Fish traps were one of the first to be born, and only then, familiar to us, fishing gear. But fishermen still use primitive traps to this day, especially if the question is how to stock up on live bait. You won’t fish with a fishing rod because the fish will get injured, after which it won’t live long on the hook. Therefore, it is necessary to use non-traditional fishing methods.
- 1 How to make a trap
- 2 Simple plastic bottle trap
- 3 Trap in the form of a mesh box
- 4 Conclusion
How to make a trap
The principle of operation of the trap is that the fish should freely fall into the trap, but it would not be able to swim out of it due to the design of the trap itself. Using such a clever design, you can catch most of the fish caught in the trap.
Nowadays, fishermen use a variety of improvised or unnecessary things for this purpose. Some fishermen weave traps from wicker, others use various nets stretched over a wire frame, and still others use plastic bottles as traps.
A simple plastic bottle trap
A person’s living space is literally crammed with plastic bottles of various shapes and capacities. From such bottles you can very easily build a simple but effective fish trap.
If you need to catch small live bait, then a bottle with a capacity of 1.5-2 liters is suitable for this. If you need to catch larger sizes, you should take a 5-liter bottle.
To make such a trap, you will need a tool and several items such as wire, fishing line and rope.
- to begin with, remove the paper label from the bottle and wash it thoroughly so that there are no foreign odors in the bottle. Water or vegetable oil bottles are best used for this purpose. You don’t need to wash the vegetable oil bottle: it will attract fish with its smell anyway;
- then, you should cut off the neck of the bottle, about a third of the body (depending on the size of the fish) and insert the neck inside the bottle;
- after which, the inserted part of the bottle is fixed in place with a wire. You can fix it in no more than 4 places, so that later you can remove the neck to remove the fish from the bottle.
- in the bottle itself, you should make a lot of holes of small diameter so that the bottle can quickly submerge in water, especially since with holes it will not resist the water so much if the trap is supposed to be installed in the current;
- After the trap is ready, bait is placed inside it, and a rope and weight are tied to the trap. The weight can be placed inside the trap so that there are no snags. The trap is ready for use;
- The trap is thrown with the neck against the current. If fishing is done in calm water, then it can be cast and installed in any position, and the rope can be secured on the shore.
Video lesson on making a trap from plastic bottles:
For larger fish there is a different type of trap:
Mesh box trap
The frame for the box can be made from any available material: wood, water pipes (plastic or aluminum), aluminum corners, etc.
- A mesh made of any material is stretched over the frame; the cell size is within 1 cm. You can use a metal mesh;
- two funnels are formed from the same mesh;
- Such funnels are installed and fixed from both sides of the box. Funnels should be installed with the narrow end inside the box;
- In the trap, you can place some kind of bait, depending on the type of fish that can be caught.
After this, the trap can be immersed in a pond. If the trap is metal, then you will not have to submerge it, but if it is wooden, then you will have to tie a good weight so that it sinks to the bottom of the reservoir.
Conclusion
If you analyze the above, you can make such a trap yourself and without much effort, showing ingenuity and resourcefulness, especially since there are a lot of interesting things lying under our feet, but which we do not notice.
An excellent and non-standard version of the top, muzzle, hem (as they call it) - a do-it-yourself fish trap.
It seems to be the simplest, but with some changes from those made from plastic bottles.
You will always catch live bait with such a homemade fishing device.
Making your own muzzle trap from PVC bottles for catching fish (live bait)
You will need a couple of 5 liter plastic bottles. They also sell water in the store.
Cut off 1/4 of the distance from the neck of the first bottle. It turns out 2 parts. We cut off the neck of the short part completely (this will allow larger bait fish to pass through).
We cut off the bottom of the second bottle completely, leaving the neck with a lid - we get a through plastic tunnel with a lid.
Now let's connect the long part of the first one to the tunnel. We make it in a circle, where the bottles are connected by holes with a soldering iron. And then we tie and stitch with fishing line.
We turn the short part of the first bottle down with its bottleneck and insert it into our resulting structure.
