Fishing is a very enjoyable hobby and a great way to spend time outside with family and friends. But when it comes to emergency situations, fishing becomes a necessity, an essential skill that will help you survive.
Untoward events can change everything instantly, and you may be left outdoors without any supplies or equipment. During a crisis or disaster, finding food for yourself and your family is a top priority, and knowing how to catch fish without any equipment or gear can make a huge difference. So here’s a very simple and easy way to catch fish for survival by using a plastic bottle.
How to Catch Fish with a Plastic Bottle
No matter what happens, one thing is certain: You can find plastic bottles almost anywhere. Although plastic is not good for the environment, it can come in handy for various purposes, especially when you are desperate for food.
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All you need is a clear, two-liter plastic bottle and a cutter or a knife.
#1. Cut the plastic bottle above the middle line. In the absence of a knife or a cutter, you can just heat a piece of metal or a rod and use it to cut the plastic.
#2. Make another cut a little below the opening of the bottle to widen the opening, as shown in the photo.
#3. Find a lake or a body of water that teems with fish, and you’re all set to catch one!
#4. Place a small piece of rock or stone in the bottle to anchor it to the bottom; then put in your bait. It can be bread, corn, cheese, or any leftover food. You can also use earthworms or insects if available.
#5. Take the cone of the bottle and insert it upside down into the lower part, as shown in the photo, and voila! You have a simple yet very effective fish trap. The cone of the bottle should fit snugly in the body and won’t come off once you put it in the water.
#6. Place the trap at the bottom of the water. If the water is deep, you can poke a hole in both sides of the bottle and tie a string to it so you can pull the bottle up once your catch is inside. It will also help secure the trap.
#7. If fish are abundant in the area, it will just take a few minutes before you get your catch. Once inside, the fish won’t be able to get out because they will try to get through the clear sides. The bigger fish won’t be able to swim back out either.
#8. Simply pull the bottle up, and you have your dinner! 
In a survival situation, even a fish as small as this can add to your family’s chances of staying alive. If you can make several sets of this trap, you can catch enough fish to sustain you daily.
Emergency situation or not, this is also a fun and easy way to catch fish with your kids.
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My husband and I go fishing at least once a month at the coast near us, and we have used this method to catch bait fish, shrimp, and crabs. We make up several traps and hang them to the under side of the pier either late at night or early morning. Have never failed to catch plenty of fish. The cool thing about this trap is that the larger fish can’t get to your bait until you take it out to use to catch the larger fish. And if you are a survivalist you will have several hooks with you to make fishing poles so you can fish for bigger meals. Excellent information with great pictures and instructions. Enjoy reading your posts all the time.
When I was a kid, eons and eons ago all of us kids used to fish for small fish with window screen. Tie the four corners of a piece of window screen with a leader and then tie the four leaders to a heavier piece of string. you can push a small string or button thread through the holes in the screen to tie your bait to the screen so the fish can’t grab the bait and run.
Let the screen down into the water to where you can’t see it. Wait some period of time and suddenly pull the screen up. You will wind up with several fish in the screen and sometimes even get a fairly decent size crappie or bluegill.
I am sure this method of catching crappie or bluegill is today against some vague fishing rule passed by bureaucrats who have never fished in their lives, but that long ago I am not even sure there were game wardens to harass seven and eight year olds as we see today with cops out closing down lemonade stands in the name of public safety.
If we caught a little fish, we cut it up and made bait out of it which was sure to attract bigger fish. Fish are not bashful about eating their younger brothers and sisters.
This is a great way to turn trash into a fish trap. Even if you can’t find an old bottle, don’t forget this is how traditional fish traps have been made for thousands of years. Any kind of container can be turned into a trap if you can put a cone inside the opening. Fish get in, then can’t find their way back past the cone. You can even weave a trap like this from thin branches, with some practice.
Good article for survival skills, but if you’re looking for a little better set-up for bait fish a one time purchase of a minnow trap might be a wise buy.
When I first read the title I thought the article was going to be about jugging…. maybe another good topic ?
I agree with PB-Dave. A minnow trap for fishing in what are called rivers here in SoCal and called creeks or intermittent streams most other areas of the country is probably your best bet for catching the kind of fish that live in that sort of water. If you are talking about a real creek or a real river, a trot line is a better way to fish in my opinion.
While a 2-liter soda bottle is a simple solution and will get you started on catching some bait, look at the size of the goldfish in the picture. How many of those puppies would you have to catch to make a meal? If you just gut it and eat everything that you can chew how much meat is there, really? An ounce? Theoretically one will starve to death on a steady diet of trout. Even grossly undersized trout come out of the water three or four times larger than the goldfish. Remember the mouth on a 2-liter bottle is 3/4 inch in diameter. I measured it just before writing the foregoing sentence. That’s the limit of the size fish you are going to catch unless the body of water you are fishing is just brimming with eels. Eels are quit nutritious and are a very popular summertime dish in Japan, so much so that there are discussions about significantly limiting the catch before eels become endangered.
If you stroll along the Sumida River in Tokyo in the evening the air is redolent with the delicious smell of eel broiling over charcoal. Very popular summertime activity, stroll along the river for the cooling breezes, buy grilled eel and eat it while watching fireworks over the river. Hmm nostalgic memories from a long ago youth.
The Meat Trapper on YT has a video for a larger version, made from three 5gal buckets.