How to Make a Minnow Trap from Plastic Bottles

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Harvesting Plastic Bottles The best wilderness survivors are experts at repurposing all resources both natural and manmade. Here I am harvesting 2-liter plastic bottles that have washed downstream and become lodged among some alders.

The best wilderness survivalists utilize all resources at their disposal. This includes the variety of human castoffs you are likely to find just about anywhere in the world.

In populated areas there are plenty of man-made materials you can repurpose in your quest for survival. But even in the most remote corners of the earth you are likely to encounter human trash that you can use.

This morning while exploring a stream that has been dammed by beavers I came upon a mass of flotsam and jetsam that had been washed downstream during times of high water and caught among the alders and shrubs. Included in the debris were a number of man-made items useful for wilderness survival, a couple of which immediately caught my eye and are the main subject of this Survival Topic.

One Man's Trash is Another Man's Treasure

An unfortunate fact of life in the modern age is the virtual plasticification of the world. There is no place on earth immune from plastic trash disposed of improperly. It has been found that parts of the ocean contain thousands of pieces of plastic for every square mile and I suspect the same holds true for land.

Our streams and lakes, roadsides, even deep forest and desert contain an absurd amount of plastic trash that speaks poorly of mankind’s treatment of the very earth we all need in order to survive. Plastic

Cut Off Ends Cut the bottom from one bottle several inches from its base. Cut the top off the second bottle several inches below the cap.

like this does not readily decompose and causes enormous environmental damage the discussion of which is beyond the scope of this Survival Topic.

But for the knowledgeable wilderness survivor plastic trash has a wide variety of uses that could very well save your life.

As you can see in the picture, I found two empty two-liter soda bottles that had floated downstream and become entangled among the alders of the stream. If I were trying to survive in the wilderness these plastic bottles would be worth far more than their weight in gold!

But what to do with them?

Best Use in Wilderness Survival Situations

If you have been reading Survival Topics you know that water is one of the most important wilderness survival needs. You can live without food for several weeks or more, but try to survive without water for even just one day and you may be in very great danger. Knowing this, the wisest use of these 2-liter bottles may be to simply store drinking water.

Should my encampment be a distance from a potable water supply or I am traveling through areas where regular water resupply is not guaranteed, then the ability to store and carry an extra four liters (one gallon) of water could trump any other use for these plastic bottles.

Punch Holes Insert the bottle top that you cut off into the main body of the other plastic bottle. Using an awl I am punching holes at about 1-inch intervals through both pieces of plastic.

In fact, especially in more southern latitudes, plastic PET bottles can be used in the SODIS method for destroying pathogens, making the water safe to drink. This has some advantages over boiling water to make it safe to drink as you would not need to expend energy and time in harvesting firewood for this purpose.

However, in this case I plan on staying put for awhile. Here there is plenty of fresh water to be had from the stream and beaver swamps like this are excellent areas from which to obtain a wide variety of nutritious natural survival foods.

Because my fire, shelter, and water needs are taken care of I can concentrate my efforts on obtaining nutrition in the form of local plants and wildlife; these plastic bottles can be of great help in accomplishing this goal of finding food in the wilderness.

Fish Traps Save Time and Energy

If you read the Survival Topic on Passive Wilderness Survival Food Acquisition then you understand the value of setting traps. The beauty of traps over actively hunting and fishing is that once your traps are in place they will hunt and fish for you twenty-four hours a day seven days a week; even while you sleep. This savings in time and energy has definite wilderness survival advantages and may lead to fewer days of going hungry than can easily happen when relying completely on hunting and fishing to fill the cooking pot.

Making proper traps can be a somewhat time and energy consuming process. For example, to make one type of fish trap using only natural materials requires the gathering of sticks or reeds, the making of cordage, and skill and time to repurpose these into a useable fish trap.

Remove a Strand from 550 Paracord To remove a strand from 550 paracord, simply tie one strand to the branch of a tree and pull on the sheath.

With these plastic bottles most of the work in making a fish trap has already been done for you. From a wilderness survival standpoint utilizing this resource in this way makes good sense.

How to Make a Fish Trap from Plastic Bottles

Although I am using both plastic bottles to make the fish trap you can make a workable trap using just one. Two bottles allows the addition of a handy means of removing the trapped fish as you will soon see.

First, cut the top from one of the bottles several inches below the cap. Here I am using the scissors on a Leatherman Wave multi-tool as a cutter; use whatever tool you have at hand including your survival knife, a sharp rock, or what have you. Likewise, cut off the bottom of the other plastic bottle a few inches from the base.

Next, invert the section you cut off that has the cap into the other plastic bottle. Using an awl punch holes at about one-inch intervals through both pieces of plastic along the outer edge as shown. Lacking an awl you make use of a hardened sharp stick or piece of metal heated in a fire to melt a hole through both pieces of plastic.

Now you will need a means of securely joining the two parts together. Here I have chosen to use a strand from the 550 paracord I always keep in my survival kit. In lieu of that you may be able to use natural fibers, fish line, boot laces, or parts from your clothing.

Completed Minnow Trap Fish will swim in through the green funnel and will not be able to find their way back out. To remove your fish simply unscrew the red cap.

550 paracord consists of 7 strong strands contained within an outer sheath. 550 paracord is so versatile that I highly recommend you carry at least a 50-foot hank wherever you go.

To easily remove a single strand from a length of paracord, simply tie the strand to the branch of a tree and pull, as shown in the picture.

Loop the paracord strand through the holes you made in the plastic so that both parts of the bottles are securely tied in place. Leave enough length of 550 paracord strand so that you can tie your trap to a bush or rock along the stream edge to prevent it from being washed downstream.

With a little work you will have a compact minnow trap made of plastic that is efficient for catching fish up to several inches in length. Simply place the fish trap in areas you see plenty of small fish swimming about. Try to position the trap in narrow sections of water that force the fish to swim into the trap as they travel. You can help the fish find the hole by the strategic placement of rocks, sand, and other debris.

Here you can see a couple of sad looking fish that were caught in this trap after being in the water for only a few hours. If you extrapolate for a full day it is evident that this fish trap is working quite well even in this small stream. Several such traps could supply you with enough protein to maintain health and vigor for an extended period of time.

To remove the fish, simply unscrew the cap at the base of the fish trap, the fish will fall out, replace the cap and the trap is ready to be set once again.

You can also use these small fish as bait in the hopes of catching larger fish, scavengers such as raccoon, or simply add them to the cooking pot as is. My feeling is a fish in hand is worth two in the stream, so that until my basic survival food needs are met I am usually better off consuming these small fish before attempting to acquire larger game.

Be a Wise Steward of the Earth You Need to Survive

The best wilderness survivors understand that all things are interelated and necessary for our own survival; wise men take only what they need and leave the rest.

Be sure to check your traps at least once every 24-hours and remove them when no longer needed so that living creatures are not needlessly harmed. If you are only practicing your survival skills, release any trapped fish back into the stream so that they can fulfill their purpose in the world.

So there you have it, a simple fish trap anyone can make from plastic bottles. Practice your survival skills and try making a few of these for yourself. It's easy, fun, and may even save your life.

Minnow Trap in Action Set your minnow trap in an advantageous spot. In this narrow backwater off from the main stream channel the small minnows congregate while searching for food and avoiding the larger fish that patrol in the deeper areas. Note the school of minnows in the upper right corner of the picture.

Trapped Minnows A sad looking fish peers from inside the minnow trap. Although small, a number of such fish make an excellent high protein meal or used as bait. Placed in the right areas of a body of water, several minnow traps can go a long way toward providing you will all the food needed to survive in the wilderness.