contains a very good fishing kit that should meet your needs just about anywhere around the world. You can also use different materials to make fishing aids as described in the following paragraphs:

• Fishing line. Use pieces of tarpaulin or canvas. Unravel the threads and tie them together in short lengths in groups of three or more threads. Shoelaces and parachute suspension line also work well.

• Fish hooks. No one at sea should be without fishing equipment, but if you are, improvise hooks as shown in Chapter 8.

• Fish lures. You can fashion lures by attaching a double hook to any shiny piece of metal.

• Grapple. Use grapples to hook seaweed. You may shake crabs, shrimp, or small fish out of the seaweed.

These you may eat or use for bait. You may eat seaweed itself, but only when you have plenty of drinking water. Improvise grapples from wood. Use a heavy piece of wood as the main shaft, and lash three smaller pieces to the shaft as grapples.

• Bait. You can use small fish as bait for larger ones. Scoop the small fish up with a net. If you don't have a net, make one from cloth of some type. Hold the net under the water and scoop upward. Use all the guts from birds and fish for bait. When using bait, try to keep it moving in the water to give it the appearance of being alive.