Using a soldering iron, we make holes in the connection of the funnel and the tunnel next to each other and tighten them with fishing line.
We repeat (making holes and pulling the fishing line together) on all four sides.
We make a lot of holes throughout the form so that water can pass through and tie a good handle to the beginning of the funnel.
Here you have a homemade fish trap with your own hands using available materials.
The video is below to make it clearer.
Homemade fish trap made from PVC bottles – Video
As long as there are fish in the water, fishing will remain an effective tool for survival. Another thing is that not everyone can sit for hours with a fishing rod waiting for a bite. In conditions of stationary survival, for example, there are many other urgent matters, so spending time on active fishing is not rational. But this is a completely different matter.
Passive fishing is distinguished by the fact that human participation in it is minimal - established fish trap, added bait and went about his business. After some time he returned and collected his catch. It saves a lot of effort and time, however. But there is one difficulty - you need to know where to place traps and how to arrange them correctly. This is what we will discuss in our article.
Fish traps can be divided into portable and stationary. Stationary is when a heavy wooden-bast structure is installed on the bottom of a shallow river, or even completely blocks it. It is clear that it requires a large amount of work both during construction and installation. But once built, it can bring a stable catch every day, which is especially useful for stationary survival. With portable traps everything is much simpler, but they also bring in less loot.
Portable fish traps
They are also called tops. The operating principle of these fish traps simple Something edible is placed in the middle, and the trap itself is placed not far from the shore. The fish swims in, but cannot swim back out because the entrance hole suddenly becomes difficult to access. Fish have real problems getting through such openings because they are in confined space, they begin to panic, fuss and poke everywhere except the exit. After this, the top is taken out, the far edge is untied and the catch is collected.
To make a simple top, we will need thin but strong branches. Willow is perfect in this regard, since its bark (bast) can additionally be used to fix knots. First we make the frame. To do this, we will need 4 long poles and 4-5 thinner poles, which will need to be rolled into rings. They need to be assembled in such a way as to form an oval structure, open on one side. Once it's ready, thin willow branches we intertwine the frame so that the fish cannot escape through the improvised cells. At this stage, you can adjust the approximate size of the catch - if you make the gaps larger, then every little thing can slip out.
Now we need to do something with the exit. You can carefully bend the ends of the long poles inward and tie them together to form a funnel with a round hole. You can break the ends of the poles so that they are at least supported on the bark, but this will weaken the structure. You can also initially choose poles with side shoots, which will form a funnel. The size of the entire structure should be about a meter.
There are also other design options fish traps. The simplest one, with which you can only catch fry on the ear, is a plastic bottle with the neck cut off and inserted back to front. Exactly the same funnel, exactly the same top. Only small. Also, if you're lucky, you can find a hollow log, hollow it out, and cover one edge with a lid with a hole in the middle. But still, the option with weaving is the most normal, since the design is light, durable, roomy and quite comfortable.
Stationary traps with partitions
The principle is the same as with ordinary tops. The only difference is in scale. Such traps usually completely block small rivers, completely controlling the movement of fish along it. They consist of two parts - a partition wall and two sides of the “funnel”. The main problem will be to catch the fish, which cannot get out of the pen anywhere. Various nets, pieces of fabric and small nets are suitable here.
There are several design options for partitions. The simplest one is a pole fence. To do this, you will need thick and not very thick willow branches, from which you will need to weave a fence so that its height is sufficient to reach the bottom of the river. And for this, accordingly, it will be necessary to measure the depth. This is why stationary traps are often installed on shallow rivers, since weaving massive structures is extremely difficult.
Stationary traps with dam
More complex option fish traps, since it implies the construction of a dam and the formation of a difference in water levels “before” and “after”. A shallow river is blocked by a high dam so that the level rises at least a meter. This is already a difficult moment, since it will require a large amount of resources, and it is difficult to make a stable dam. But if you succeed and the level begins to rise, forming a small dam in front of the barrier, then you can proceed further. The water will drain through several holes, so the areas under them need to be blocked off with a fence installed at the bottom of the river. You can even make larger cells in it so that small items can slip out, and big fish remained.
