I need your helping fishing fans.

My son forever wants to dip a line when we're hiking but I really don't want to be lugging our rods and tackle everywhere I do love fresh fish - and fishing with my kiddo - though, so we're building a couple of pocket kits. The intention is to use the containers as both storage and for reels. Both kits have line, hooks, leaders, sinkers and some plastic bait. We'd like to work bobbers in too but are planning to use natural or found materials for now.

Has anyone else made one of these kits? any tips or tricks?

Here are a couple of easy options. The lists of contents can be used to make your own kit also.

http://www.bestglide.com/survival_fishing_kit.html
http://www.bestglide.com/compact_emergency_fishing_kit.html
http://www.moontrail.com/accessrs/a-misc/handline.html

I guess the real answer depends on how much you want to improvise. Less improvisation, more kit.

Where I grew up, we fished a lot. You need a hook and a line. Period. These, especially hooks, are hard to improvise.

If you had or could find a pole, (e.g. a stick) great. If not, you "hand jigged". Same with bait. Catch an insect, use a rolled up piece of bread, a shiny piece of metal or foil. Somehow (oh, the horror !) we managed without a knife. No reels either; we just flipped the fish onto the ground. If you could find a piece of cork or something else that would float, you could make a bobber.

I got a lot of snappers with a stick, line, hook and some bait. Nothing fancy.

Locally (Chesapeake Bay, Maryland)there is something called "chicken necking." You tie a piece of chicken neck (or a piece chicken bone with some meat or skin left on it) to a piece of string. Throw it off the dock and let it sink. Come back in a while and pull it up. The local crabs will hang onto the chicken neck until you have to pull them off. Repeat as necessary. Result? Crabs and beer.

So, IMO, for a fishing kit, hooks and line. All else is optional, can be improvised, and just makes it simpler/easier if you don't have to improvise: easier, but not necessary.

Fishing does not need to be elaborate or equipment intensive. But, it is a lot more fun picking out and buying neat equipment.

We have $20 collapsible poles we got from dicks which came with really small tackle boxes. I've been buying these premade leaders/snells http://www.eagleclaw.com/site/products/eagle-claw-classic/snelled-hooks so I can just pull out the pole and clip one on.
Now I just need to learn how to fish. have caught a couple little ones but don't know how to choose the right bait and such.

Up here, the variety and sheer size of some fish can make using what Bacpac wants, a real challenge. Depending on the location and time of year, there are lakes, rivers and streams with everything Trout, Salmon (many varieties), Steelhead, Lake Trout to Dolly Varden to name but a few. These fish can range from the pan sized trout weighing next to nothing to large Salmon, Steelhead and Lake Trout that can weigh tens of lbs.

If anyone has been Salmon fishing, then you know what it is like reeling them in, even with proper gear.

Regardless of where I going, I always carry a small fishing kit in an Altoids container which is stored in the bag below along with the spools of line. This bag is then stored in my PSK. Worse come to worse, a line out on a longish stout stick is better then nothing at all. Mind you, again depending on the location and time of year, when the Salmon run, some streams and creeks are teeming with Salmon and in a true survival situation, I would not waste my time with the rod and reel nor the stick and line method


A few pictures of the kit.





If I go out hiking with fishing on the Itinerary then I will carry a slightly bigger kit and a 6' telescoping Shimano fishing rod of which there are also different manufacturers of such as Shakespeare and Daiwa.

Getting back to Bacpac's question. I would think that carrying a small amount of gear then finding a stick or purchasing a couple of telescoping rods is a better idea then using the containers as the reel. Also some backpacking fishermen/women up here who venture into the real remote back country lakes and streams have been known to simply pack along an ice fishing rod as they are so short and fit into just about any backpack.

Thanks Teslinhkker.

That's a nice looking kit. Reminds me of one my Grandma used to carry in her pocket. (She was cool. An original outdoors woman.)

I think you're right about bigger fish. A rod or at least a branch will definitely make things easier in some spots. One of our favourite hiking spots has a river full of catfish, trout and salmon. Those babies are huge and there's no way we'd get one on a tiny hand line. Heck, I think I might just lose my son to one if he got in a fight with one even with full tackle.

I don't include fishing as part of our survival preps. At this point, it's just a hobby. Perhaps if I was more proficient at it, I'd view it differently, but in a realistic short-term emergency, I can't see taking the time to fish. We do go on a few actual fishing trips every year, but I'm looking for something that we can use for those spontaneous "Hey, mom! Can we try to catch some of those fish?" moments.

Cool! It looks kind of like a BBQ lighter and more practical than my setup.

like those pictured, I made an underhanded casting rig with a wrist thong after watching a video by Dave Canterbury...I used a tall pill vial... if you include a couple of eye hooks you can fashion a tip guide for a little more flexibility, and still have control of additional line... a couple of sheet metal screws to attach a large hook to make an improvised gaff...down here several 2/0 hooks or smaller, top water popper, and spinner bait...a white plastic worm cut into smaller sections sure looks like larvae...small egg sinkers.. I fish more salt water than fresh..

for survival situation, I have a heavy duty spinning rig with a large trebel "snatch" hook and cast net

and it is a piece of television marketing history, designed by Ron Popiel, the greatest infomercial huckster/inventor of all time.