Here is a quick run down of the fishing kits we made for our Bob's during a recent campout. They were not meant to be an end all fishing kit but they were designed to give the basic gear needed to help you eat in an aquatic environment. If you are willing to carry a few pounds of gear then you could go all out with a pack pole and reel but for us we are not around enough water to justify the weight so this is our solution. The tins were free from a friend who is eats them and the bike tube is a blown one from the local bike shop. All the materials for the rest of the kits "except the bass pro line" was bought from Wal-Mart for less than $30.00 and that includes the spool of $13.00 braided line.

First off is a pic of the old stand by can fishing reel. It was my very first time using it and I was stunned to realize that the 30 or so feet of braided line I had was not enough. I don't know how far you can toss one of these but I was extremely surprised at how well it did work.



Here is a after shot of the quick tin preparation I did. The paint was not perfect but it did the job of dulling the tins and hiding the original color scheme.



Next is just a quick shot of all the raw materials that were used to assembly the kit.



Upper left is small panfish hooks in a bulk pack, flies in bulk pack, single edge razor blades, round extra containers in case the tins ran out, tins and some inner tube.
Next row down is assorted jigs and some swivels.
Third row down is splitshot "BB size", larger hooks, treble hooks, some Styrofoam bobbers, braided line and some 10 pound mono.
Bottom row is sewing bobbins, more hooks and some small plastic bags. The 17 pound mono wasn't used.


Here is some of the campout attendees assembling their kits.



A close up shot of winding the mono onto the bobbins, this was the fastest and easiest way we had to do it without an actual sewing machine. You don't need to tie any knots in the line, just run it through the holes in the side of the bobbin a few times and it will hold itself.



Another way to store more line on the tin.



After you are finished cut a ranger band from the bike tube to cover any line wrapped around the tin and to hold the tin closed.



A pic of the finished kit. This one used two bobbins instead of wrapping some of the line on the outside, all of the kits had at least one bobbin of mono on the inside.



As you can see we have the tin and ranger band. Then a baggie with some split shot and a whole mess of hooks in it. Next is a baggie with the jigs and flies, razor blade for cleaning or misc usage, bobbins with line. Bottom row has a ready line, the jig from the pop can reel and a extra bobber. The flies were added since you can use them effectively for small fish without needing to find bait. You can catch large fish on the flies but usually a small Bluegill or Perch is more than willing to bite. A thing to remember it that if the fish is smaller than 4 inches you can eat them without cooking. Just pull the dorsal fins out of the back and chew.



The ready line is a ten or so foot piece of line with a hook, sinker and bobber already tied to it. It is then wrapped around a piece of cardboard. This allows you to pull the kit out find some bait and be fishing without having to rig up a whole new line. It is quick and you can spend just a few minutes trying your luck in multiple spots as you move.


The large hooks and swivels were meant to be used for a small trot line but due to a shortage of braided line the members just ended up stashing some of them in the kit without making  a ready made trot line.


Some of you are probably wondering why the kit has so many hooks in it. I mean if you look at all of the survival fishing kits that are for sale on the internet they only have 3-4 hooks in them, so why do ours have so many? The short answer is that they are cheap, lightweight and it is better to have and not need than to need and not have. The long answer is, you can make a gorge hook out of raw materials but it will take time and energy. I am also not convinced of their fish catching ability since you can only make them so small and still retain the strength needed to hold a fish. The store bought hooks are plenty strong, smaller so you can catch a wider size of fish, need less bait and are easier to use.


As for line we only included what I was able to bring and what we had bobbins for. The mono works much better if you wrap it around the bobbin than wrapping it around the tin. If you don't have enough you can always gut some paracord and use the inner strands for line, you could also make cordage from wild sources but that takes a very long time. The tins had some leftover room and if we would of had the materials I would of filled them with some more line and maybe some type of wire leader for Turtles and toothy fish and fire starter.


I feel also that I should say a word on making cordage. If you don't know how then I would suggest that you learn, once you learn it is a very handy skill to know. But eventually the day will come where you have slaved and sweated to make a very nice three foot section of cord from raw materials. Then you will see some third world person on the Discovery channel spitting cordage out by the yard while you watch. The first time I saw that I was sick but eventually you get over it and learn that it is just easier to bring premade line.



Happy fishing
Omni

Nice assembly line there gents. Nice little kit as well.

Altoids tin???

