Fish can be a great source of protein for your family in any survival situation or bug-out location. Not only will fish keep you nourished, but you will likely find it easier to focus your food-catching efforts in streams and lakes instead of hundreds of acres of forest, where small game and birds reside.

There are a variety of methods you can use to nab fish from local bodies of water and land them in your cook pot or campfire. Some take a good deal of time and energy to perform, but don’t require much up-front effort, while others can be set ahead of time and work for you as you multitask. Let the fishing begin.

How to find fish

So, where are they? If you’re going to get fish for dinner, the first thing you need to know is where in the lake or stream you will find them. Like any wild animal, their lives are based on where to get food and where to find shelter. Following are some ideas that will get you started:

• A structure of some kind—like logs, rocks, piers or even thick plants—provide fish somewhere to hide.
• Look in weed beds or other submerged vegetation. Weed beds are like food courts for fish. They provide cover for small fish, and small fish attract bigger fish.
• Curves along the bank or cutouts in the bank provide more shoreline and slower-moving water. Fish will come here for the food and because the swimming is easier.
• The entrance or exit point for any body of water. There will always be more food here because the bottom gets churned up a bit from the faster moving water, and that releases more food. It also serves as a funnel, which concentrates the fish moving through it.

Spear Fishing

For many, the first thing that comes to mind when trying to get a fish without a fishing pole is Tom Hanks’s character in “Castaway.” Remember how he stalked shallow waters with a sharp stick?

Although this can be a great way to bring food to hand, it’s the closest one to hunting; therefore, this takes more skill, experience, time and energy to be successful.

One of the main challenges with this approach is an optical illusion called refraction, which makes fish look closer than they are.

Fortunately, there is a way around this problem. Instead of holding your spear above the water and thrusting it at the fish (where the movement and splash will give away your attack), keep the tip of your spear under the water and slowly work your way through the water until a fish swims toward you.

At that point, you’ll either thrust your spear or slowly move it toward the fish from behind, being careful not to move too quickly so you don’t scare it away. Make sure to follow through to ensure you get a good hit and pin it to the bottom, which will … Read the rest

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