An excellent and non-standard version of the top, muzzle, netting (as soon as they are not called) is a do-it-yourself fish trap.

It seems to be the simplest, but with some changes from those made from plastic bottles.

You will always catch live bait with such a home-made fishing device.

Self-made trap-muzzle from PVC bottles for catching fish (live bait)

You will need a couple of plastic bottles with a volume of 5 liters. In these, water is also sold in the store.

At the first bottle, cut off 1/4 of the distance from the neck. It turns out 2 parts. At the short part, we cut off the neck completely (so the live bait will pass larger).

At the second bottle, we cut off the bottom completely, leave the neck with the lid - we get a through plastic tunnel with a lid.

Now let's connect the long part of the first one to the tunnel. We make a circle where the bottles are connected by holes with a soldering iron. And then we tie-stitch with fishing line.

We turn the short part of the first bottle down with a bottleneck and insert it into our resulting design.

With a soldering iron, we make holes in the connection of the funnel and the tunnel next to each other and tighten with fishing line.

We repeat (making holes and pulling the fishing line together) from all four sides.

We make many holes throughout the form so that the water passes and tie a good handle to the beginning of the funnel.

Here you have a homemade fish trap with your own hands from improvised means.

Video below to make it clearer.

Homemade fish trap from PVC bottles - Video

Fish traps promise the greatest catch for those in distress and in an extreme situation. Sometimes they are called wooden, snacks, cages and the like. In rivers rich in fish, the daily catch of one fish trap can reach several centners.

However, the construction of a fish trap is a rather long and tedious business and justifies itself only with passive survival. With a long stay of the victims in one place, when, once setting a trap, you can harvest fish every day. Typically, fish traps are built on shallow, narrow rivers and streams that can be blocked across the current, from coast to coast. The device and appearance of fishing are different. But the principle of operation of all primitive fishing nets is the same - to block the path of the fish and direct it to a special pen, from which it will be difficult for it to find a way out. That is, the same one, but enlarged to a gigantic size.

Primitive fishing nets woven from thin strips of bast.

Most similar to their rope counterpart are primitive nets woven from thin strips of bast. They are made on the shore, and then stretched between vertical stakes driven into the ground across the water flow. Moreover, the smaller the spans of the network, the easier it will be to weave them. Just do not confuse these bast nets, the task of which is only to block the path of the fish, from fishing nets, in which that fish should get tangled and stuck. These are completely different gear for different purposes.

Small, slow flowing rivers can be blocked off with a simplified network model consisting of only vertical stripes. To do this, thin strips of bast at equal distances are tied with their ends to two straight poles. One pole, weighted with stones, is laid on the bottom of the river, the other is raised above the water on vertical stakes ending in forks. Thus, the water stream is cut by frequent vertical stripes through which the fish cannot pass (Fig. 13).

Palisade of stakes for corralling fish into a trap.

In another case, you can do without a bast, the preparation of which requires a certain skill, but you will have to prepare a considerable number of straight stakes. The stakes are sharpened on one side and driven close together into the bottom of the river, from one bank to the other. It turns out a kind of fence-palisade, blocking the path of the fish downstream. The distance between the stakes is chosen depending on what kind of fish the fisherman expects to catch, but usually does not exceed 1-2 cm. It is enough to leave wider holes in two or three places - and almost all the fish will go downstream through them.

For greater reliability, especially if curved blanks are used for construction, vertical stakes can be intertwined with transverse branches, ropes or strips of bast until a classic net shape is obtained (Fig. 14). In addition, the nets can be in the form of a "wattle" lowered into the water, where long straight poles are attached to two or three vertical posts. In order for such a net to stand vertically and not be carried away by the stream, it must be attached to stakes driven into the bottom in advance (Fig. 14).

Catching part of a fish trap, corral, cage, pocket, top.

All these described bast and pole nets are only a structural element of a fish trap, designed to stop and direct the fish into its trapping part. The catching part is a paddock, a cage, a pocket, and so on, in fact, is the essence of primitive networks. A narrow passage is left in the center of the network constructed in one way or another, below which, behind a trap of the same nets or stakes spread on poles, a small cage-corral of a triangular, square or any other shape is constructed. The entrance has the shape of a funnel, deepened by about a third into the cage.A large fish caught in a trap cannot find its way back, accumulating in dead-end pockets, and the fisherman has to get it with help or catch it with his hands (Fig. 15). Sometimes the entrance to the paddock is made in the form of a gradually narrowing spiral. The fish moves along the fence, gets into a spiral, and along it - into the cage(Fig. 15) .

