Although there are no poisonous freshwater fish, the skin of some
saltwater fish is poisonous when eaten raw. Several species of tropical
fish are also very poisonous; the only way to identify these is to have
consulted a local expert. Without that knowledge, you have to decide if
eating a fish is worth the risk. Try the edibility test on fish you suspect
of being poisonous.
As with any creature you catch in the wild, try to eat all parts of the
fish. The skin (provided it’s not poisonous) has lots of nutritional value, so
eat that too. Many experts advise against eating fish that appears spoiled
(sunken eyes, strong smell, strange color), but I believe that as a lastditch
effort, it’s okay to eat. If you become ill after eating what you suspect to be
a rotten fish, however, either consume some charcoal (described on page 207)
or induce vomiting.
Catching Fish
Of the various fishing methods available, the most common is the hook
and line. You need only some type of basic cord or rope, the thinner and
more transparent the better (and, of course, some kind of hook). If you
don’t have any thin line, you can unravel a piece of clothing, such as a
sweater, or unwind a piece of cord or rope to use the component threads.
To greatly improve your chances with hook and line, use bait. If your
food supply is limited, using it for bait is a tradeoff: you may have to sacri
fice some of what you have for the prospect of acquiring something larger.
Insects, raw meat, and worms are all good bait. In all cases, fish are much
more likely to take bait that is native to their waters.
If you don’t have bait, you can try your hand at making lures. An
effective lure can be anything that moves and therefore catches the fish’s
attention: a piece of credit card, the zipper off your pants, a piece of thread,
a coin, or a key. Obviously, the more hooks you have in the water, the
greater your chances of catching something. If you’re near a moving body
of water, consider stringing a line across (tying it to a couple of trees or
rocks) and attaching to it several other lines and baited hooks.
More elaborate than hook and line are fish traps. These take time to
build, but can also reap greater rewards under the right circumstances. The
most common type of fish trap is essentially a stick fence that helps to cor
ral the fish or move them in the direction you want them to go.
(^188) | Survive!