BOB canteen fishing system.

[Woods Walker]

Here is a system that I use for my BOB and general hikes etc. The whole fishing set is 3.8 oz. What is so f@cking cool about this is that it really adds no weight to the BOB as canteens are something that is often carried anyways. I used a small 14 oz Nalgene water bottle because it fits a person’s hands well and has a good loop for attaching the lanyard and fishing line. I put about 30-50 feet of line on the bottle. The lanyard is made from 2 feet of Para cord and plastic scavenged out a container with some electrical tape. I will include a link on how to make this. With a some practice this little rig can cast about 30-50 feet with surprising accuracy. You reel in your line by winding it back around the canteen. Why carry around some line and a few hooks and call it an angling kit? With just a tinny bit of work and no added weight to your BOB you can have something that for ranges under 50 feet works just like a real rod and reel. Try it!

Here is the link:

http://edengelman.com/

Here is a photo of my system. I can cast it up to 50 feet and reel it back in fast enough to even use a lure. You can cast it with one hand or two. I have caught tons of fish with it.



Photo of a cast from the posted web site:



It can be cast one handed using your finger holding the line before the toss. Sometimes I use two hands. One to hold the canteen the other to swing the line near the bobber.



Field report.

Normally I do a field report with my gear threads. Sorry to say this was not done in this case. I was targeting brook trout on a stream that feeds into a lake. Then I intended to try luck at the lake for panfish. I was working some small pools for the trout. Sorry for the dark photos but that is just the nature of the woods.



I had a hit with the black fly but no luck. This fly has caught trout before but not today. I did catch something big and stupid however. Rather embarrassing but for full discloser I must report the bad with the good. Was impossible to pull out so needed to cut the shirt.



Moved over the green woolly bugger and it was totally ignored. I guess that is why it is called fishing. I will return to this spot and try a worm with maybe a #8 hook. Normally if looking to eat brookies I use a #12 however these tend to be swallowed. If I get any brookies on the next trip using the BOB canteen fishing setup I will post the photos. Native brookies are fine looking fish.



Followed the stream down to the lake and took a cast. The hand casting system offer good distance with practice. The bobber is out about 50 feet.





Fish on!



A yellow perch taken on the black woolly bugger. The fish was reeled in just like a normal fishing pole.



Here is a sunfish. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. I got maybe 10 more panfish than hiked out.



The only real updates for the BOB canteen fishing system are to use more line than I originally stated. I now put about 100 feet. This does not tangle the line and offers extra backup for knots and breakage. Also I added some weighted bobbers for increased casting distance. This helps in ponds and lakes. But the splash will scare fish in small pools so I kept one of my smaller standard bobbers.

[Blasphemous]

More please

[Brash]

Thats damn cool. I'll try that next time we camp near the lake.

[Woods Walker]

It really works. I have used it sense I was a kid but with a soda can. I didn't have the cash to buy a rod back then so this was the next best thing. I can almost catch as many trout etc with this type of rig as a normal spinning reel/rod. I can’t compare it to my fly rod but I am never without an effective means of catching fish. I tend to use heavier line. Normally with the spinning rod I use 6 lb test. But there is no rod to adsorb the shock and no drag so I go with 8lb test. Anyone can become fairly proficient after a few hours.

I use a rubber band to keep the line in place when using the canteen for water etc. I think anyone that tries it will be impressed at the range.

To cast the rig You can pull some line off and toss the bait/bobber or lure with the other hand and point the canteen in the direction you want. Or with some more practice just use one hand. Often I still go with the two handed method for areas of overgrowth (casting under trees etc).

The line spools off just like a normal spinning rod.

[Dak Kovar]

WW- Good idea! I will have to give it a try. Thanks.
DK

[charlie fox]

I've seen this done with old glass Coke bottles...now I've got to try it!

[Jeriah]

Good info. I will also try this sometime soon, hopefully.

[numberthree]

This is a brilliant idea. I'll be setting up one of these rigs tonight!

[Woods Walker]

One thing I forgot to add is that a swivel is really the best way to connect the line to the bottle loop or can tab as you can tighten the line if it comes a bit undone in the back without re tying it. I just put the swivel back on mine as I forgot when I relined the thing.

