Macgyver fishing teqniques

[bigsod]

We have all been there, and stuck without something we need and we make do with what we have or we use some old technique to maximise our chances. A few things spring to mind straight away, Tony using bits of Tronix rig winders as floats when we ran out. Also my friend Nuno from Portugal using a trigger fish he caught as an attractor to get other triggers into the area we were fishing, also Kitt dunne went Macgyver turning old paint roller holders into disgorges. Anyone have and Macgyver fishing stories or quick fixes ?

Last edited by bigsod on Sun Dec 08, 2013 12:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

i always carry cork from a wine bottle as a float/anti crab just in case.

i always carry cork from a wine bottle as a float/anti crab just in case.

Ya im a fan of the cork too I remember my father cutting a slot in them with a razor blade which would be tight enough to hold the line without any elastic or knots. It was years later before I realized that you could actually buy floats!

Shane already uses Cork, everytime he wants a codling over 15cms:mrgreen::mrgreen:

many moons ago i used tea spoons as flounder spoons break of the handle and drill a hole either end

cotton socks for bait elastic!
myself and a buddy were fishing guileen rocks for huss when our only roll of bait elastic was washed away in the tide...we were wearing wellies so we had doubled up on socks.we flipped a coin to see who would lose a pair,'bout a half hour in we realised that the pub sold elastic...
all the one,i won both coin flips

A sock as a ground baiter. Put a stone in first for weight then add fish scraps, guts, old bait etc, tie a knot in the top, then just chuck it out in the tide to roll around, no need to recover, if they're cotton they'll biodegrade. I used to use the kids' odd socks, nice size and always plenty of them.
Cue jokes about smelly socks.....

home made booms from these

No 1.jpg

items required 60cm of 50 - 80lb mono
2 size 4 swivels and 1 size 1 clip swivel or what ever you prefer to attach your lead

No 2.jpg

first fold the line in half and loop the swivel through it.
then slide the 2 tag ends through the tube.

No 3.jpg

make a knot with a least 3 loops with the tag ends and pull tightly.
attach the other swivel and clip and you are ready to go

No 4.jpg

for a double boom for drifting either off the bottom or as a bottom flowing rig cut the tube in half and use the same format with about 6ft of mono

2 hook boom.jpg

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Not macgyver but it makes my fishing easyer. I get a tapered float and stick it into the bait elestaic. With the bright float top it's easy to find and when dropped in the sand easy to spot.

4 or 5 years ago i decided to scoot up the coast to a spot for a bit of flattie bashing. as it was all on short notice i forgot to pack the tripod so just had to make do with what i found in the high tide line to make something to rest the rods on. so i buried a tree branch into the sand about 2 feet down and tied another bit of branch to it with some nylon rope strands. it might not have been the prettiest thing in the world, but it was functional and did the job

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Iv heard of lads using smoke butts socked in mac juice to catch dogfish when all their bait was gone and it worked

Love the make shift tripod, been stuck a few times myself.

viewtopic.php?f=6&t=28063&hilit=diy

4 or 5 years ago i decided to scoot up the coast to a spot for a bit of flattie bashing. as it was all on short notice i forgot to pack the tripod so just had to make do with what i found in the high tide line to make something to rest the rods on. so i buried a tree branch into the sand about 2 feet down and tied another bit of branch to it with some nylon rope strands. it might not have been the prettiest thing in the world, but it was functional and did the job

Nice looking spot. And good thinking with the branch .. pod , But the real question is did you get any fish

Iv heard of lads using smoke butts socked in mac juice to catch dogfish when all their bait was gone and it worked

Forgot about that one, I remember one evening on Wicklow beach when the dogs were everywhere and I had countless fish including 17 consecutive treble shots of dogfish and obviously bait was getting scarce so we tried our smoke butts soaked in mack juice and it worked a treat

I have also heard of lads using jelly worms the ones you eat to catch wrasse
I'd say that would be a bit of crack " one for me one for you "

home made booms from these
items required 60cm of 50 - 80lb mono
2 size 4 swivels and 1 size 1 clip swivel or what ever you prefer to attach your lead
first fold the line in half and loop the swivel through it.
then slide the 2 tag ends through the tube
make a knot with a least 3 loops with the tag ends and pull tightly.
attach the other swivel and clip and you are ready to go
for a double boom for drifting either off the bottom or as a bottom flowing rig cut the tube in half and use the same format with about 6ft of mono

thats genius donal lad
especially since that squirty thing probably more than likely would've ended up never again being used...
savage salvage
i've been using used detonater chord for booms for shore and wire for the boat..but i reckon that tubing has way more of a spring in it...
t'would probably shrink handy too for penneling hooks

i ran out of braid on holidays and got two 50 meter spools of dental floss the thick one ,worked grand had to use braid knots with an extra few turns as its a tad slippery

A disk glued on top of your float, an old CD works great – becomes a self striking float for mac’s & the like

A disk glued on top of your float, an old CD works great – becomes a self striking float for mac’s & the like

A coke bottle with a three way swivel in the lid, just make a hole in the lid and push one end of the swivel out, you can cast it out with 5oz lead and it means you can float fish with your beachcaster if needs be also the fish usually hook themselves too