Fish traps greatly simplify the fishing process. Such devices were invented even earlier than the fishing rod itself. Their operating principle is almost the same - the fish swims into an underwater trap, and then cannot get out again. The main advantage of this method is that the fish are not injured. Making a fish trap at home is quite simple. To do this, you need simple materials that can be found in every home.

Characteristics of the main types

Homemade fish traps can be of several types. They are:

1. Stationary. These are hydraulic structures that are attached to the bottom and remain under water for a long period. The simplest version of a stationary trap is stakes between which a net is stretched.
2. Mobile. Portable fishing lures can be divided into tunnel and screen lures.

Tunnel varieties can be made of metal mesh or woven rods. The essence of such a trap is that when a fish gets into it, it simply gets lost in the tunnel, so it cannot get out of it. The structure must be made so that the fish can easily swim into it, but not swim back out.

Screen traps are also called “spiders”. They are distinguished by their flat shape. Most often it is a net stretched between four rods, and a bait with a sinker is attached in the center.

The bait is also placed on top, so as soon as the fish gather near the bait, the net can be immediately raised.

Making a simple trap

Making a fish trap out of a bottle couldn't be easier. Everyone has plastic bottles in their home, so this method is completely free, as there is no need to spend money on materials. Despite the simplicity of this trap, it is quite effective.

To catch small fish, you can take a bottle with a capacity of 1.5 - 2 liters. If you plan to catch large species, then you should take a 5-liter bottle.

Additional materials you will need are wire, rope and fishing line. To make an effective fish trap with your own hands, you need to follow this algorithm:

1. The bottle must be completely freed from the label and washed thoroughly. It is important that the container does not have any foreign odors, as they can scare away prey. Fishermen recommend using a container of mineral water or sunflower oil. You don’t even need to wash the oil bottle; the aroma is pleasant for the fish.
2. The neck of the bottle needs to be cut out and inserted with the neck inside the bottle. The structure must be secured with wire. It must be secured in such a way that it is possible to unscrew the structure and pull out the fish.
3. In order for the container to be immersed under water, a large number of holes of different diameters must be made in it.

After the fishing trap is completely ready, you need to put bait in the middle. It is also important to tie a rope and weight to the bottle so that it does not float away and can be retrieved at any convenient time. For convenience, the weight can be placed directly into the container.

Stationary and unusual designs

It is recommended to catch large specimens using stationary structures. The simplest option is a mesh box. The frame can be made of wooden boards or plastic slats. You can also take two hoops for the waist, so you get a round-shaped trap.

After the frame is prepared, you need to create fastenings. It should be borne in mind that the box must be disassembled in order to get the catch out of it. The walls need to be lined with plastic mesh. To do this, you can take a simple garden net with 1 cm cells or a Chinese nylon net.

The most difficult stage is creating the entrances that will resemble a funnel. They will need to be placed on different sides of the box. The advantage of this design is that it is easy to transport and is suitable for catching fairly large specimens. You can put a jar of fry inside as bait. This type of structure is great for winter fishing.

Another option for traps is a fish-catching screen. You can do it with your own hands quite quickly. This will require thick wire and mesh. Two pieces of wire will hold the net in the water in a standing position to form a kind of screen where the fish will float up. You need to place a feeder in the center; it is important that the bait is washed out of it gradually. It is recommended to lower this structure to a depth of about 2 meters.

More experienced fishermen make their own flat baits for several screens, increasing the number of catches.

Sometimes there are situations when you don’t have a special trap or bottle at hand to make fish traps with your own hands. You can use items that are on hand. This can be a simple pan, gauze or thin cloth. So, you need to stretch gauze over a pan or bucket and secure it well so that it does not fall off under water. You also need to make a hole in the center of the gauze: through it the fish will swim into the container. You can use bread or small grasshoppers as feed.

You can fish even without special fishing gear. Homemade traps do an excellent job of this task. Most of them work on the same principle, so building such a structure yourself will not be difficult.

Attention, TODAY only!

