Fishing with a Primitive Kit : Thorn Hooks & Natural Cordage

This was my first attempt at putting together a fishing kit with locally gathered natural materials. The line is made from stinging nettles, the leader is fireweed, and the hooks are vine maple shanks with Nootka rose thorns attached to them with nettles fibers.

Because the wooden hooks float, I made up some small stone sinkers to pull them down into the water.

I had no trouble getting bites using worms for bait, but the fish were very good at stealing it from the hooks, despite me securing them with a length of nettles fiber.

Every fifth bite or so, I would hook one momentarily only to have it come loose. Eventually the thorn on my first hook failed, so I switched to a slightly more aggressive one and found a better way of securing a portion of a worm onto it.

After close to four hours of trying and at least a dozen lost fish, I was finally able to land a small trout. The real lesson here is to carry hooks and line with you, as they weigh and cost next to nothing and work so much better. Between making the set and trying to catch the fish, I probably had seven or eight hours invested in catching one little trout.

I didn’t film the actual making of the set because this was my first attempt, but will be playing with different designs in the future and will try to show as much of the process as I can.

If you are interested, you can see close up photos of the set at…
https://www.instagram.com/nwprimate/

Materials Used:

Hooks: Vine Maple (Acer circinatum) Nootka Rose (Rosa nutkana), Stinging Nettles (Urtica Dioica)
Line & Leader: Stinging Nettles (Urtica Dioica) & Fireweed (Chamerion angustifolium)
Rod: Big Leaf Maple (Acer Macrophyllum)
Bait: Worms (Lumbricus terrestris)

Music: NOWË – Realize
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZsJ9Q4PyVY