by Ron Foster
Plotting And Scheming
“So Julie, what kind of thoughts are you thinking over there? “David asked noticing that Julie was staring confusedly at her 3 bug out bags she was trying to organize into one.
“Oh David, I was just thinking how mentally tiring it is to try to organize these things. I just know if I leave something I will need it later but there is no way if we have to leave the van for some reason I could carry even a quarter of this gear very far.” Julie said dismayed.
“I know what you mean, I have to dive into mine later but my get home bag is small already and I just need to arrange some basic items in my backpack and a few changes of clothes. Pack as light as you can. Wow I can’t believe I said that, never mind I will show you what to take later when I do mine.” David said chuckling thinking about all the trips he had been on with her where he used to pack everything but the kitchen sink and she would sneak that in somewhere when he wasn’t looking and maybe a couple bags of other things he hadn’t thought of or was planning on leaving behind.
“Hey Julie, have you figured out what you think we should be taking food wise yet?” David said dragging a couple of duffle bags full of gear he had put together to go on this crazy rescue mission to Deer Lick Lake that he still had no idea what exactly was expected out of him attempting it. It had been about three days ago when his prepper buddy Crick had managed to get his call through to him asking for some help and David remained flummoxed as to what exactly was expected of him. Julie and he had gone back over what little conversation there was with Crick a hundred times trying to see if they had overlooked any kind of clues but to no avail. All he knew at the moment was somehow the men and women attending Prepper Stock got themselves stranded after a dam got blown and needed some help. David could understand that outside help was needed because government services were pretty much nonexistent now that society was collapsing but he still had a lot of reservations about going anywhere and particularly so now that Ray had informed him that foreign troops were being implemented..
“I have gotten a few things together like a weeks’ worth of food for us in MRE packages but you are going to have to give me some more insights into how long we are going to be gone before I can figure out anything else. What’s in those bags? They look heavy.” Julie said arranging things for packing and watching David drag two bags into the living room.
“Yea, they are pretty heavy. I guess you would call them my squad level lake living kits. As you know, I got to thinking about why Crick most likely wanted me to come help him out. We figured it out when I was gathering supplies in the prep shed the first go round. Pretty simple actually to come up with fish nets! He wants me to bring him a couple of those military surplus gill nets he knows I have. If you got a bunch of folks trying to find food around a lake or river, that’s the simplest and most effective solution I can think of and the hardest thing to find if you don’t already have one. That’s got to be it, he wouldn’t be asking me to take this kind of risk without a damn good reason and we are going to get him his fish net and a few other things come hell or high water. That is of course unless I can talk you into staying here while I go.” David said knowing there was no chance Julie would consent to staying behind.
“We already had this conversation, David, and you already know my answer. You can rest assured that there is no way I am staying here while you go off on some mission or adventure into the great unknown leaving me here by my lonesome to fend for myself until you get back. I know you have taught me enough to do it if I ever had the need to, but we both know that we need each other to lighten the load, give moral support and to watch each other’s backs. Now then, I didn’t think about that big net you had collecting dust on the shelves. I thought you had it around for dragging a farm pond if we ever had to. On that note you also have a regular trotline or two sitting in a box next to it don’t you?” Julie asked.
Trotlines worked well under the right conditions but they took bait and a lot of it. Net fishing made sense but she wasn’t very familiar with all the ins and outs of the process let alone all the different types manufactured for different types of fish or the techniques fishermen used to deploy them.
“I only have that one commercial trotline setup to donate to the Crick cause but I have the makings for another one or two in my preps we can reserve for us. I have that big heavy duty military grade green 50 ft. net, a couple of those light weight small white survival gill nets and several food procurement devices you probably have never seen that I am bringing with me to augment the big net, though. For example, check this cool gizz wiz out.” David said, rummaging in one of the duffle bags and then handing her a package with what looked like some kind of light weight folded up net.
Julie looked at the picture on the packaging and instantly recognized it for what it was. “A dip net! Way cool, I didn’t know they manufactured these commercially, looks like that survival trick you taught me using a nylon net hammock. “She said studying the advertising picture.
“Well it is mostly, but like anything else purpose made beats survival improvised any day. This is only a small one for crawdads and minnows and such, but with a bit of tweaking I could catch a turtle.” David said starting to point at the picture to expound upon the concept.
“I can see that, this one has a skirt to keep the catch in and a cool net lifting rig already built in.” Julie said excitedly tracing the diagram of the nets attributes with her finger and clarifying it also had a small zippered mesh pouch in the center to add bait.
“Yea, it’s lighter and better than anything I can field construct or convert another type of net for the purpose. Just a lightweight survival tool to tip some odds in my favor. I could catch minnows to bait my hook or trot line, go after crawdads if I checked it regular, etc.” David began explaining before Julie began quizzing him again on its use and functionality.
“I can see how we can use this kind of net on the creeks and streams around here but I don’t really see it being used on a lake.” Julie said looking at him questionably.