Initially, fish were caught using special traps, and only after that the well-known fishing gear appeared. But some fishermen still use this old, but quite effective fishing method. The main purpose of traps is to help catch live bait. The fact is that fish usually do not live long after being caught on a hook, and therefore quickly cease to attract the interest of the fisherman’s main prey. Using unconventional fishing methods, you can catch much more bait for large fish and at the same time increase your fishing efficiency several times.

How to make your own trap

The design of the trap should be such that once the fish gets into it, it will not be able to get out. With the help of a clever design, the fisherman has the opportunity to catch much more fish.
Now, to make a trap, you can use various improvised and unnecessary materials. Some anglers make traps from wicker, while others use nets that are stretched over a pre-made wire frame, the latter prefer traps made from plastic bottles.

A regular trap made from a plastic bottle

Thanks to modern advances in 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 size of the prey preferred for fishing. For example, it is better to catch live bait using a small 1-2 liter bottle. It is more convenient to catch slightly larger specimens using a 5 liter container.

Before you start making this type of trap, you need to prepare the rope, wire and fishing line in advance.

• At this stage, you need to thoroughly clean the bottle from foreign objects and odors. The ideal option would be to use a plastic bottle of vegetable oil or water. When choosing a bottle of vegetable oil, you don’t have to 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;
• Using wire, fix the cut part in the most optimal place. It would be ideal to fix the cut 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, place the bait inside the trap and tie a weight and rope to it. To avoid snags, it is best to secure the load inside the bottle;
• It is necessary to throw the trap with the neck against the current. When fishing in an area of ​​a reservoir with no current, the trap can be thrown in any position and a rope can be secured to the shore.

Trap, which is a mesh box

To make the frame of the box, you can use any available material, such as 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 mesh;
• Funnels must be installed and secured on both sides of the box. The narrow end of the funnel should face the inside of the box;
• We put the most optimal bait in the trap.
• The finished mesh box can now be immersed in water. If it is made of metal parts, it will go under water on its own, and if it is made of wood, then an additional load must be secured to it.

Archaeological excavations aimed at studying ancient civilizations confirm the fact that sporting equipment for fishing, such as a fishing rod or donkey, appeared much later than nets, seines and simple fish traps.

After all, fishing has become entertainment for people quite recently.

Most of the time, people fished primarily in order to get food for themselves and their families, so they used fishing devices that allowed them to catch a lot of fish at once with minimal human intervention.

At the moment, almost all fish traps are considered poaching fishing gear. The use of nets and more modern tools for killing fish - electric fishing rods, in my opinion, is completely unacceptable from a moral point of view.

If everyone shamelessly destroys fish stocks in our reservoirs, then our children and grandchildren will only be able to contemplate large fish in pictures...

Well, for those into whose moral principles poaching fits very organically, I warn you that the use of various nets and electrofishing is strictly punishable by law, and sometimes by lynching on the part of the right fishermen. So that…

However, it is possible, and sometimes even necessary, to use some types of traps. Fishing nets and small meshes allow you to quickly catch small baitfish. Their use is absolutely legal and justified, because It is not always possible to catch a sufficient number of fry using traditional, sporting methods.

Below, I will tell you how to make a simple mesh and a simple bottle trap with your own hands.

Malyavochnik

This fish trap is known to many as a “spider” or “net-lifter”. Nets of this design are used for commercial fishing in the sea and freshwater bodies.

The use of classic spiders without express permission is prohibited by law. But here’s a smaller version – the little one, with a working area of ​​less than 1 square meter. m. can be used for catching live bait.

Nowadays they are sold in fishing stores. Their prices vary between 800-1500 rubles. So you can just buy a mini spider. But you can make this trap yourself.

To make it you will need:

Manufacturing process

How to use?

Arriving at the pond, we collect the dwarf. Then we tie a strong rope to the ring. We knit its second end to a thick stick-lever, about 3 meters long.

We throw a wad of fine-grained bait into the wren's net and lower the trap into the water 2-3 meters from the shore.

We wait about 10 minutes until the small fish gather near the bait. Then, you need to pull the little fish out of the water as quickly as possible and collect all the bait from it.

The simplest measure

Merezha is the oldest fishing trap, one of the first invented by man. The first hems were woven from flexible branches, then frame structures with mesh appeared, which are actively used to this day.

