Catching Food at Sea

Catching Food at Sea

If you don’t get rescued or find land within a day, you will want to find food. Fishing is the obvious answer, but you can also eat seabirds, planktons, seaweed, etc.

Small fish will gather underneath your raft. A simple handline, hook, and lure will do the trick. Even a simple survival kit will have a small fishing kit in it.

If you don’t have fishing line, any string can work. Shoelaces, paracord, etc. If you do have fishing line, be careful not to cut yourself. Anything flashy makes a good lure. Be very careful with the hook or anything sharp if in an inflatable liferaft.

When you do catch a fish, use its guts as bait.

Do not hang around after spilling blood in the ocean. It may attract sharks.

World's Most Dangerous Fish

1. Puffer. puffer fish Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images Plus
2. Red Lionfish. red lionfish
3. Candiru. candiru © Morphart Creation/COMEO—Shutterstock.
4. Great White Shark. great white shark
5. Moray Eel. mosaic moray eel
6. Tigerfish. Tigerfish
7. Piranha
8. Stonefish.

Hand Fishing

You can even fish when you have absolutely no equipment. Hand fishing, which is also called noodling, graveling, or hogging, is a primitive, backcountry fishing technique.

hand fishing

It involves grabbing the fish directly from its hiding spot with your hand. It’s most often seen when fishing for catfish and suckers, who like to hide in dark places like hollow logs, undercut banks, and holes under rocks.

You start by blocking the hole, then slowly reach inside. Once you touch the fish, slide your hand along its side until you can grab the mouth or gills. Grip tight and pull the fish out. Beware of the catfish’s barbels, which fan out around its mouth. These barbs can sting, causing pain and irritated skin.

Fish Traps

A survival fish trap is an easy and passive way to catch fish. Start with a container and fashion an inverted funnel that opens up into it. The idea is that the fish swim through the funnel and into the trap then can’t figure out how to get out.

Be sure to make your trap big enough to capture the size of fish you’re trying to catch. You can also use this style of trap to catch minnows and fish fry for bait. A pop bottle with the top removed and inverted to create a funnel can be highly effective.