fishing kit

[Buckaroobonsai]

My bug out bag, err, bin fishing kit includes a lightweight Shakespeare spinning reel with 4 lb Vanish, which I've used to catch so many fish, some pretty big, over the years, both from the shores of rivers & lakes, and thru the ice. With a proper drag setting and "fighting" technique, it's all I've ever needed for Colorado fishing. The pole is a matching Shakespeare light action telescoping travel pole, and I have a small tackle container with size #1 crawler hooks, #2 and smaller various hooks, split shots, small lead weights, a couple small floaters & bobbers, small dare devil spoons, egg sized trebles, small jigs, select local flyfishing flies, and a few favorite ice lures. An extra spool of replacement line, a small stringer, smaller power bait worms, a small sealed jar of rainbow power bait, and red power eggs round out the kit. Target fish would be trout, bass, macs, wallys and panfish. A filet knife with the utensils is mandatory.

Even though I consider myself to be an excellent fisherman, I have other things in my "survival tool box" that I can rely on. Most times I can catch enough fish to feed my family, however, if the fishing is slow, I have small animal snares and a scoped .22 LR bolt action that I can nail pdogs in the head with at 100 yards easy. No, I don't plan on eating pdogs, but hunting them has greatly improved my skills. If I'm able to bug out with my .223 bolt action, small to medium game at 400 yards would be reasonable as well thanks to the pdogs!

As others have said, practice makes perfect, so get proficient NOW with ALL your tools BEFORE you actually need to rely on them to survive.