Merezhi are sold in fishing stores, but you can also make them yourself.

The simplest one can be made from an ordinary plastic bottle or eggplant.

Below, I will tell you in detail how to make a trap.

Tools and materials

• plastic eggplant,
• rope,

How to do it?

That's it, the meringue is ready! Bait is placed in the mesh and the trap is lowered into the water. The fish, lured by the smell of bait, swims inside and, not finding a way out, remains trapped. The fisherman only needs to occasionally take the homemade net out of the water and extract the catch from it.

If you want, you can make a larger hem by making it not from one, but from two identical eggplants. You can see how to make such a trap with your own hands in the article about. The design is similar!

The good thing about a bottle trap is that there is always material for it, literally under your feet.

And if you come fishing and find that you forgot your baitfish at home, or you simply can’t catch live bait with a fishing rod, you can find a couple of plastic bottles on the shore of a reservoir (unfortunately, they are found almost everywhere), and in a matter of minutes you can make one with your own hands an effective trap.

How to catch a lot of live bait?

Now that you know how to make a fish trap, you need to learn how to lure the fry into it. To catch a lot of bait, first of all, you need to choose the right place.

Small fish usually stay in the coastal zone, in shallow waters overgrown with grass. Therefore, there is no point in throwing the merezha and the little fish at a great distance from the shore.

In order for a fish to fall into a trap, it must be lured into it.

To do this, it is advisable to use various baits.

Choose bait mixtures with a fine fraction so that it is convenient for the fry to eat the treat.

In order for the fish to gather in the right place faster, you need to add flavors to the bait, or, even better, attractants. One of the best and strongest attractants that can now be found on sale is FishHungry.

It contains special substances - pheromones, which have a stimulating effect on the nervous system of the fish, thus luring it on a physiological level.

Bait containing FishHungry works much more effectively than mixtures with conventional flavorings: the fish quickly enters the trap and actively absorbs the food, without at all trying to find a way out of the trap.

Finally, I would like to wish all anglers to be conscious and use traps only to catch live bait. Treat nature with care, and then our children and grandchildren will also be able to enjoy sport fishing. No tail, no scales!

What to do if the fish don’t bite in the summer?

How many times did I have to return home without a catch, and if I did catch something, it was only enough for the cat. Bad place, bad weather, should have come yesterday...

Humanity invented fish traps much earlier than our usual fishing gear. The interest of fishermen in catching fish using the most primitive traps has not only not disappeared, but, on the contrary, is becoming increasingly popular every year. Especially when need to catch .

How to make a trap

The principle of the trap is the most elementary: the prey must swim freely into a confined space, attracted by various baits, and the structure will prevent it from getting back out. A cunning device will allow you to take the vast majority of fish caught inside as a trophy.

The most common traps modern fishermen make from ordinary plastic bottles, weave from rods like baskets and are made in the form of mesh boxes with wire funnels going into them.

A simple plastic bottle trap

An elementary and at the same time very reliable and effective trap, which all novice fishermen usually try to fish with, is made from plastic bottles.

If you need small fish to attract predatory fish, take a small bottle (1-2 liters). But if the goal is to catch bigger fish, a five liter bottle is used. You also need a small piece of fishing line, wire or rope, as well as a knife.

Mesh box trap

The box frame is assembled from any available material: plastic water pipes, wooden bars, aluminum profiles and so on.

• A metal mesh with a cell size of about 1 cm is tightly nailed or screwed onto the frame.
• Two funnels are twisted from the same mesh.
• On both sides of the box, holes are cut in the mesh strictly according to the dimensions of the wide end of the funnels.
• The funnels are inserted with the narrow end inside the box and carefully tied with wire.
• Inside also various bait is placed depending on what kind of fish will be hunted (bread, bugs, wasps, grasshoppers, a glass jar with fry) and the trap is immersed in the waters of the reservoir.

Video lesson on making a trap

In the video tutorial below you will learn how to make a fish trap from a plastic bottle. So are you see it in action.

In different conditions of reservoirs and for different breeds of fish with their unique habits, entire generations of fishermen came up with their own, very unique models of traps. Often their patterns and all the nuances of manufacturing were passed on from father to son as the secret of successful fishing.