“Well I admit it has its limitations, particularly in its small size but just like any net that is purpose built for a certain type of fishing there are adaptations and tweaks that can be done and most folks won’t think of them unless they understand both the fish they are after and the other creatures and bait fish sharing the same waters.
“Let me give you an example of how I would fish a lake with this particular net if it was all I had to survive with.” David said as he look bemused at the “let me settle in” look Julie gave him knowing he was going to expound upon one of his prepper or survival theories to the inth degree and she might as well get comfortable. David had a penchant for playing games with folks when it came to piece of survival gear or a common household item that became a game of sorts to him and whoever liked to participate in it to see how many uses an item could be used for or had as to extend ones survival. The survival game he played with others was simple, he would spiel off 10 common or odd uses for whatever it was they were discussing from a lawn mower blade to lip balm and then challenge whoever he had cornered and was chattering at to come up with just one more thing it might be useful for. He and his captive audience would go back and forth until all ideas were exhausted or until a later date when for whatever reason one or the other, (usually David”) would come up with another obscure but useful application for the object of his or others imagination. Julie found David’s odd preparedness and survival game of wits amusing as well as aggravating, as he would often times come out of the blue with some obscure application of prepper knowledge to an event that hadn’t happened yet and ask you how would you fix something or say “ You know what you might need?” To which Julie started answering with a grin his favorite catchall piece of survival gear “a poncho?” which seemed to be his current obsession in usefulness and he was working on answer number 38 for that so she offered it for his current query.
“No but I think I already used that one regarding fish
ing.” David said looking up towards the sky as he was apt to when contemplating or devising something.
“Earth to David! Come in, David! Get back to the subject of this net in a lake.” Julie said with some exasperation shaking it at him.
“No, not yet.” David said with a sly smile in her direction.
“Number 39!” David exclaimed pointing one finger up in the air and grinning like a Cheshire cat to Julie’s obvious discomfort his mind was wandering off stage again.
“Ok, David what the hell is number 39?” She said patting his leg playfully and playing along.
“Well I ought to get a two for one for this idea. Humm maybe a three for this idea! David said exuberantly as he searched his brain for a third application but her groan of discontent brought him back to just stating the first two new ones he had wrapped his prepper brain around.
“Hey you know I used to live in Fairhope Alabama we did the jubilee fishing thing when the waters oxygen content went down enough to drive the fish to shore. Sometimes those damn jellyfish would be the first to arrive with the current and we held off any ocean activities. Sort of like down there in Panama City when the jelly fish would do that “bloom” thing and just be all over the place and if you were thinking about wading out and using a cast net for mullet you best keep to the shore line. I know it would look funny for me to be wading around in the surf with a poncho on but it would work to keep them stingers off me.” David said drifting off once again into his survivalist daydreaming about weird ways of overcoming obstacles with common items.
“That’s good.” Julie said “but how can you get around to declaring that trick number 39 and 40? I know you busting your britches to make 40 uses for a poncho but remember I still want to talk about how to use this dip net.” Julie said waving the crackling plastic package of the net that had started David’s favorite game once again.
“Ok, I officially declare I got number 40 regardless of where you are wading in the water with a poncho, Hey I might have even thought of 41 and 42 in the process!” David began dreamily.
“PLEASE! One more only or am going to whomp you on the head with this! “Julie said slapping the packages against his leg to bring him back to reality.
Ok! Ok! You know I don’t understand why this might not be a an advisory or state prescribed precaution already, but you remember all those folks wading around in that toxic mess of flood waters during Hurricane Katrina?” David asked arching one eyebrow at her for confirmation.
“Well yea?” she began before David grabbed his center stage back again as an experienced emergency manager.
“Look, oil and water don’t mix as you well know and if you are slopping around walking in the shit and chemicals that the oil refinery’s spewed up and the chemical factory’s leaked, you get a top surface layer on water that is best not to be accumulating around your thighs if you get my drift. Wading floodwaters under those conditions in a poncho would also make sense and hey by the way, those Czech ponchos were made by the damn cheap ass Soviets to serve double duty as rain wear and chemical protection suits. That damn cheap ass appearing PVC material has got god knows what in it to protect against U.V. Light, acid rain, chemical attack, storage in unheated warehouses, the test of time and about a dozen other things I haven’t thought about yet!” David said looking pleased with himself for winning this game of preps and preppers once more.
“Damn David, you are good! I hadn’t thought of that one or the other but could you quit drifting off the subject of nets, please?” Julie said coddling his ego to get back on point as to what to do with the fish trap she was about to whomp him with.
“Oh yea, of course Julie.” A very slightly subdued David said.
