Trot lines.

[Tank-Girl]

I have a lot of dif ways to catch fish because, yeah, I live on the Great Barrier Reef.
BUT I saw a video that popped up on my YT feed about catching fish using trot lines.
Now in my state trot lines are classed as a set line and are banned.....BUT SHTF all that goes out the window.
Has anyone made and used trot lines before?

What sort of bank line gauge/ No. do I need for the main line and what gauge for the stringers?
Tarred or plain?
Twisted or braided?
What do you find the best for weights?
Hooks?
My main target will be Blue Catfish Neoarius graeffei

I'm planning on using this in freshwater impoundments and not saltwater.

 

[Sourdough]

I used new clothesline for the main, and empty bleach bottles for floats. We would have some scary long lines out for days, even a week. This was on huge Alaska lakes, full of 30-35-40 pound Lake Trout. We mostly did it in the spring just as the ice was going out. Yes......it was illegal, but there were very few humans in the deep wilderness, especially 50 years ago.

 

[Peanut]

Trotlines are an old and honored tradition where I’m from. My earliest memories of fishing involve trotlines. There are plenty of websites and you tub videos that can explain all the details.

For my prepping gear I’ve chosen two types of lines. For my short-term bug out needs I bought “trotline” in a bag, has everything you need except bait. It’s a white, untreated nylon line, #36. I also have a 260ft spool of black untreated #18 line, a smaller line for that kit. #18 is about 1/2 of the strength of #36 line. The smaller black line can be used as a light duty trotline and making nets.

For long term prepping needs I have 3, 550ft spools of “tarred nylon seine line” #36. It’s treated with tar, like roofing tar. It won’t rot or degrade nearly as quickly as untreated line. “Seine line” can also be used for trotlines or making nets. But spools of line need clips and hooks tied on to become a trotline.

Of course, you’ll need a dip net which can be easily made from the #18 line. Gigs and gaff hooks are nice to have also. You can buy the metal part of both and add your own wooden handle later.

Pics 1 n 2 – trotline in a bag

Pics 3 n 4 - #18 untreated black line, two rolls of untreated #36, both white and black

Pic 5 – 2 tarred #36 line, 550ft rolls.

Pic 6 n 7 – gaff hooks and gigs, they come in various sizes, I have 3 of each, only 1 with a handle

I buy a lot of gear from Memphis Net and Twine. They sell professional grade gear.

Edit to add... in any prepping situation a 550ft roll of tarred line would come in handy.

 

[Tank-Girl]

Trotlines are an old and honored tradition where I’m from. My earliest memories of fishing involve trotlines. There are plenty of websites and you tub videos that can explain all the details.

For my prepping gear I’ve chosen two types of lines. For my short-term bug out needs I bought “trotline” in a bag, has everything you need except bait. It’s a white, untreated nylon line, #36. I also have a 260ft spool of black untreated #18 line, a smaller line for that kit. #18 is about 1/2 of the strength of #36 line. The smaller black line can be used as a light duty trotline and making nets.

For long term prepping needs I have 3, 550ft spools of “tarred nylon seine line” #36. It’s treated with tar, like roofing tar. It won’t rot or degrade nearly as quickly as untreated line. “Seine line” can also be used for trotlines or making nets. But spools of line need clips and hooks tied on to become a trotline.

Of course, you’ll need a dip net which can be easily made from the #18 line. Gigs and gaff hooks are nice to have also. You can the metal part of both and add your own wooden handle later.

Pics 1 n 2 – trotline in a bag

Pics 3 n 4 - #18 untreated black line, two rolls of untreated #36, both white and black

Pic 5 – 2 tarred #36 line, 550ft rolls.

Pic 6 n 7 – gaff hooks and gigs, they come in various sizes, I have 3 of each, only 1 with a handle

I buy a lot of gear from Memphis Net and Twine. They sell professional grade gear.

Edit to add... in any prepping situation a 550ft roll of tarred line would come in handy.

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So Seine line is different than bank line?
I appreciate all the pics and in depth explanations.

 

[Peanut]

I've never heard the term "bank line". Again, you can use tarred or un-tarred seine line for making a net, making a seine or making a trotline. When fishing you can anchor it to the bank of a river, use weights to anchor it in a wide river or float it with plastic milk jugs in a lake or wide river (not anchored at all).

Note... not all nylon twine is the same, meaning quality. The cheap "trotline in a bag" I bought for short term use is size #36. It is no where near the quality of the #36 lines I bought for long term use. At amerzit, online, I bought some line that has the label "Sgt. Knots", it's a quality line. I'm not sure if its as good as I purchased from Memphis Net & Twine but it is close. It comes in various sizes, tarred and untarred.

Here in the states brick and block masons use various sizes of "seine line". I have no idea what they call it but they still buy it by size. Since they use it in a profession I'm sure they want the best quality they can get. I'm also sure they get tarred line as it lasts much longer than untreated line.

I'm sure that "down under" brick masons use quality nylon line also. It might be a good point of purchase for you, call up the concrete company or concrete contractors.

 

[joel]

Peanut covered everything I know about trot lines, I have never use a bush line for big cat fish.
I have looked at ring baskets used in the swampy streams.
https://www.netsandmore.com/product...b8AIV_waICR2NOgdsEAQYAiABEgJ_a_D_BwE#HNC-2010

 

[UrbanHunter]

This is an awesome thread and makes me want to incorporate the materials for it in my stock pile. I would also like to think about how to long term store fishing gear, I know my gear is now decades old and I would need lots of new stuff to go on a good fishing trip....

 

[joel]

My Father use a gill net in the river, it works like a trot line.

 

[Tank-Girl]

So an update on the trot lines...
I found a supplier in Australia who sold seine line.
I brought the following -
2 rolls of 120 size.
2 rolls of 36 size.
Both rolls don't seem to have the length of line on each roll. Just a weight. Both are 500 grams which tells me exactly nothing.
I brought 100 shark/ tuna clips and about half of these have some pretty hefty swivels that I'm going to rob off the clips and use for my snares that I am going to make in the future.
The line might be pretty heavy duty but the critters we have around here are HUGE..and some of them have big teefs.

 

[joel]

So an update on the trot lines...
I found a supplier in Australia who sold seine line.
I brought the following -
2 rolls of 120 size.
2 rolls of 36 size.
Both rolls don't seem to have the length of line on each roll. Just a weight. Both are 500 grams which tells me exactly nothing.
I brought 100 shark/ tuna clips and about half of these have some pretty hefty swivels that I'm going to rob off the clips and use for my snares that I am going to make in the future.
The line might be pretty heavy duty but the critters we have around here are HUGE..and some of them have big teefs.

That Great, do you have a link, so we all can have fun.

 

[Tank-Girl]

That Great, do you have a link, so we all can have fun.

This a fully grown cow..so there's some idea of scale.
You don't swim here. You get ate.

 

[Tank-Girl]

The food chain here is confusing to say the least....

 

[LadyLocust]

Hubby says a main line you can't break and the string lines only as big as the size of fish you want to catch (like 5Lb. for 5 lb. fish). But I think that was established above.

 

[Peanut]

Another form of fishing you might want to avoid, telephone for a catfish. It’s illegal here so I’m sure it’s illegal there. No one should ever combine electricity and water, they are a bad mix.

Some old telephones had horse shoe magnets and a hand crank to generated the electricity needed on the phone line. The magnets and crank were called a magneto. Some unscrupulous people made their kids carry the heavy magneto/board/wires and short chains into swamps (underage so no arrest if caught). There were two wires (+, -) connected to the magneto with a short piece of chain attached to the other end of each wire. The chains/wires were tossed into water, as far from each other as possible. Then someone would crank on the magneto furiously, generating lots of electricity which flowed down the wires from one chain to the other (though the water)… and electrocuting anything in between, especially bottom dwelling creatures… Again… no one should attempt this.

But, if you ever find a phone like this I suggest cleaning it up a little. Antiques bring a lot of money these days..

 

[Caribou]

I used to commercially fish in the long-line fishery. This is essentially what you are talking about but our string would be from one to five miles long. Our ground line was about 3/8" in diameter, nylon, and tough. we had ganions which were a snap about a meter of smaller line and a baited circle hook. Our target species was halibut but we got some by-catch, and yes, we fished salt water.

That may be of some interest to your question, the circle hooks were used for two reasons, first with hooks flying willy-nilly around they were less likely to hood us, and thy were harder for the fish to spit out. Once hooked they tended to stay hooked.

Mustad is a good brand but others are as well, I'm sure.

 

[joel]

This a fully grown cow..so there's some idea of scale.
You don't swim here. You get ate.

Swim?????????
I am referring to a link for fishing line.

 

[Tank-Girl]

Swim?????????
I am referring to a link for fishing line.

Then why didn't you say so? :screwy::joke:

https://chsmith.com.au/Products/Nylon-Tarred.html

 

[Supervisor42]

Another form of fishing you might want to avoid, telephone for a catfish. It’s illegal here so I’m sure it’s illegal there. No one should ever combine electricity and water, they are a bad mix.

Some old telephones had horse shoe magnets and a hand crank to generated the electricity needed on the phone line. The magnets and crank were called a magneto. Some unscrupulous people made their kids carry the heavy magneto/board/wires and short chains into swamps (underage so no arrest if caught). There were two wires (+, -) connected to the magneto with a short piece of chain attached to the other end of each wire. The chains/wires were tossed into water, as far from each other as possible. Then someone would crank on the magneto furiously, generating lots of electricity which flowed down the wires from one chain to the other (though the water)… and electrocuting anything in between, especially bottom dwelling creatures… Again… no one should attempt this.

But, if you ever find a phone like this I suggest cleaning it up a little. Antiques bring a lot of money these days..

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We "telephoned" some fish when I was growing up too. I think it was a 'rite of passage' in Alabama. Two important notes:
1. It takes a lot of cranking to float up the first fish.
2. That hand-crank generator may look puny but it makes about 90-volts and it is AC.
If you let the wire touch your wet leg, it will shock the bejeebers out of you .

On topic: We ran trot-lines across the river and toted a 20-gallon washtub full of blue channels-cats home every time. We fed us hungry teenagers daily for years to the point that I will never eat another catfish.
Ever!
Chicken liver is the best bait. The stinkier the better. The fish are in pitch dark but they can 'smell'.
And it is tough enough to still be on the hook 2 days later.
As @Peanut mentioned, the scrap-iron weights to hold the trot-line to the bottom are very important.
I think we had them every 15 or 20 feet of the trot-line.
Rest assured, if a bunch of teenage redneck kids can do it, it's not that hard.

 

[Peanut]

If you let the wire touch your wet leg, it will shock the bejeebers out of you .

Rest assured, if a bunch of teenage redneck kids can do it, it's not that hard.

It can be a shocking experience! I hadn't thought of the last "phone" I saw in years. Sadly we lost the man who owned it many years ago. His children still live here but only the oldest may have know what it was. I'd like to find one, shine it up for a desk, or put it with my prepping gear.

 

[bamadeb48]

One uncle used ivory soap to catch fish on trot lines, it floats

 

[Caribou]

We would spray WD-40 on our bait to catch salmon. I expect it works for other fish.

 

[backlash]

I used circle hooks for sturgeon. They worked really well.
Haven't fished for sturgeon in years due to the short season and limited to 2 fish per year. Not worth the time and effort.
Trot lines are illegal in Washington and Oregon as far as I know. Same with jug line fishing.

 

[Neb]

Another form of fishing you might want to avoid, telephone for a catfish. It’s illegal here so I’m sure it’s illegal there. No one should ever combine electricity and water, they are a bad mix.

Some old telephones had horse shoe magnets and a hand crank to generated the electricity needed on the phone line. The magnets and crank were called a magneto. Some unscrupulous people made their kids carry the heavy magneto/board/wires and short chains into swamps (underage so no arrest if caught). There were two wires (+, -) connected to the magneto with a short piece of chain attached to the other end of each wire. The chains/wires were tossed into water, as far from each other as possible. Then someone would crank on the magneto furiously, generating lots of electricity which flowed down the wires from one chain to the other (though the water)… and electrocuting anything in between, especially bottom dwelling creatures… Again… no one should attempt this.

But, if you ever find a phone like this I suggest cleaning it up a little. Antiques bring a lot of money these days..

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Dumb stuff I did as a kid...

We had one of those in a science classroom. Took turns cranking while other held their finger across the terminals as a sadomasochistic game to see who could hold on the longest. It fid a nice job of letting us get a first hand of this mysterious thing called electricity.

Ben

 

[Neb]

We would spray WD-40 on our bait to catch salmon. I expect it works for other fish.

When my family lived in Panama City Fla my father used chicken necks as bait while crabbing. Once a crab latched on to the skin of the neck it wouldn't let go and we could jus pull them up toss in a bucket...

Lather rinse repeat...

Until we had enough for dinner.

Ben

 

[Caribou]

Crabs love seagull also, but don't get caught using it for bait.

 

[Sourdough]

Crabs love seagull also, but don't get caught using it for bait.

Honest Officer, we thought those were, "Albino" Crows........

 

[Peanut]

When my family lived in Panama City Fla my father used chicken necks as bait while crabbing. Once a crab latched on to the skin of the neck it wouldn't let go and we could jus pull them up toss in a bucket...
Ben

Chicken necks and crabs... why does that ring bell? Took me a while. First summer I was stationed in Norfolk VA there wasn't much of a life for a young man getting a paycheck below the poverty line for civilians. I worked on the ship, ate on the ship and slept on the ship. Most guys weren't old enough for a bar. Being sailors we found our own entertainment.

There was a tradition called - Chicken Necking. All that was needed was a car, a dip net, string and a pack of chicken necks from the market. This was the Chesapeake Bay, waterways, sloughs everywhere. Blue crab were also everywhere.

We'd find a place to crab, beers, a fire. We'd have a great time for almost nothing.

 

[Aklogcabin]

Definitely the circle hooks for me. Better at self hooking and they are designed to hook in the mouth. Which keeps them alive longer. So fresher meat n reduced mortality on bycatch.
I would use mason line. Strong and a lot on a roll that's packaged up. Bunch of circle hooks sized for the targeted fish.