Hmm, I'd think a gig rig would be a better survival accouterment. In fact, you could use nails you normally take along for survival (10p come to mind) cut the heads off and barb the tips using the file on your leatherman tool, and catch any number of morsels, both above and below. I like multi taskers, and cheap as well.

Now, if you are considering a harpoon as more of a defensive tool, well, I would think a knife would be a sufficient, albeit shorter range, substitute.

I've made gig rigs using stainless steel antenna rod (one of the fringe benefits of working in the radio business), that were scary sharp and held against a solid 40 lb resistance before tearing out. I would think that to be sufficient for most uses.

Les Stroud harpooned a fish in a Survivorman episode with just his knife tied to the end of a stick and it seemed to work fairly well with no specialized equipment required.

I carry a spearhead/harpoon which has worked very well while fooling around at the beach spearing crabs and flatfish. I wouldn't use my knife for this unless I had a spare (I usually have a few spares) Can you imagine the crappy feeling of thrusting at a fish only to miss and break or lose your knife? I don’t know if I would want to risk such an important piece of gear as my knife in that way. Just MHO though.

Somehow I'd rather use and lose a knife than never use it at all.

I've played around with my LMF II in this way. It's almost too beefy to lash to a pole properly but at the same time it's so beefy I don't think I'm capable of accidentally ruining it.

I know it works but I always have a hard time believing that a fish is going to stay on the knife without a harpoon like shape or barbs.

I carry a Gerber LMF II as my primary survival knife as well, and I can't imagine how stout the pole would have to be in order to break the knife before the pole itself. I realize the same can not be said for a lot of the other knives out there.

The LMF II has three lashing points and a relieved oval in the handle specifically for lashing it to a pole, and while I haven't had the need to do so, I would not think twice about using this particular knife as a spear/harpoon in a true survival situation.



Jim

Hi BigDaddyTX,

No one that I know around here mail-orders in fish spears as the are commenly available at most local fishing/bait shops (both the 3 tine and 5 tine models).

Later,

Mike

Ahh, I got what you were meaning now.

A harpoon tip or spearhead should not be very hard to make; take a piece of steel, cut, file or grind it to shape, drill a few mounting holes in it and sharpen an edge on it. If you do not have a piece of steel then just fatten a large nail with a hammer and go from there.

Because fish in my location spawn in shallow rocky areas this harpoon/spearhead is going to be damaged quite quickly. I could not see myself spending a lot of money on a harpoon/spearhead because I know it is a tool I would abuse and proably break or loose then have to replace.

I have no experience with saltwater situations but I would think that a harpoon head would last a lot longer there because there would be less contact with the rocky bottom; therefore it may be worth getting one of better quality (could also double as a back-up knife).

I just thought of something that was just mentioned in the Fishing kit thread that's currently running very parallel to this one. In a survival situation, you don't want to expend energy if you don't have to.

Hunting/fishing with a spear/harpoon seems like an aweful lot of energy expended for a potential of zero gain. I guess if you lived in the right area it might be a workable backup but the more I think about it, the less I can imagine ever catching a fish in the waters around here with any kind of harpoon.

Hi Hacksaw,

Spearing fish in a survival situation is a very time/site specific activity. For about a one month period in the spring where I live, if you go to the right places you could spear pails full of fish, with very little effort.

As was posted eartlier, your best bet for survival fishing is proabally baited set-lines, a trot line, a fish trap or a gill/roll net because they work without you having to tend them or expending your limited energy.

If a method is illegal for sportfishing that is usually because it is too effective and therefore an excellent method to use in a true survival situation.

Mike

This has been a recent discussion on one of the subforums on Bladeforums.com. A good, cheap, and easy to make harpoon was made from a spade bit (that's a flattened, paddle type bit for drilling wood). They took a 1" bit, drew out a triangle and ground out a decent looking harpoon. The shank was easy to mount up in a thin piece of bamboo or cane.

Here's a link to a full how-to:

http://funditor.110mb.com/wiki/index.php/Steel_Harpoon_Point

Not a harpoon, but something the old guys would do when I was growing up was called "snagging". They would tie a half dozen hooks, usually treble hooks, to a line about 6 inches apart. Then they would just cast the line. They would jerk and reel, jerk and reel. Any fish the line dragged across would snag on the hooks. It would actually work pretty effectively, though I'm sure it's illegal.