Fish Traps to Catch Your Limit

Ryan Dotson Wilderness Survival



Fish is one of the best survival foods you will ever find. It is packed with protein, full of fatty oils, and can be found in almost any body of water. However, in a survival situation you rarely have a rod and reel with you. So now what?

The rod and reel is a much more modern invention and is designed to catch one fish at a time while targeting a specific species. When you are trying to survive you will likely not be that selective. The goal is to gather as many fish as possible no matter what the species.
Primitive fish traps are the best way to do this. These traps use natural and found materials to catch fish and hold them until you can check your trap. They are all fairly simply, but some require more time for construction than others.

Bottle Fish Trap

This is definitely the easiest trap to build. Any plastic bottle will work well for this, but a 2 Liter bottle works best. Remove the label from your bottle and cut the top off just below the bend. Next, you can cut the mouth of the bottle to be a bit larger if you want to attract larger fish.
Reverse the top of the bottle to face in and push it back into the base. Punch small holes around the lip and use cordage to secure the top in place in three or four spots. To weigh it down you can put a few rocks in the trap or attach cordage and tie it to a rock on the bottom.
This trap works the same way most fish traps work. The fish swim in the mouth, get confused, and cannot figure out how to escape. You can add bait to the trap or set it out and hope to get lucky.
Heart Shaped Fish Trap

This trap uses the same principle, but on a much larger scale. In a shallow pool use rocks or stakes to build walls in the shape of a heart with the point facing downstream. Make sure your wall is tight enough that there are no openings that will allow your target fish to escape. Next make a small opening in the cleavage of the heart. It should only be large enough to let one fish enter at a time.
You can either bait the interior area or scare the fish into your trap. This trap is large enough that a few large rocks thrown into the water at the right spot could direct them towards the entrance. To be sure they will not escape, you can add a second heart just downstream from the first so they have to escape two traps to get free. In this design, one heart spills into the other.
With a trap this large you have to find a way to remove the fish from the trap. Chances are they will not just let you grab them. For this you can beat the surface of the water with a flat stick. The impact will send a shockwave that will stun the fish so you can grab them. You can also spear them, but this takes much more time and skill. Finally, you can gather some leafy branches and throw them on top of the fish. This will hold it still while you scoop up the branches and throw them on shore along with the fish.