“You see Julie, most folks never consider that crawdads live in every stream and creek emptying into every lake or river the same as they do in the shallower waters. Good anglers know this and generally use some kind of artificial crawdad looking bait to try and catch the larger game fish that live in these environs but it’s rare to see anyone selling these types of critters as strictly live fish bait. Crawdads are for fish boils, crabs in saltwater or brackish back bayous are for dinner and people don’t think about them just screaming “hey fishy fishy” for bait! So most folks look at this kind of net as a shrimp, lobster, crawdad, crab, etc. trap for a very small dinner table, but let us not forget that a gathering of any kind of game be it bait or predator produces the same results. When you set one of these kinds of dip nets down on the bottom of a waterway you are creating your own eco system that rings the dinner bell for everyone. Now I ain`t going to catch me a mess of crawdads by sinking what you might consider a crayfish net next to the bank of a lake or river like I could in a feeder stream or slough but I am setting up a stocked picnic table. The net could collect me minnows, crawdads, water bugs, tadpoles etc. to use for fish hook bait because that zippered bait pocket in the middle puts scent and attraction for everyone but with a bit of skill I can use it unbaited. If you stand at the side of a lake or pond you can see the minnows in the shallows along the edges and just set it down in a likely place and wait for them to return swimming over it.
Minnows also think the edge of the net affords them some protection like weeds so they have no problem wriggling over it if you set it in the water that shallow. You can also set it deep like chumming with a can of cheap cat food for catfish but instead you put a tiny amount in that zippered mesh bag at the center of the net, hell you can even use minnows you trapped without bait to do it. It’s like sprinkling flaky fish food that is their mouth size in a fish tank. The minnows will come from the shallows they are normally hiding in to steal a bite from your feed station while them big carnivore fish that cruise the shallows waiting on a stray minnow to feed on take notice. Bait your line with a live or dead minnow, fish a little deeper near the darting minnow trap and wait on your bobber to high tail it away. People that think fish ain`t smart are stupid because they don’t watch how nature feeds or teaches her own. Young boys or girls can tell you where a likely spot is to try to do this trick because they watch what happens at water’s edge during the day and observe when they are on the docks watching what the fish do or an old fisherman points out.
I always like to start any of my newbie or youngster fishermen out by telling them that every fishing hole is different and that it requires getting your “fish face” on and sitting back and watching them for a second or two if they are going to recognize my next words. This pause to observe nature and my reflections on life in general pretty much describes how this fine fishing day is going to turn out.
If someone is open for suggestions or has some grandiose notions of just sinking a baited line in any body of water anywhere and coming up with a stringer of fish because they are “special” is soon dispensed with as the lore and experiences is told of fishing salt, fresh, murky etc. waters becomes apparent. The greatest Salmon fisherman from Alaska or the top dog of Southern bass tournaments soon can become outclassed by a 6 yr. old with luck and grand pappy’s patience, advice and wisdom as the day goes on. All fishermen are equal if you know what works in your local waters and it’s a matter of timing, location and luck. What you know from your home waters probably doesn’t work as well in someone else’s and your fish brain needs tweaking with a trick or two from a local sportsman to be truly successful. Thoughts of going alone to a new Mecca for fisherman and holding your own soon becomes a lesson in humility as familiarity overcomes contempt for new experiences and knowledge learned the hard way. Kids are different, children don’t carry the baggage of adult anglers and just want to catch fish. They think any angler with the time to take them fishing must know some special secret to some lost art of fish calling and will jealously defend their matriarchs or patriarchs that bought them a fish pole or said come on boy or girl lets go fishing with that special gleam in their eye regardless if they catch anything. You see Kids, those special beings some of us are blessed with and or those of us adults that are blessed to borrow one occasion
ally know that they are what fishing is all about. It’s the hundred and one things an adult might know to put a fish on that little girls or that boys line for the first time and get bragging rights with the other adults in the community we tend to compete for, but really it is so much more than that. David would rather he never caught a fish himself all day or ever for that matter as long as he could teach the patience needed to sit and talk quietly or not at all and see the joy in some child’s eye to be a part of the sport and survival skill of catching one of these finned wonders.
All kids must go fishing at least once in their lives and if he had to hock the farm to do it for him or her to buy the first fish rod and put gas in the car he would do it! Now he was beside himself with excitement as he had the opportunity to not just teach kids but adults as well the fine art of fish poaching with no worries of a game warden or someone’s jaded notion of sport fishing interfering with him. The rule of the day was catching, not hunting or fishing for something and he had a whole bag full of tricks he had tried, wanted to try or had heard about that were about to be tested to the limit.
“This wasn’t going to be just a rescue trip to drop off some survival gear. No this was going to be the biggest funfest of hunting and fishing ever! He just hoped he was up for the task and the game cooperated long enough for him to get some meat back on the starving castaways bones before he had to say farewell to them. If the dams were broken and the rivers were trying to regain their course, he was reasonably sure that the fish were disturbed enough to be highly unpredictable let alone try to locate them in silt and debris laden water.” David mused losing a lot of his enthusiasm.
“Why are these bags so danged heavy, David?” Julie said dragging one duffel bag out of the center of the floor.
“You probably grabbed the one with the cans of cat food in it; I also have about 10lbs of fish meal cakes in there to attract things. We best keep an eye on the cat food, folks probably will want to eat that when get there.” David said making a bad joke.
