Three Alternatives to the Traditional Fish Hook
You don’t need a store-bought fish hook to catch your next meal. In fact, there are a few readily available alternatives that are easy to create and use instead. Three of the easiest involve using a safety pin, paperclip or the tab of a soda or beer can. If you have any of these items available, you can make and bait an effective fish hook in a matter of seconds.
Safety Pins
The only thing that you really need to do with safety pins is straighten out the needle part so that it is aligned with the rest of the pin. Then, simply bend up the bottom portion of the needle until it resembles a fish hook. If you have a needle nose pliers, try to create a little barb at the end of the hook by bending it inwards and down. This will cause the hook to lodge and remain in the mouth of the fish, but the barb is not necessary. If you don’t have a pliers, don’t worry because you can still fish successfully without a barb, but it may require a bit more patience as you wait for a bite.
You can adjust the size of the hook by bending more or less of the needle stem. Once you have the hook formed, tie the fishing line through the clasp that is on top of the needle. It’s that simple, and it really works. Just remember to adjust the size of the hook to accommodate the size of the fish that you want to catch.
Paperclips
Using a paperclip as a fish hook can be easier than working with a safety pin because there is no spring in the middle, and the end of the paper clip is not as sharp as the tip of a needle. Unwind the paperclip once, leaving one loop intact so that you can tie it to the fishing line. Straighten out the unwound paperclip and bend in the end until it takes the shape of a fish hook. Basically repeat the process used for the safety pin option in order to create an effective and strong hook.
Can Tab
Using the tab of a drink can involves pulling it off of the top of the can. Then, jiggle and twist either the top or bottom of the tab until the metal surrounding the empty space breaks. Then you can bend and adjust the broken end to resemble a fish hook. The jagged metal on the end of the hook will also serve as the barb that is found on traditional fish hooks.
No matter what trick you use to make your fish hook, it’s important that you allow enough space for bait in addition to making it small enough to accommodate the appropriate fish. Large hooks won’t work on small fish, but small hooks may snag a larger fish in some cases. However, for most survival applications, any one of these hooks can get the job done, even if some fish get away in the process.
Test these alternatives today and see which one works best for you. You will be surprised that these simple and crude alternatives actually work just as good as using a manufactured hook.
