It’s amazing how many ways you can use trash for constructive purposes, especially in emergency circumstances. Take for instance, a plastic soda bottle. Plastic bottles come in all shapes, sizes and colors, and now many are produced with thinner walls for less environmental impact. The point of this blog is to describe on application of use for an empty container which is to make a fish trap.
The neck of the soda bottle makes a great funnel, and the body of the bottle makes a great cage. In essence, if you reverse the neck direction to face the body, what goes in the funnel lands in the cage. So, with a knife or scissors, pierce the side of the bottle at it’s widest point below the bottle neck and cut around the circumference of the bottle, then remove the neck, turn it around and insert it into the body, and viola!, you have a fish trap. You might be tempted to fashion an interlock at the cut line, but careful placement with a supporting rock will do. And speaking of placement, you’ll want to observe the water where you will be trapping for the presence of minnows or crayfish, and where they like to travel or hang out. In a stream, you’ll want to place the trap in slow water, with the bottle bottom facing upstream. You may also want to create a rock tent around it that will both secure it and provide a shaded fish haven. And don’t forget to put in bait first. In the trap shown in the photo, I placed a small worm and caught a crayfish. In this case, the crayfish could be an appetizer, or perhaps better used as bait to catch a bigger meal. Give it a try and let me know about your results.