Dams as an element of a fish trap, a stone fish trap.

In some cases, to facilitate the construction of a fish trap, one can try to narrow the stream by building small dams near the banks of stone and pebbles. Accordingly, the longer the dams are, the less bast and stakes will be needed to build a wooden network. In rivers with a calm current, one can try to get by with only a dam of stones or logs, fixed with stakes driven into the ground, and a trapping cage built in the gap between two dam sections close to each other. In the absence of a significant number of stakes, a fish trap can be made of stone.

The stone trap is a solid, high dam that blocked the flow from coast to coast. We must strive to ensure that the water level in the resulting dam rises to 1 - 1.5 meters above the surface of the river. In the upper part of the dam, three or four passages-gutters are left, through which the water will drain down. Behind the dam, directly under the falling jets, stakes are driven into the bottom, forming cages. The fish that fell into the cage along with the water becomes the prey of the fisherman. At least the fish that cannot rise against the current of water falling from a height (Fig. 16).

For a greater guarantee, under a stream of falling water, you can substitute a top woven from branches and placed vertically, like a funnel on the stream. Thus, the fish with a jet of water immediately falls into the trap. A simplified version of the top-cage can be built from stakes driven into the bottom next to each other with a 20-30-centimeter branch extending to the side. Branches close to each other and directed inside the corral form a funnel (Fig. 17).

Traps for fish on wide rivers.

In wide rivers, where it is difficult to block the entire flow, it is possible to build fish traps near one of the banks. And in order for the fish to go in the right direction, stand in the middle of a free stream and create noise in every possible way (Fig. 18).

Another very effective way of "net fishing" is to direct the fish into separate branches of the river, which are then drained. To do this, you need to find a place where the channel is divided into two or more branches, choose the shallowest one, and block the river itself using any of the methods described above.

And if this is not possible, just drive the fish floating downstream into the chosen sleeve, making as much noise as possible in the main stream. Accordingly, in the place where the branch connects to the river, it is necessary to put another primitive network. A fish that enters the sleeve will go with the flow until the net that blocks its path. When there are enough fish in the natural cage, the entrance to the sleeve can be filled up with stones and earth. The water will stop coming, the sleeve will quickly dry up - and the fish can be collected from the exposed bottom (Fig. 19).

Traps for fish on rivers with a single channel.

The same principle can be used on rivers with a single channel. To do this, a part of the stream must be blocked with a primitive net and the fish should be directed inside a long cage-sleeve arranged parallel to the shore.

In the dead-end part of the cage, it is necessary to dig a corral-trap in the form of a deep hole connected to the river by a long narrow canal. When the fish gets into the cage, it is necessary, making as much noise as possible, to drive it into a trap and close the exit from it (Fig. 20). In stagnant reservoirs, traps are made in the form of labyrinths, consisting of many semicircles and spirals connected to each other. The role of the entrance is performed by two semicircles located close to each other, forming a narrow figured corridor. Such a trap is also constructed from stakes driven into the bottom, for strength connected to each other by wire, rope or any other available material.

Based on the materials of the book "The Big Encyclopedia of Survival in Extreme Situations".
Andrei Ilyichev.

As long as there are fish in the water, fishing will remain an effective tool for survival. Another thing is that not everyone can sit for hours with a fishing rod waiting for a bite. In the conditions of stationary survival, for example, there are many other urgent matters, so spending time on active fishing is not rational. But here is a completely different matter.

Passive fishing is different in that human participation in it is minimal - established fish trap, added bait and went about his business. After a while he returned - collected a catch. Saves a lot of time and effort though. But there is one difficulty - you need to know where to set traps and how to properly equip them. This is what will be discussed in our article.

Traps for fish can be conditionally divided into portable and stationary. Stationary - this is when a heavy wooden-bast structure is installed on the bottom of a shallow river, or even completely blocks it. Of course, it requires a lot of work both during construction and during installation. But being built once, it can bring a stable catch every day, which is especially useful for stationary survival. With portable traps, everything is much simpler, but they also bring less prey, respectively.

portable fish traps

They are also called peaks. The working principle of these fish traps simple. Something edible is placed in the middle, and the trap itself is placed near the shore. The fish swims in, but cannot swim back out, because the inlet suddenly becomes difficult to reach. Fish have a real problem getting through these holes, because when they are in a confined space, they start to panic, fuss and poke anywhere but the exit. After that, the top is taken out, the far edge is untied and the catch is collected.