Looks like a pretty damn good kit to me.  small and compact yet holds plenty.

good basic kit, good job.

recently i was fishing with my kit and 4 others had poles.
while they cuaght larger fish...i caught more... remeber your catching to eat not for a trophy

Good set up. Made me look mine over again.

I like it. Nice set up. My set up is a little larger, but I might have to copy some aspects of your set up.

Quoted: Altoids tin???

Yep, Altoids tin FTW.

Omni

Excellent looking little fishing kit. I will be putting one of these together for myself following your tutorial.

Those are neat little kits and it's a good job, but I've never after decades of fishing ever caught much of anything with those plastic chub/sinker head lures alone.
I've found them good to use with an attachment spinner reeling them slowly through the water, but not just jiggin them alone. It's not going to be better without a reeled rod either.
I think you'd be better off for space and weight just getting rid of them and put more hook and sinker variety in there place. Live bait is always a winner and there is always some around if you just look for it under logs, brush and soil.

great kit

I found a neat little plastic box at wal mart in the fly fishing section.  It's about the size of an altoids tin, but might be a tad bit slimmer.  It's divided into 6 sections, but you can adjust them to whatever size you need.  Basically a mini mini tackle box for flies, but I found it perfect for a mini fishing kit, and cost less than 2 bucks.

Looks like a 6WI 12WO party..

Excellent post...and why and the heck didn't I think of the drill for reeling the spool up

I like you size a little better and I have a couple small tins about the same size.  The inner-tube band is more than sufficient as you kit doesn't really need to be waterproof and if you're worried, drop the thing in a Ziplock.  I also like your thinner elongated bubbles...I'll have to pick a few of them up as well.  Only recommendation would be a few large safety pins...you can actually fabricate a fishing pole if you a small sappling and attach the safety pins, bend the rear end for the eyelet and attach with 100mph tape, wire or Spyderwire fish line.

Right now I have a couple small kits in a small Nalgene bottle...a little bigger than a film canister:





More expensive than an empty coke can (which work very well BTW), is a hand-line (the blue thing in the upper right hand part of the picture) I found a few years ago...just a little more durable and holds more line but the same concept and it works very well.



I was home on R&R from Iraq last spring and took the kids hiking...we used our little compact fishing kits to catch several small sun fish...



ROCK6

I applaud your efforts gentlemen.  Those are outstanding kits!  

What kind of fishing rod is that?

Quoted: What kind of fishing rod is that?

It's an EMMROD fishing pole.  Kind of spendy but other than being compact, breaks down and casts very well...it's also very robust.

ROCK6

Don't forget guys you can also catch birds with those kits.

BTT- this is a great thread

you have given me a couple of good ideas to make mine more compact, the bobbin's and the hooks held together by putting them on safety pins. Why I didn't think of those two I don't know, those are great kits btw too.

Does anyone has link to that blue handline? Thanks.

Quoted: Does anyone has link to that blue handline? Thanks.

www.streamlines.com/order.html

Quoted: Looks like a 6WI 12WO party..

??? ???

Tag

Hey ROCK6. I jus picked up that same pole. Havent used it.

As far as anyone with a survival fishing kit, have you used it? Does it work?

Protus is the ONLY person Ive seen use one with success. Ive spent MANY hours in the same pond and only caught weeds. lol. IMO Poleless kits have very low success rate. Im anxious to try the lil pole I got. I feel itll increase my odds.

I love to fish and the kits look great with one exception
I would lose the plastic baits and go to marabou jigs
Same idea but they won’t melt over time

Pole less kits are not the best but I bet most of us have a knife and para cord so now we have a pole
My aunt only fished with a cane pole and she caught plenty
Get some bigger hooks and enough line and you can make trot-lines and throw lines
Catch the bait, set them and do what else needs to be done
Sun fish taste great too

Quoted: Quoted: Does anyone has link to that blue handline? Thanks. www.streamlines.com/order.html

thanks!

Quoted: Quoted: Looks like a 6WI 12WO party.. ??? ???

Reference to the survival manual the folks over at the USRSOG site put out.

6WI 12WO is the abbreviation for the name of the manual,

Six ways in, twelve ways out.

where can you get those tins from??  besides buying a $3 pack of altoids......I would like a plain small tin no wording on it

It doesn't have to be a tin, you can use anything that you want. Most of these were the generic brand of Altoid knockoffs. As an alternative you can buy one of the small fishing boxes from the sporting section of any big box store, or look around in the sewing/hobby section for a box.