[Jeriah]

Went fishing today. We were short a rod, so I almost employed this system, but we ended up improvising a rod using a reel from my friends' BOB and a piece of PVC as a rod. Will post pics soon.

[Omega Storm]

Very cool. I've been wanting to add fishing gear to my BOB and this sounds good.
Thanks.

--------------

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About DOTD ’04:
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[Woods Walker]

Here is a place to buy a hand line system that takes up very little space.

http://www.streamlines.com/

[Woods Walker]

Seeing how the topic of fishing gear came under my BOB thread I will give this a Bump.

[kyle]

Thanks for sharing and for bumping. I totally missed this.

You have the best sig by the way.

[TheFreakinBear]

This is an awesome post. I was going to buy one of those pen fishing poles for like $20 or whatever but I've already got the parts for this and it obviously works. Kick ass! Thanks man!

[Milkboot]

Holy crap, I remember one of my uncles making me one of these at our lake house in Mico, TX I felt so lame using it even tho I wanted to fish with them soooo bad. Now that I look back, I was cool

[canuck]

You've suddenly made the whole fishing system lightweight and feasible.

+1.

[bingo 7]

First of all I wanted to give this a bump anyway. This system is ideal for everyone. I grew up fishing. Where I live we are less than 30 minutes from three nice lakes. It is a rural area with many lakes and of course my favorite, ponds. I love fishing ponds. You never know what you will pull out of one. However, in a PAW or Bug out situation these ponds can be a very good place to look for food. Most of these rural ponds have Perch (Bluegill, Panfish.) They are very easy to catch and will take nearly any bait. They are not my favorite to eat, but they fry up nice.

Now to get to my point. For years I have carried a fishing pole or poles in my vehicle. However, I have destroyed several poles too because of the heat. After I saw this post and the site referred to in it. I decided I would use these in the car. It works great for the kids.

Well I got to thinking about making it more PAW/practical. I have about 50 ft of line wrapped around a old water bottle the kids had practical destroyed. Inside is where things get a little different. I have included a knife, lighter, hand warmers, a little fuse holder that has a jig, sinkers and flies in it and some extra line. I also took some hooks, sinkers, and jigs and placed them on some packing tape. Then I folded the tape back over it. It keeps them all nice and neat.

Here are some pics. Thanks again for the tip WW.


EDIT: I have also added a small ziplock bag of dryer lint. It also keeps things from rattling around. Total weight is right at 6 ozs.

[elricfate]

That's great. Now I can take my spools of fishing line and bits and pieces, and make a bottle fishing kit so I can hand cast rather than what I planned to do...

What I originally planned was finding a stream, taking my hiking staff and affixing a dozen or more hooks onto lines, and space them out along the staff. Then put a bit of something on each hook, and let it sit in the stream. Improvised trot line.

Or just run a real trot line.

[bingo 7]

That's great. Now I can take my spools of fishing line and bits and pieces, and make a bottle fishing kit so I can hand cast rather than what I planned to do...

What I originally planned was finding a stream, taking my hiking staff and affixing a dozen or more hooks onto lines, and space them out along the staff. Then put a bit of something on each hook, and let it sit in the stream. Improvised trot line.

Or just run a real trot line.

What I would do as a kid on the river is attach lines to overhanging tree branches. It worked really well for an incredibly lazy fisherman.

[elricfate]

What I would do as a kid on the river is attach lines to overhanging tree branches. It worked really well for an incredibly lazy fisherman.

Lazy. Yea, that about covers the way I fish. But I was more thinking so you could continue doing other things like collecting firewood for the dinner fire, etc, while still fishing.

But hell, for fishing to relax, I'm definitely going to build a bottle kit. Going to include some band-its, too, since they're extremely cheap to make. Rubberband tied to a hook, split tail, few tie points, etc. This one is the exact example I was looking for.

[Woods Walker]

Original post updated with field report.

[GunTotingHippy]

That's really cool!

I'm a little unclear how you reel it back in with a fish on the line, though . Do you just wrap the line back around the bottle with your hand, or is there some "trick" I'm over looking?

[Dak Kovar]

Woods Walker,
I am going to make one of these and give it a try. Looks like fun. I'll post pics when I get it done later in the summer.

DK