Stationary side branch traps
There are two options. A simple one, which involves blocking part of the flow and forming a cage from part of the river, and a more complex one, which involves digging a deep flooded hole or a cage-arm. Both options are very effective, especially for deep rivers that are difficult to completely block. The construction of these looks like fish traps in the following way.
Part of the river is blocked by a high fence installed at an angle in the direction opposite to the flow. Another one approaches this fence from the inside, thereby forming a small passage that can be blocked if something happens. And then all that remains is to catch the fish from the pen. To facilitate this task, you can dig a small but deep hole, where the fish will need to be driven by noise and loud screams from the fenced off part of the river.
You can also use the option with an artificial riverbed. To do this, we do not make a pit, but a channel, which is blocked on one side by a fence, and at the other end it just goes into the built corral. We drive the fish into the canal, and then close the filling entrance. The water will quickly go away and fish can be collected from the bottom.
All of the above options are quite effective, but require a lot of labor at the construction stage. Therefore, they only make sense if you don’t plan to leave the given territory. Additionally, the effectiveness of fish traps decreases slightly during the colder months because the fish are not very active.
Fish traps greatly simplify the fishing process. Such devices were invented even earlier than the fishing rod itself. Their operating principle is almost the same - the fish swims into an underwater trap, and then cannot get out again. The main advantage of this method is that the fish are not injured. Making a fish trap at home is quite simple. To do this, you need simple materials that can be found in every home.
Characteristics of the main types
Homemade fish traps can be of several types. They are:
- Stationary. These are hydraulic structures that are attached to the bottom and remain under water for a long period. The simplest version of a stationary trap is stakes between which a net is stretched.
- Mobile. Portable fishing lures can be divided into tunnel and screen lures.
Tunnel varieties can be made of metal mesh or woven rods. The essence of such a trap is that when a fish gets into it, it simply gets lost in the tunnel, so it cannot get out of it. The structure must be made so that the fish can easily swim into it, but not swim back out.
Screen traps are also called “spiders”. They are distinguished by their flat shape. Most often it is a net stretched between four rods, and a bait with a sinker is attached in the center.
The bait is also placed on top, so as soon as the fish gather near the bait, the net can be immediately raised.
Making a simple trap
Making a fish trap out of a bottle couldn't be easier. Plastic bottles Everyone has them in their home, so this method is completely free, since you don’t need to spend money on materials. Despite the simplicity of this trap, it is quite effective.
To catch small fish, you can take a bottle with a capacity of 1.5 - 2 liters. If you plan to catch large species, then you should take a 5-liter bottle.
Additional materials you will need are wire, rope and fishing line. To make an effective fish trap with your own hands, you need to follow this algorithm:
- The bottle must be completely freed from the label and washed thoroughly. It is important that the container does not have any foreign odors, as they can scare away prey. Fishermen recommend using a container from under mineral water or sunflower oil. You don’t even need to wash the oil bottle; the aroma is pleasant for the fish.
- The neck of the bottle needs to be cut out and inserted with the neck inside the bottle. The structure must be secured with wire. It must be secured in such a way that it is possible to unscrew the structure and pull out the fish.
- In order for the container to be immersed under water, it needs to be a large number of holes of different diameters.
After the fishing trap is completely ready, you need to put bait in the middle. It is also important to tie a rope and weight to the bottle so that it does not float away and can be retrieved at any convenient moment. For convenience, the weight can be placed directly into the container.
Stationary and unusual structures
It is recommended to catch large specimens using stationary structures. The simplest option is a mesh box. The frame can be made of wooden boards or plastic slats. You can also take two hoops for the waist, so you get a round-shaped trap.
After the frame is prepared, you need to create fastenings. It should be borne in mind that the box must be disassembled in order to get the catch out of it. The walls need to be lined with plastic mesh. To do this, you can take a simple garden net with 1 cm cells or a Chinese nylon net.
The most difficult stage is creating the entrances that will resemble a funnel. They will need to be placed on different sides of the box. The advantage of this design is that it is easy to transport and is suitable for catching fairly large specimens. You can put a jar of fry inside as bait. This type of structure is great for winter fishing.
