You can get started for little of nothing. Bass Pro and other stores sell small spinning rigs that are packable and can easily catch most species...depending on your local. I live in OK and if there is a pond, stream or lake nearby I can catch enough small perch to feed myself easily.

Now...PSK fishing is a bit different, but same principal applies. You need a few small hooks, split shot and line and then basically you tie it to a pole and have at it...here we call it perch jerkin. A bobber helps, you can use a dead piece of wood that floats, or a small piece of cork. Use worms dug up or grasshoppers...which incidentally you can cook and eat...but I prefer fish.

Now all of this really depends on you getting stranded where there is a place to actually attempt to get a meal...so you have to make the call. It may be comfort gear, but who knows, you might get lost right by a nice little pond. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />