Made in USA Archives : American Adventurist

In a backcountry survival situation, fishing is an excellent source of food, and in some environments it may be your sole source of food. During normal times, trying your hand at fishing with some of the more arcane techniques covered here can also be a whole lot of fun!

As Hank Williams Jr once said, “We’re from North California and South Alabam’, And little towns all around this land. And we can skin a buck and run a trotline. And a country boy can survive“

Can you?

Fact: A good survival kit should have some basic fishing line and hooks, but it’s likely you won’t have a pole. Even if you do, there are other ways to catch fish.

There are three very basic ways to fish without a pole, or in a survival situation. Some are better in the still waters of a lake, pond or swamp, while others are better suited for running waters:

1. Limb Lines. Basically, the tree is your fishing pole. You can easily rig several limbs in sequence, varying the depth and type of bait to see what works in your area.

2. Trot Lines. As simple as a length of strong fishing line with hooked and baited drop lines hanging down every couple of feet and spread across a stream or pond.

3. Jug Fishing. Like a trapper setting traps, jug lines can be a very effective way of targeting specific fish hangouts, and can even be drug behind your raft or canoe on the move.

Each method requires adequate anchor weights to hold them in place if stationary, or drift weights that will help prevent the escape of a large, wriggling fish. Weights are used to restrain and/or control a fishing line and can vary from lightweight sinkers to a big rock. Basic baits include grubs, worms, shad, minnows, local shellfish, “stink” baits, big tasty bugs, or whatever you can find. You may have to improvise, adapt and overcome.

It’s wise to carry some basic fishing kit in your bag of tricks, and we’re big fans of Vigilant Trails. They make kits that are innovative, affordable, lightweight, and above all, functional. And they make them right here in the USA.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Some of these methods should be used with caution or for survival only as they may illegal in some locations.

A trotline is a heavy fishing line with baited hooks attached at intervals by means of branch lines called snoods. A snood is a short length of line which is attached to the main line using a clip or swivel, with the hook at the other end.

A trotline can be set so it covers the width of a channel, river, or stream with baited hooks. A big advantage of this method is that it can be left unattended in high traffic areas which increases your odds significantly in a survival scenario. There are many ways to set a trotline, with most methods involving weights to hold the cord below the surface of the water. They are used for catching crabs or fish (particularly catfish).

Beer can fishing is an effective, popular technique for those that don’t want to transport rods and reels, or when opportunity knocks and your gear isn’t with you that day. If you pay attention, you’ll see many a fish caught this way on the rivers and lakes in the Deep South and elsewhere.

There are many other classic, non fishing pole techniques employed in the backwoods of America…

Hand Picking… Steathily approaching a stream bank or submerged rook and gingerly easing you hand undernearth feeling for fish, normally trout. Also known as Tickling as you softly reach around the belly of a Trout and than snatch it with your hands. Takes lots of practice to master and best results are in cold conditions or summer heat when the fish are more torpid. Larger trout species like Brown trout are easier to pick. Brookies are like atomic squirrels and are difficult for even the best picker.

Noodling… similar to the above but involves more open water and submerged stumps and other cover. Usually associated with bullheads and catfish. Instead of reaching under the belly with trout you are either grabbing them by the gills (smaller specimens) or jamming you fist in their mouths to pull them up. It can be unnerving and thrilling at the same time to grab a big ‘ol flathead like this. Also can be done with snapping turtles in their burrows. They go in head first and you reach up over their shells with one hand and and grab the tail with the other and drag them out. It’s a freaking insane tussle and can go sideways if you aren’t focused or tend to be unlucky.

Seining… basically mounting a net between two poles, adding weights to the bottom, grounding it in the stream bed and then overturning the rocks and logs upstream from the seine. It’s a two person affair as one holds the seine and the other rakes the current ahead. Anything tossed up in the current gets caught in the net. When the Raker is done the Netter raises the net to capture anything caught. Usually this is for catching crawdads for eating but also for bait like shiners, strawmen, or hellgrammites.

Damming… Found a hole on some smaller crick with fish you want to eat but can’t catch? Build an escape viaduct at the bottom of the hole that is small in size width wise but is as low as you can relative to the depth of the hole your targeting. Build a dam upstream of the hole to reduce water flow as much as possible with the intent of draining the fish laden hole as much as possible. If it’s successful, and you need to select a workable hole, you can either catch, spear or net the fish in the lower water levels or do the same as larger fish try and escape via the downstream aqueduct.

Spearing… like it says. Using a crafted spear, or store bought one you jab into the water. Doing so at night with a spotlight is the best method. You can use a modified fishing spear with added tines soldered in between the factory ones. One needs to be mindful of refraction and current strength when making a strike. Be fast and sure because any hesitation will be a missed fishy.

Boomflies… a long subtle branch and an M80…errr..that might be too much. Keep in mind that some of these methods are frowned upon by your local game and fish revenuers so survival use only.

Just some good old boys, never meaning no harm…

In winter conditions, you may consider ice fishing.

It can be as simple as knocking a hole in the ice (be careful!) and dropping a baited line in the hole and waiting. If you planned ahead and have extra hooks, line, bobbers and sinkers, you can get after the fish from multiple holes.