To make a simple top, we need thin but strong branches. Willow in this regard is perfect, since its bark (bast) can be additionally used to fix knots. First we make a frame. To do this, we need 4 long poles and 4-5 thinner poles, which will need to be rolled into rings. They need to be assembled in such a way that an oval structure is obtained, open on one side. After it is ready, we twist the frame with thin willow branches so that the fish cannot exit through the makeshift cells. At this stage, you can adjust the approximate size of the catch - if you make the gap larger, then every little thing can slip out.

Now we need to do something with the output. You can carefully bend the ends of the long poles inward and tie them in such a way that a funnel with a round hole is formed. You can break the ends of the poles so that they at least hold on to the bark, but this will weaken the structure. You can also initially choose poles with lateral processes, which will form a funnel. The size of the entire structure should be about a meter.

There are also other design options. traps for fish. The simplest, with which you can only catch fry in your ear, is a plastic bottle with a cut off neck and inserted back to front. Exactly the same funnel, exactly the same top. Only small. Also, if you're lucky, you can find a hollow log, hollow it out, and close one edge with a lid with a hole in the middle. But still, the weaving option is the most normal, since the design is light, durable, roomy and quite comfortable.

Stationary traps with partitioning

The principle is the same as for ordinary vertices. The difference is only in scale. Such traps usually completely block small rivers, completely controlling the movement of fish along it. They consist of two parts - a partition wall and two sides of the "funnel". The main problem will be to catch a fish that cannot get out of the pen anywhere. Various nets, cuts of fabric and small nets are suitable here.

There are several options for the design of partitions. The simplest is a pole fence. To do this, you will need thick and not very willow branches, from which you will need to weave a fence so that its height is enough to the bottom of the river. And for this, respectively, it will be necessary to measure the depth. That is why stationary traps are more often equipped on shallow rivers, since it is extremely difficult to weave massive structures.

Stationary dam traps

More difficult option fish traps, since it implies the construction of a dam and the formation of a difference in water levels “before” and “after”. A shallow river is blocked by a high dam so that the level rises at least a meter. This is already a difficult moment, since it will require a large amount of resources, and it is difficult to make a sustainable dam. But if you succeeded and the level began to rise, forming a small dam in front of the barrier, then you can proceed further. The water will drain through several holes, so the areas below them need to be blocked off with a pole fence installed at the bottom of the river. You can even make larger cells in it so that the little things can slip out, but the big fish remain.

Stationary side branch traps

There are two options. A simple one, implying blocking a part of the stream and forming a cage from a part of the river, and a more complex one, implying digging a deep flooded pit or cage sleeve. Both options are very effective, especially for deep rivers that are difficult to block completely. The construction of these fish traps in the following way.

Part of the river is blocked by a high fence set at an angle in the direction opposite to the flow. Another fence approaches this fence from the inside, thus forming a small passage that can be blocked in case of emergency. And then it remains only to catch fish from the paddock. To facilitate this task, you can dig a small but deep hole, where the fish will need to be driven by noise and loud screams from the fenced off part of the river.

You can also use the option with an artificial channel. To do this, we do not make a hole, but a channel, which on one side is blocked by a fence, and on the other end just goes into the built paddock. We drive the fish into the channel, after which we block the filling entrance. The water will quickly leave and the fish can be collected from the bottom.

All of these options are quite effective, but require a lot of labor costs at the construction stage. Therefore, they make sense only if you do not plan to leave this territory anywhere. In addition, the effectiveness of fish traps is slightly reduced in the cold season, because the fish are not too active.

The first way to catch fish was to use traps. The first of these were muzzles, tops and similar traps. Such traps can be left for a long time and do other things. Periodically, the traps just needed to be checked. The design of the traps implies their purpose. For example, there are muzzles for small fish and large ones. The first are mobile. They can be made of mesh fabric and are easily rolled up so that they can be easily moved. Large traps, such as muzzles, are made from flexible branches with large rings.

They move with great difficulty. Usually the fisherman leaves the snouts in the water, and then simply takes the prey. After that, the muzzle again plunges into the water. Thus, traps can be divided into stationary and mobile. The former are easy to move and can be carried with you, while the latter always remain at the fishing spot. Mobile traps can be divided into tunnel and screen traps.

Stationary traps can be whole huge structures. One of the traps may look like a fence built in the lake. It can be a tricky maze for fish. It can be created at the place of high and low tide. The fish swims there, and after a while the damper closes. So she ends up in a trap. Some poachers block shallow river passages with nets. The fish gets there and is trapped. Such a labyrinth is called a katisk. There is a portable version of it called merezha. It is made from mesh fabric.

