My Fisherman's Friend Box

Usual disclaimer: I have neither affiliation with or experience with the "Fisherman's Friend" cough drop company in any way.

I took a "Fisherman's Friend" tin box (hinged) and have placed basic fishing equipment in it. Hooks of various sizes, swivels, a cork, and 20 ft of monofilament line, has hardly taken up the space that the box has within it.

I may go ahead and include a yo-yo fishing reel later since there is sufficient room for one, or I may find something more useful to add to it.

This small kit has gone into my BoB (the 1 supplied to allow me to work my way through 700-800 miles of countryside in order to get home if TSHTF while I'm on a towboat working).

IRT the other thread about the Family Friendly SHTF plan, I have to have this special plan besides the "Bugging In" and the Bugging Out" plans in order to have all reasonable contingencies/situations covered.

At the moment, when I deploy to my towboat, I am carrying: my EDC, a PSK, and a BoB. I have reduced the redundancy factors dramatically but I'm still packing about 50LBS altogether.

Not having a clue what Fisherman's Friend actually is, and what the box might look like, I had to do some googling. All I found was pictures of "paper" packages, so I still don't have a clue...

They are cough drops (EXTREMELY STRONG) and they come in tin boxs (like Altoids).

"...like Altoids..."

Same size box???

I think it's the same. What better label to stick a fishing kit in can you think of???? I love "irony"!

yea, it's the same size as an altoids tin. as i have both in my pack.

I have 40' of fly-fishing backing line in mine. It's much easier to handle than monofilament.

20 medium hooks. For setting long lines.

Assorted split shot and swivels.

2 large gaff hooks.

2 silicon gigs. For hobo fishing.

2 wire leaders.

Tip: put your hooks on safety pins. Makes them much easier to handle.

As a general rule: You cannot have too many hooks and the more line you have the better.

Thats just a pocket kit. I have a slightly larger kit that goes in my bag. One thing worth having is hooks already on line. They are commercially available for a couple of dollars for 10.

"...What better label to stick a fishing kit in can you think of????..."

Ya got me there, that is a good one...

wildman800,

I hope your BOB has a happy home right next to a big orange gumby suit. I like the fishing kit, and I also like that suggestion about putting hooks on safety pins.

One of my thoughts for you might be, how far can you take the boat. If the TS really HTF, a boat may provide you, your family and some of your crew and/or their family with a means to get away from the fan that just got hit.

I like the idea of a BOB on boat for a few reasons, provided you are ready to leave it behind if it hinders you in a distress situation on board (don't really see that as a problem). If you ever need to leave the boat in a hurry, it could provide you with additional means and supplies until someone finds you. Something you have may help you get out of a bad situation either easing your departure from the boat or, better still, allowing you to stay on it safely.

Additionally, I hope your family has a plan for bugging in or bugging out without you. You may find yourself in an area that does not permit you to get to them. You may be fine, they may be fine, and there may be all h____ breaking loose between you. However, if lines of communication get cut, you also may not know that this is the case.

Think about putting some redundancy into your communcations. When on a boat, I know that in most cases get to someone that had a SSB. If you found a decent used SSB and had it for your family, that might provide a link. It might also cut down on the phone bill. If you work steady on one boat, perhaps you or your engineer can add an SSB to it's gear. I know used units can be pretty cheap.

Stay safe.

Dan_Mcl,

What band is the SSB you refer to? I am assuming the Marine VHF band, yes no? Not being a comm guy I'm guessin' here.

MoBOB, you kind of stumped me. It would not be the normal VHF bands used for marine traffic. Most VHFs on board commercial vessels are for line of sight communications. For example, using "Channel 13" you would talk with another vessel and come to some arrangement on how to meet and pass. These certainly do not have enough range to cover the 700 miles wildman800 would need to cover between work and home.

However, I do recall the SSB at the dispatchers' desk that was used to hold conversations with boats that were not anywhere within 100 miles of the office. You could get much better than line of sight from a regular VHF, but not the kind fo distance the SSB unit got. I am pretty sure I recall a conversation on it with a boat at least 1,000 miles away.

I looked for some info on the web, but did not see much that describe dhte differences. BoatUS has a page on VHFs (http://www.boatus.com/onlinecourse/documents/COMMUNICATION.html) that mentions SSB. It states, with regard to VHFs:

"They come equipped with a choice of transmitter power: one (1) watt for very close communication (approximately one mile or less) or twenty five (25) watts for extended communication (up to approximately twenty five miles). All of this is done usually with the push of a button.

If you need to communicate over a greater distance consider installing a Single Side Band (SSB) radio - which has the capability to transmit over hundreds of miles. If you are not sure whether you might have the need for Single Side Band radio please feel free to contact us at your local BOAT/U.S. Marine Center and we can discuss the pros and cons."

So, I'm not sure what bands. Honestly, I saw it used a few times and uonly myself ever used it for a few seconds. I just know they exist. From what I saw in my internet search, they have 150 watt units for $1,000-$2,500, but I know the price used is a mere fraction of the price new.

For Leigh: Thanks for the great input!!! I've already put my swivels and fish hooks on safety pins and it works GREAT!!!! I am going to add more fishline and some fishing type of cord to my kit.

For DanMcl: SSB means "Single Side Band" and is applicable to HF (High Frequency) or "Shortwave" radio. The 2meter band has, of late, been reported as "dead". I know that the 2m band is busiest between sunset and sunrise. A great number of the remaining "HAM's" are reported to be using the 14meter band. The inland vessels have gotten rid of the old SSB shortwave sets since cellphones, fax machines, and computor communications are now the norm.

Most inland boats (what I'm on) have two VHF-FM transceivers, one computor with SatCom/Cellphone capability irt intra-office email, one computor with a commercial AirCard (cellphone) for internet access/email, and a cellphone.

Keep in mind that almost every man in the crew has a cellphone with text capability. Many of the crew also carry a notepad with an aircard for internet access which of course includes email.

I knew SSB meant single side band, but I had no clue about frequencies or bands. I think I was using my spiral notebook for a pillow during this class.

I am not surprised SSB is dead. Between cell phones and a VHF, I was rarely out of range of the office a decade ago. With Satcom's and cell phones, there are cheap and relatively secure communications for long and short range. It's no surprise SSB is squeezed out. I knew of only two being used a decade ago; one tug running offshore had one with which it talked to the dispatcher.

When you first posted this I thought you meant this:

http://www.popeilfamilystore.com/ppf.html