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Making a Fish Trap
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Booshway
Picture of Idaho Mountainneer
posted
Last Saturday I went to a class at our local college for primitive skills and learned how to make fish traps. We made one in the class. The next day I hiked down to the Snake River and decided I wanted to put my new knowledge to the test by actually making one in primitive conditions and not in a class room.

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First I found some willows and pealed the bark off. The knife in the pic was my only tool for the whole project.

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I then put the bark strips in the water to soak.

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I gathered some smaller willows and stuck then in the mud in a circle.

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Then I made a loop out of a small green willow

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I put the willow loop inside the circle and then filled in the rest of the circle with more willows. Taking the bark I began to weave the loop to the sticks.

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I put two loops on the trap. One at the mouth and one about the middle. These loops hold everything together and also keep the trap open.

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Then I tied the tops together.

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And the final product. I still need to make a funnel so the fish can't get back out.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Idaho Mountainneer,
 
Posts: 330 | Location: Twin Falls ID | Registered: 29 January 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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Nice work! Too bad fish traps are illegal in Idaho, but it is a nice skill to know.


Scarhand
 
Posts: 226 | Location: Fort Hall, ID | Registered: 11 October 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of Idaho Mountainneer
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Scarhand,
It is illegal to trap game fish. Now how you keep 'em out of your trap is sometin' I ain't figured out yet Smiler And why you would want to trap anything else, well I reckon most anything is edible but maybe not to tasty.
 
Posts: 330 | Location: Twin Falls ID | Registered: 29 January 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Graybeard
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I know. Have you ever eaten edible wild plants? I have and know why they've never made it to the grocery store.


Scarhand
 
Posts: 226 | Location: Fort Hall, ID | Registered: 11 October 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Greenhorn
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Good looking trap.

And by the way there are some wild edibles that are very much worth eatting, others not soo much.
 
Posts: 39 | Location: Nebraska | Registered: 30 December 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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If you're looking for quantities of fish to smoke or dry for the winter, pretty much any fish will work. It's all about the preperation. I wouldn't try to braise a carp in garlic butter (hmmm, or would I???), but deep fried or smoked, they are passable as food fare.

As far as keeping game fish out...don't think you can. You just need to release them as soon as possible. If you have a bucket of rough fish and a warden sees you checking your trap and relesing the game fish, I'm sure you will be OK...just don't put a trout in the bucket...unless there is a apecific law that says NO FISH TRAPS ALLOWED, then you might have a problem.

Good looking trap. Let us know if it works.

L8R...Ken
 
Posts: 403 | Location: In the Hardwoods of Eastern Iowa | Registered: 15 November 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
Picture of Will Ghormley
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Awesome trap! I peel all my willows, because the bark loosens after soakin' in the water a spell, and it can make the whole thing rickety. There are other emergency fish traps that can be made on the bank as well. Fish trappin' is one of the coolest survival skills EVER! I'm surprised it isn't a Federal crime.

Will


"When Liberty is illegal, only outlaws will be free." Will Ghormley

In 1913, the gold and silver backed dollar was worth a dollar. Today, that same greenback is worth 3 cents. In just under 100 years, the Federal Reserve Bank has made the dollar virtually worthless. Will Ghormley

"Exploit your strengths. Compensate for your weaknesses." Will Ghormley
 
Posts: 657 | Location: Ankeny, Iowa | Registered: 28 January 2009Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Factor
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I have seen images of fish traps used in locations where the tidal change is measured in feet (several). These consist of scooping out a little place in the sand/mud or other bottom and lining the ocean side with a palisade of rock. Tide comes in. Water gets deep. Tide goes out. Some fish stay in the man made "deeper" water. Tide goes out more, fish are high and dry.

"Here we go gathering (fish) nuggets in May..."

Sparks


"I thought when you said you chased tornadoes, it was just a metaphor."
--soon to be ex-fiance in Twister
 
Posts: 247 | Location: Boise | Registered: 12 November 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Very interesting thank you for sharing the knowledge and the pictures. It would be interesting to try but I wonder, as others have, if the game warden would fine first and ask questions later.

BC


"Better fare hard with good men than feast it with bad."
Thomas Paine
 
Posts: 649 | Location: Oregon | Registered: 27 June 2011Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Booshway
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Awesome man I've made one, not primitive, but out of a big soda bottle. Cut the top and take off the cap and slide it
Back into itself and add some holes to sink it and point the opening upstream. Caught a minnow and a small
Bass


Wild as the wind
 
Posts: 404 | Location: Hittin the road | Registered: 10 October 2007Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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