It would be very interesting to hear about such devices from readers who have personal experience of using them successfully and efficiently!

Fish traps promise the biggest catch to those in distress and in extreme situations. Sometimes they are called wooden ones, snacks, cages and the like. In rivers rich in fish, the daily catch of one fish trap can reach several hundredweight.

However, building a fish trap is quite a long and tedious task and is only worthwhile for passive survival. When the victims stay in one place for a long time, when, once you set a trap, you can harvest the fish every day. Typically, fish traps are built on shallow, narrow rivers and streams that can be blocked across the current, from bank to bank. The design and appearance of fishing rods vary. But the principle of operation of all primitive fishing nets is the same - to block the path of the fish and direct it into a special pen, from which it will be difficult for it to find a way out. That is, the same thing, but enlarged to gigantic sizes.

Primitive fishing nets woven from thin strips of bast.

The 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 don’t confuse these bast nets, whose task is only to block the fish’s path, with fishing nets, in which the fish must get tangled and stuck. These are completely different gear with different purposes.

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

A palisade made of stakes for driving fish into a trap.

In another case, you can do without 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 to each other into the bottom of the river, from one bank to the other. It turns out to be a kind of stockade fence, blocking the fish’s path 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 workpieces are used for construction, vertical stakes can be intertwined with transverse branches, ropes or strips of bast until a classic network shape is obtained (Fig. 14). In addition, the nets can take the form of “wicker nets” 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 flow, it must be attached to stakes previously driven into the bottom (Fig. 14).

The catching part of a fish trap, pen, cage, pocket, top.

All these described bast and pole nets are only a design element of a fish trap, designed to stop and direct the fish to its catching part. The catching part is a corral, a cage, a pocket, etc., in fact, this is the essence of primitive nets. In the center of the net built in one way or another, a narrow passage is left, below which, behind a trap made of the same nets or stakes spread out on poles, a small cage-pen of a triangular, square or any other shape is built. The entrance has the shape of a funnel, deepened 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 can only catch it with the help or catch it with his hands (Fig. 15). Sometimes the entrance to the pen is made in the form of a gradually narrowing spiral. The fish moves along the fence, gets into the 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, you can try to narrow the flow by building small dams of stone and pebbles near the banks. Accordingly, the longer the dams are, the less bast and stakes will be needed for the construction of a wooden network. In rivers with a calm flow, you can try to get by only with a dam made of stones or logs, secured with stakes driven into the ground, and a catch 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 from stone.

The stone trap is a strong, high dam that blocks the flow from bank to bank. We must strive to ensure that the water level in the resulting dam rises 1 - 1.5 meters above the surface of the river. In the upper part of the dam, three or four passages-troughs are left through which the water will drain down. Behind the dam, directly under the falling streams, stakes are driven into the bottom to form cages. The fish that falls into the fish tank along with the water becomes the catch of the fisherman. At least the fish that cannot rise against the flow of water falling from a height (Fig. 16).

For greater guarantee, under the stream of falling water you can place a top woven from branches and placed vertically, like a funnel towards the stream. Thus, the fish immediately falls into the trap with a stream of water. 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 paddock form a funnel (Fig. 17).

Fish traps on wide rivers.

In wide rivers, where it is difficult to block the entire flow, you can 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 method 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, simply drive the fish floating with the current into the preferred branch, 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 install another primitive network. A fish that falls into the sleeve will swim with the flow until the net that blocks its path. When there are quite a lot of fish in the natural cage, the entrance to the sleeve can be covered with stones and earth. The water will stop rising, the sleeve will quickly dry up - and the fish can be collected from the exposed bottom (Fig. 19).

Fish traps on rivers with a single channel.

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

In the dead-end part of the cage, you need to dig a pen-trap in the form of a deep hole, connected to the river by a narrow long channel. When the fish gets into the cage, it must be driven into the trap, making as much noise as possible, and the exit from it must be closed (Fig. 20). In stagnant bodies of water, 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, connected to each other with wire, rope or any other available material for strength.

Based on materials from the book “The Great Encyclopedia of Survival in Extreme Situations.”
Andrey Ilyichev.