Another option for traps is a fish-catching screen. You can do it with your own hands quite quickly. This will require thick wire and mesh. Two pieces of wire will hold the net in the water in a standing position to form a kind of screen where the fish will float up. You need to place a feeder in the center; it is important that the bait is washed out of it gradually. It is recommended to lower this structure to a depth of about 2 meters.
More experienced fishermen make flat baits with your own hands for several screens, increasing the amount of catch.
Sometimes there are situations when you don’t have a special trap or bottle at hand to make fish traps with your own hands. You can use items that are on hand. This can be a simple pan, gauze or thin cloth. So, you need to stretch gauze over a pan or bucket and secure it well so that it does not fall off under water. You also need to make a hole in the center of the gauze: through it the fish will swim into the container. You can use bread or small grasshoppers as feed.
You can fish even without special fishing gear. Homemade traps do an excellent job of this task. Most of them work on the same principle, so building such a structure yourself will not be difficult.
Attention, TODAY only!
A homemade fish trap, the article briefly describes how to make a fishing “face” from paste material. You'll definitely catch it by ear.
There is a category of people who are ready to live in a natural environment with a minimum of means for survival. There is some extreme in this. And until you try this lifestyle (or game, whichever is more convenient for you), you will not understand all the charm of this way of existence. For example, in our team there are a variety of people: from very young people (18-19 years old) to adults under 60 years old, who occupy almost all social niches in “city” life (students, managers, directors, etc.). But what united us was that several times a year we get together, plan a common route for several days, and hit the road. The main rule that everyone in our group follows is that we get our own food. We take practically nothing with us, only the essentials, since situations are different. So, the ability to get food in the forest or on a pond is the key to survival in a difficult situation. Many people who in ordinary life did not believe in themselves, after such hikes acquire some confidence in their abilities, which as a result affects their future lives.
There are many ways to get food in nature. I will try to tell you a simple method of extraction (capture), provided that you only have a great desire to stay with food, a desire to live, and trees growing nearby (ideally, spruce, pine, etc.). If there are trees nearby, you can build several devices with which you can actually catch fish. I'll tell you only about one thing - about the face. A snout is a fishing trap that is generally a cylindrical lattice structure with the neck pointing inward. The neck gradually narrows towards the base, not reaching the last by 20-30 centimeters. The fish swims into the neck, gradually moves towards the bottom of the structure, passes through the narrow part, and is no longer able to get out. All a person can do is pull his muzzle out of the water and collect his catch. Under normal conditions, the bottom of the muzzle opens to make it easier to reach the fish, but we will make the muzzle of a more primitive type.
Making a homemade fish trap
So, the first thing you need to do is cut down several young branches that bend well and twist them into a circle. The ends can be tied with thinner branches and pinched into a split. Then, from thinner branches, freeing them from needles or leaves, you need to connect the finished circles to each other so that the distance between them is about 30-40 cm. To give density to the structure, you can use several thick branches, which are secured with thin along round branches . The result should be something like a mesh cylinder, the bottom of which is also covered with thin branches.
Now let's make the neck. To do this, you need to stick several dense sticks into the ground so that near the ground they form a circle with a diameter of about 10 cm, and their top forms a circle comparable to the diameter of our cylinder. After this, thin branches need to be tied around the sticks to form a mesh structure. Special care is not required here, the main thing is that the structure has some strength. When the neck is ready, it is tied with thin branches to the upper part of the cylinder, not forgetting to secure the lower part of the neck to the middle circles of the cylinder. That's it, the homemade fish trap for fishing is ready. Ideally, the muzzle is tied with a rope and thrown into the water. But you can do without a rope, but in this case you will have to climb into the water behind the muzzle to get it. Sometimes we use a pole to get the structure out of the water, it all depends on the situation. Practice shows that such a homemade fish trap catches fish quite well; it only needs to stay in the water for about 3-10 hours. For those who are interested in the topic of survival, this skill will be interesting and useful; the diagrams for making a trap are just below.
All the best to you.
