I have been recalling the story of a colleague of mine who was working in Siberia under winter conditions obtaining mammoth fossils. Their staple was reindeer, but the reindeer meat had to be supplemented by local fish, which provided the necessary fat. Must not have been bass, I guess.

The moral of these stories must be that you had better have pretty specific knowledge of the available foods if you are out for a long time.

Reindeer is known here in NA as caribou (same species for all intents and purposes). Like any mammal related to the Cervidae family, Reindeer is very lean and yes Hikermor is correct. A diet of this type of meat needs to be supplemented by other meat/fish to have a healthy intake of fat in order to survive long term where beef and other fattier meats are not available.

I don't carry any equipment as dedicated fishing gear. Fishing is IMHO just too much like homesteading. My plans are more about getting out of the survival situation instead of taking up housekeeping.

In some cases fishing gear isn't even necessary.

I have pulled out pan fish by sprinkling bait, I used earthworms and bugs gathered from the leaf duff, and letting the fish get used to coming into shallow water and close. Helps if you arrange rocks or logs to get you a bit out on the water and to lay flat so you don't cast a shadow. Once they are coming in I take a stout stick, preferably fairly heavy and flattened like a heavy paddle, and whack the surface of the water with it as hard as possible. The idea is to use the shock wave from the impact to stun the fish long enough to grab them.

Another trick is to assemble quick and dirty fish basket or weir type fish traps. Vines, bamboo and long sticks work. I assembled one out of reeds and baited it with mushed up worms. Got a few small fish. Enough for a meal. I could have cut up one of them and used it as bait. I didn't try it but I imagine it would be simple enough to parlay a couple of small fish into larger ones and crayfish or crabs.

So it is possible. Even without specialized equipment. But that was during a couple of fine summer days and each attempt took several tries and hours to get right. Add in the time to set it up, catch the fish and prepare them and you have most of an afternoon invested. Not without reward but then again I knew the area and was well aware of the fish and their habits.

Investing that sort of time into a strange body of water where you're not sure there are any fish, or that they will go for what is offer as bait and you could end up investing a good part of a day and end up with nothing to show for it. An investment of time and effort that I expect would be better spent hiking out or actively trying to get rescued.

Snell your hooks. (if its a standard hook, bend the point out from the shaft, so laying on its side the point presents itself, 20 or so degrees) most of the hooks around here are ramrod flat, a great way to lose a fish. bank fishing, trot-lines, jugs are all used to varying degrees of success. floats (bobbers in local speak) are easy to improvise. wood floats, 'nough said. wire leaders are great to improve landing a whopper, but are overkill for panfish. little bluegill and sunbelly perch, seriously, can be caught on the fuzz from a cotton sock. yes i have done it, i also caught bluegill with a little brass hook, (shiney!)

personally i would take
some little brass hooks
little bigger snelled hooks
a few tiny trebels
about 50' of 50lb test line
some cordage or heavy string type stuff
5-10 big splitshot
lures: 6 jigheads and about 9 skirts

but that is for my area. For survival i would run a few bank lines and probably a couple trot-lines and leave them overnight. depends on the fish in the area. i would focus on what the kids fish for, or the "easy" ones


A small hook can catch a little fish and a big fish, a big hook can only catch a big fish.

Salmon and trout are 'oily' fish and have about double the fat and calories of non-oily fish like bass. I used non-oily fish as an example because catching or spearing a salmon or lake trout in the areas I go to would be difficult in a survival situation. You can find 9" creek chubs in almost any stream in the northwoods, and they are easy to catch on a small hook and worm or to spear with a little frog spear.

Byrd Hunter makes a good point about the chub.
I believe a lot of people think of sport species when they think of survival fishing when your most likely targets will be the more common and smaller coarse fish.

So I favour small hooks, split shot sinkers, light fishing line, and locally found natural baits with twigs for floats.
I would be much happier with a good meal of little ugly fish than no meal at all of big pretty fish.
But then again, I wouldn't refuse to club a salmon if it ran up a small stream to spawn and I really needed a meal.

Somebody mentioned snares.
Snares and simple traps can be very effective.
You can catch anything from squirrels and birds up to moose in a snare.
The problem for most people in trapping and snaring is they lack familiarity with the animals. To trap effectively requires a lot of knowledge about the habits of your prey.
(HINT: You will need slightly thicker snares for moose than for mice)

If you assume 1 snare in 10 producing every day you need to get twenty snares out if you are going to eat 2 rabbits a day.
You also need to count how soon you will deplete the area of wildlife. In some areas you might only have 1 rabbit on an acre of land, so catching 10 rabbits would mean you cleared 10 acres of rabbits.
The reason why rabbit snare is carried is that it is the lightest snare material that is reasonable and also it is good emergency repair material.

Deadfalls are another effective small game killer.
But like snares you need to know where to set them. Knowing where to set is more important than knowing the method of setting a trap, and it is all about knowing the animal's behaviours.

I recommend taking a trapper's course for anybody thinking about it. Most Provinces and States offer them at very reasonable prices even if you don't intend to make a career out of it.

I know you are only using this to make a point, but I would love to see how you intended to kill said Moose once snared.

Have fun with that one.

A small fishing kit is not a waste to me. A few hooks and a length of 20 lb test line fits snug in an old metal pill tin and weighs pratically nothing. I do live in a country where you can't walk ten feet without stumbling across water as well. I can see it being of value should I ever need it. Some may argue that it's gear I will never use. Well, I have never need to use my signal mirror, whistle or emergency blanket either but I never step into the woods without them.

To each their own

Tickle it to death, how else?