Above, a little was said about the top, in addition to it, there are such portable traps as a box, muzzle, head over heels. They are used in all fishing places in Russia. Fish enter them through a narrow mesh tunnel, which narrows as they enter.

Screen traps are a type of tackle that is designed to catch small nimble fish. These include tiny crucian carp, bleak, top melter. The mesh is stretched between the wire arcs. The mesh on wire arcs bends down so that the fish gets tangled in it. You can use the following technique. Bait and weights are placed in the center of the net. In places where fish are collected, they sink into the reservoir. This can be done in the bushes. Feed is also thrown from above into the water. Then you need to wait a while for the fish to gather. Suddenly the screen goes up. Now it's time to collect the fish in a jar.

The trap can be made from a large plastic bottle. In such containers, clean drinking water is sold in stores. The neck of a plastic bottle is cut off. Then holes are made in its body along the entire length. In the resulting glass after cutting, the neck is inserted backwards. In the bottle body, you can build a door to extract the fish. A strong cord is threaded through these holes or through the neck of the bottle. By the way, in one of the manufacturing versions, instead of a door, you can make a large incision on the body and use it to extract fish. Bait is also placed inside through the door. As a result, it turns out a good device for catching fish. It is better to place it against the current or in places of accumulation of crucian carp. Well suited coastal swampy places of rivers or stagnant ponds, lakes. You can watch the behavior of fish in a pond or lake. Find out where they are most concentrated.

Initially, fish were caught with the help of special traps, and only after that the well-known fishing tackle appeared. But some fishermen still use this old, but quite effective method of fishing. The main purpose of traps is to help catch live bait. The fact is that after being caught on a hook, the fish usually does not live long, and therefore quickly ceases to attract the interest of the fisherman's main prey. With the help of non-traditional fishing methods, you can catch much more baits for large fish and at the same time increase the effectiveness of fishing many times over.

How to make your own trap

The design of the trap should be such that once in it, the fish could no longer get out. With the help of a cunning design, the fisherman has the opportunity to catch a much larger number of fish.
Now, to make a trap, you can use various improvised and unnecessary materials. Some anglers make traps out of vines, while others use nets that are stretched over a prefabricated wire frame, the latter favoring traps made from plastic bottles.

Plain plastic bottle trap

Thanks to modern achievements of science and technology, production began to produce products in plastic bottles of various shapes and capacities. Therefore, now you can easily find a plastic bottle and use it to make an effective trap.

The size of the bottle directly depends on the dimensions of the prey preferred for catching. For example, it is better to catch live bait with a small 1-2 liter bottle. Several large specimens are more convenient to catch using a 5 liter container.

Before proceeding with the manufacture of this type of trap, it is required to prepare a rope, wire and fishing line in advance.

• At this stage, it is required to thoroughly clean the bottle from foreign objects and odors. The ideal option would be to use a plastic bottle from vegetable oil or water. When choosing a bottle from vegetable oil, you can not wash it, since the smell of oil is a kind of bait for fish;
• Now you can cut off the neck about a third of the bottle and insert it with the neck inside the plastic container;
• With the help of a wire, fix the cut off part in the most optimal place. It would be ideal to fix the cut off part in no more than four places. This will allow you to quickly and accurately remove the caught fish;
• For quick immersion in water, it is recommended to make many small holes. The holes will also help reduce the trap's resistance to water in the presence of strong currents;
• At the penultimate stage, put the bait inside the trap and tie a weight and rope to it. To avoid hooks, it is best to fix the load inside the bottle;
• It is necessary to throw the trap with the neck against the current. When fishing in a section of a reservoir with no current, the trap can be thrown in any position and a rope can be fixed on the shore.

Trap, which is a mesh box

For the manufacture of the frame of the box, you can use any material at hand, such as an aluminum corner, wood, plastic or aluminum water pipes, etc.

• It is necessary to stretch a mesh of any material onto a pre-prepared frame, the main thing is that the cell size is no more than 1 centimeter. A metal mesh is also suitable for this trap;
• Now two funnels are formed from the same grid;
• Funnels must be installed and fixed on both sides of the box. The narrow end of the funnel should face the inside of the box;
• We lay the most optimal bait in the trap.
• The finished mesh box can now be immersed in water. If it is made of metal parts, then it will go under water by itself, and if it consists of wood, then in addition to it, it is required to secure the load.