One technique is a tip up. This is made by placing a couple good size sticks in an “X” pattern over your hole while ice fishing to suspend a smaller pole with bait at a set depth through a hole in the ice. This helps detect when a fish strikes, without having to be in contact with this piece of gear.

You can see the “flag” or whatever from a distance and can thus manage multiple holes at once, covering a larger area to increase your chance of survival. When a fish does take the bait, a flag “tips up” or the flag can “tip down” to signal that a fish has taken the bait. It’s cold out on the ice so you may want to use a “tip-up” so you can set it and watch from a warmer, sheltered location onshore.

Try to suspend your bait in the “cruising lane” where you think fish may be traveling under the ice – they get hungry in winter so they’re moving around under there looking for food.

1. First, clip a 1-ounce depth finder or “sounder” weight to the hook and drop it so it falls through the weeds and hits bottom.

2. Pull the sounder up about 1 foot above the tops of the weeds. Clip on a small bobber at water level as your marker.

3. Raise the sounder an additional 3 to 6 inches (to compensate for the fact that the spool will be under the water) and slide the bobber down the line the same distance.

4. Remove the sounder. Hook the bait through the back and drop it through the hole. When you set the tip-up, the bobber should be visible on the last wrap of the tip-up spool. Wait and pray for dinner to arrive.

FULL DISCLOSURE: All endorsements and opinions in this article are unsolicited. Items featured in this article were privately purchased by the author for personal use. Tips and techniques discussed here are for educational purposes, and some of these methods should be used with caution or for survival only as they may illegal in many locations.

***Big thanks to Mark Collins for the fresh catfish photo and Ridgerunner editorial input on this here article***

I have to admit that prior to using a Benchmade Knife, I was a sub $100 knife guy.

My thought process here was pretty simple – affordable knives do work, and if I ever lost a knife it wouldn’t hurt my wallet as much as a more expensive knife. Yet like so many other tools, knives are something where you get what you pay for – and my time using affordable knives has seen me do a lot of sharpening, with a few unexpectedly sharp surprises along the way. I’ve had an affordable knife open more than once in my pocket, and had a knife for a short while with a locking mechanism that quite simply didn’t lock – so let’s just say I made a point to handle these knives with extra care. And, when it came time to use one of these knives, all it took was a few dirty cardboard boxes or a quarter of an elk to make a noticeable difference in the edge. All of this left me wondering – what did paying more for a knife really get you?

In 2019, I decided to find out what owning a good knife was like, and I picked up a couple of knives from Benchmade so that I could use them day in and day out for a couple of years before ultimately writing this review and sharing my experience. The first Benchmade product I picked up was the Auto-Triage. Actually, I picked up two, because I wanted to put a proper rescue knife in the hands of a real first responder so I enlisted the help of Adam, who is a Fire Department Captain in my home state of Colorado. I simply asked him to use the Auto Triage as his duty knife and let me know what he thought. I would adopt the other Auto Triage as my Every Day Carry (EDC) knife to see how I got on with it.

The auto triage is part of Benchmade’s Rescue knife family, and as such the knife features an auto opening hook, and a carbide glass breaker. There are two major types of blades to choose from – the drop point blade (serrated or non-serrated) is 3.58 inches long, and the opposing bevel blade is 3.35 inches long. The handle is 0.58 inches thick, which when compared to some of Benchmade’s popular EDC knives, works out to be between one to two tenths of an inch thicker. Weight for a drop-point Auto Triage is 5.75oz. As an auto knife, it’s also important to check out the automatic opening knife laws of your state before picking one up to make sure you can legally possess one. Thankfully in Arizona, auto knives are still good to go.

For folks who live in areas where auto knives are not allowed, I also picked up a 917BK, to get to know one of Benchmade’s manual opening rescue knives. The 917BK has a 3.48inch blade (the serrated version is found on the 917SBK) a manual opening hook, and the same carbide glass breaker as found on the Auto Triage. The handle on the 917 is slightly narrower than Auto Triage at 0.55 inches. Weight is 5.28oz.

I have medium to large sized hands based on glove size, and both of these knives feel fantastic in my hands. Benchmade has clearly designed a knife handle or two over the years, and both of these knives can be manipulated with confidence whether you have wet hands, bloody hands from procesing game, or even hands covered in brake fluid when you’re trying to recover a crashed vehicle that somehow managed to lock it’s rear brakes on and you just need to cut a soft line to release the brakes. I’ve had no problem finding the controls on either of these knives with mechanic-style or nitrile glove on. The Auto Triage also has a textured grip inlay in the aluminum frame, and while this does serve to provide additional grip, it can also make slipping the knife into a pocket for carrying more of a challenge. The tradeoff here is that it takes more effort to pull the knife out of your pocket – and that is a good thing to help keep this knife from jumping ship.

