Lucky's Trekking Tips - Muzzle Blasts August 2024

Many journals mention fishing and as a means of survival, it is an age-old method to gather very nutritious food. Once again, I am not the expert and a pretty decent fisherman at best. I am sharing what others have taught me. The tackle box I use was made by Carl Giordano, Tinsmith and they are available on his website at: www.cg-tinsmith.com. Like all things Giordano, it is copied after an original and works great.

The interior gear I bought from the only real expert at period fishing I know, Paul Waggoner Jones. He has been a student of period correct fishing his whole life, he can be found on Facebook under his name. He developed the cards for the knots that I carry in my tackle box, and they are a must have until you memorize them.

Period gear is not much different from modern gear except for all period hooks were spade type hooks as pictured. You can still buy them online today. They are more difficult to tie the line to, but once you have the hang of it, they work just as well as modern hooks. Bobbers aren’t much different, and the lead sinkers are just a different shape. They too, used ribbon lead for sinkers as some of us still do.

The linen line is very strong for the diameter. When fishing for crappie or smaller fish you can always use a two-to-three- foot length of braided horsehair from a tail as a leader. Otherwise, I simply tie the hook onto the linen line. Fishing rods of the day were simply a fresh cut willow or other type of flexible sapling. Tie the line to the small end of the sapling and toss your bait in.

I use about 10-12 feet of line. Anything more is hard to get out into the water and you really don’t need to get that far out. At the Hawken Classic this past May, I watched modern fishermen catching catfish on the Missouri River no more than 8-10 feet away from the bank. One was 54 pounds! Now that’s a meal!

If you really want to get deep into this, research period flies for fly fishing as well. Fly fishing and fly rods go way back and Paul could really blow your mind with his information on fly fishing and coarse fishing in general.

When trekking we cannot always go during hunting season, so this is a nice alternative to be resourceful and catch some dinner or even breakfast. Back in Texas we did a summer fishing camp every August and did our best to catch whatever we could on the Guadalupe River. If you have never done coarse fishing, give it a try and expand your skill set, it is a lot of fun! See you around a fire and keep your powder dry.

Written by Gerry "Lucky" Messmer. Reprinted with permission from the author.