Speaking of in your pocket, both knives ride well in any pocket I’ve placed them in and their size has not proved to be an issue during carry. There are definitely times when I’m reminded that I have a knife in my pocket, but carrying these knives has never led to any discomfort from sitting on them, or feeling like you have too large of an item in a pocket. The one notable exception here is with what I’ll just call performance seats like you would find in a track car where you’re sitting on a covering over carbon or in a molded seat. If your going to be spending any time in such a car, don’t carry anything in your back pockets. I normally wear pants and shorts from brands like 5.11, Kuhl, prAna, and Mountain Khakis, so I can’t speak to what life is like when carrying these knives in Jeans or other styles of clothing – but I would expect similar results.

The first time you use either of these knives you will instantly begin to appreciate their quality and level of performance. Starting with the blades, both knives are made using quality steel (S30V for the 917BK and N680 for the Auto Triage), and while there are certainly better and more exotic steels out there, the performance and durability advantage is obvious when compared to the $20 knives I’d been using in the past. Performance shows through in edge quality, but the biggest difference I noticed was in edge durability – I could get a <$100 knife to be split-a-hair sharp, but it was only a few cuts away from loosing that level of sharpness, even when setting a similar edge angle. With both of these Benchmade knives, you keep a sharper edge much longer, even when you’re cutting things with magical edge dulling powers, like game hides and dirty cardboard boxes.

This improved edge retention benefits the user in two ways: Less sharpening, and a knife that is usually sharper as you’re not completely dulling the edge if you use your knife for an extended period. This means that when you do go to sharpen your Benchmade, you just need to hone and strop the edge. You don’t have to reshape it like you would sometimes have to do on other more affordable knives. And these particular Benchmade knives are so much more than their respective blades.

Each of these knives have a rescue hook and glass breaker, and if your sitting there thinking that you’re never going to use either of these features – I thought the same thing too when I first got these knives, but I quickly learned how versatile they are. Yes, the rescue hook can lance through seat belts and other textiles in a rescue situation, but it also does an outstanding job of cutting everything from zip-ties to mesh bags of fruit you’re tying to open. Using the hook is a much safer alternative to using the main blade in those cases as there are things you don’t want to cut nearby. You can tuck the hook into a bundle of wires held by a zip tie and not have to worry about the point of your main blade nicking a wire in the bundle, and in so many other applications where you want to make a more protected cut. The rescue hook is one of those tools you’ll find yourself using all of the time.

The glass breaker on these knives is something that I hope folks never have to use – but in the interest of preparing you for what it’s like, know that it works far better than you think. It turns out, safety glass works a little differently in real life than it does in the movies. As Adam reported: “I had the opportunity to use the glass breaker on a number of cases, and it’s almost comical how little effort it takes to shatter safety glass with a carbide glass breaker. Factor in the adrenaline and stress that everyone will experience to some degree when they’re using such a tool in a real situation, and it’s easy to see how someone would smack a panel of safety glass much harder than they would need to.” I’ll call that a win.

Mechanically, both of these knives have been absolutely flawless in their function, and ‘accidental’ drops in the mud, sand, snow, with only an occasional rinsing for cleaning have done nothing to impact their operation. The blade control mechanisms have worked perfectly, and I’ve had no accidental openings or other unexpected behavior, which is not something I can say about some of the cheapie knives I’ve used in the past. Its nice to know that you can carry either of these knives, and know that you’re packing a tool that will perform day after day no matter what happens.

I recently sent the 917BK into Benchmade to try out their Lifesharp service, which is a full cleaning, servicing, and sharpening of the knife at no cost to the owner. All you have to do is pay for shipping your knife to Benchmade. My 917 was returned to me cleaned, grit free, and sharp as new. Not bad for the cost of a small flat rate box and five minutes of my time. It’s also worth noting that Benchmade will provide replacement belt clips at no cost to the owner too. That’s a much better deal that what I’ve done in the past that involved reshaping and re-tempering the belt clip off another knife… But that’s another story.

So it’s all sunshine and rainbows with Benchmade knives then? Honestly, I’ve been pretty happy with my purchases. And that purchase price is about the only real drawback that I can find about either of these knives. You pay some good money upfront, and if I’m being honest its the purchase price that has kept me from jumping in sooner. But as they say, “Buy once, cry once”. I’m glad that I did. Now, every time I go to loadout a pair of shorts or pants, I know I’m packing a quality tool with me, and the recognition of this fact has also helped me build the habit of making sure that my knife is always in my pocket. Just like we pay more attention to make sure that we’re not leaving our $1500 smartphones behind, it’s pretty easy to build the same habit to check for your knife before you walk away. There is no changing the fact that losing one of these knives would be a bummer – so make sure you don’t leave it behind somewhere.

Benchmade’s 917BK and Auto-Triage won me over, and after more than a year of using these knives, I’ve learned that there is definitely value in paying more for a knife. I kept pushing this article back further and further as opportunities continued to present themselves for use in harsh environments – from the desert sands of Glamis to the snows of Colorado, these knives have been rock solid performers. So if you’re in the market for a quality tool that will last you a lifetime – I don’t think you can go wrong with a Benchmade knife.

FULL DISCOLOSURE: The Author purchased the Auto Triage knives covered in this article. Benchmade provided a sample 917BK at no cost for comparison here.

Tag: Made in USA

Fishing for Fun & Survival

Long Term Review: Benchmade Auto Triage and 917BK