Three Fishing Lures

Today I’m going to briefly look at three different fishing lures. All three are designs you could potentially make at home or in the field.

The first type is the mackerel feather. Mackerel are a sea fish but these can also be used in fresh water. I will admit I have never personally tried mackerel feathers in freshwater but cannot imagine any reason why freshwater fish would not be interested. Such a lure could easily be constructed in the field by binding a feather or scrap of cloth to a hook. Mackerel feathers can be found for very reasonable prices and their low bulk makes them very suitable for compact survival kits.

The second type of lure is the mepp-type spinner. A piece of tin can or beer can can be used to make the spoon. Perhaps even thick foil or the ring-pull might be used. There are a number of videos showing how to make spinners but I particularly like this one. The only commercial parts used are the hook and bead. Everything else is made from wire or paperclips. Spinners can also be made by adding a hook and spoon to a couple of swivels.

The third lure is the bottlecap lure. Pierce or drill a bottlecap in two places. Don’t drill towards yourself or your hand as some videos show! Using a Heinken or Bud cap will catch you wimpy, weak, little fish, of course.

Bend the bottlecap inward so the markings on the top are visible. Attach a swivel to each hole. If you are short on swivels, use a no.3 split ring. If you are short on split rings make them by bending paperclips into shape. The idea tool for making split rings is round-nosed pliers. I don’t have any of these so my rings tend to be a bit oval, but no fish have complained yet. One idea is to put some BBs or bits of gravel within the cavity the bottlecap creates. The rattling is supposed to attract predatory fish to the lure. Obviously if you are likely to have to move quietly while carrying your fishing kit lures that rattle are not recommended.

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Suunto Clipper.

          The engineer’s compass is my oldest compass but the compass that I have used the most is my Suunto clipper. At first glance you may mistake this for a simple button compass of the sort so often found in survival kits. Look more closely and there are two distinctive features.

 

          The first feature, and what gives it its name, is the Suunto clipper has a clip. This can be clipped onto your watch strap but I have in the past attached it to lapels or cuffs, as needed. It is a well-designed clip which will securely grip a strap or material of sufficient thickness.

          The other feature is that this diminutive compass has a moving bezel. The bezel is marked in 10 degree increments, with letters at the four cardinal directions and numerals every 30 degrees in between. The bezel rotates with audible “clicks”. Interestingly, there are four clicks to every 30 degree arc. For example, between N and 30 degrees there is a click at N, 10, 15, 20 and 30 degrees. You can therefore set the bezel exactly to bearings such as 15° or 45°. A very intelligent feature and some very nice attention to detail by Suunto.

          To the outside of the bezel is a small triangular pointer. Move the bezel so that the pointer is on your desired bearing. Align the needle with “N” on the bezel and select a landmark in the direction the pointer indicates. A quick stroke of model paint makes this pointer even more distinctive.

          I’ve had my clipper many decades now. It is a model with a blue card. Some websites claim the letters on the card are luminous. Either this has worn off on my own example or it was a feature that was introduced on later models. The more modern examples have a black card. Some websites also list the clipper as being suitable for diving!

 

          One reason that I have used the clipper so often is that it is the compass that I always have with me. I have a small container, rather like a 35mm film container but oval in section. The clipper lives in this at the bottom of a belt pouch, sometimes sharing its accommodation with a couple of aspirin.

          If I am out in the wilds I will pack a larger compass. The clipper has proved most useful in environments where the need for a compass is often unanticipated. Many guidebooks will give you directions such as “the hostel can be found a few blocks northeast of the station”. There are a number of techniques that can be uses to determine direction in an urban environment but sometimes these cannot be used. The sky may be overcast or satellite dishes are not visible. This is when a compass like the clipper comes in very useful.

         If you have enjoyed this article or it has been helpful to you please feel free to show your appreciation. Thank you.
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Epic Fail

             There are instances when the threads of various topics I am working on intersect. Once such instance happened recently and got me looking into wrist compasses. I came across a wrist compass at a very modest price and decided that it might make an interesting topic for this blog, if nothing else. Other than my limited budget, one of the reasons I selected this model over others was the statement:

             "The compass face can also be rotated to allow you to save your heading, which makes checking you're heading the right way exceedingly quick and easy."

             I cannot really see much point in a wrist compass that does not have a bezel or moveable section to do this.

             I ordered the item in the afternoon and it was with me next morning, which was rather impressive for first-class mail.

             I just could not get the glass to rotate. The mark on it stubbornly stayed at 12 o’clock. The compass was made by the same company as the Italian Army-style compass I recently acquired. You will recall that the bezel on this was very stiff initially so it was possible that I was doing something wrong.

             The supplier had sent me an email, so I replied, asking for advice and including the statement from their webpage.

             A reply arrived, stating they had checked their listings and could not find the description I had mentioned. It just so happened that the webpage address was still in my browser history. I sent them the link and cut and pasted the statement from the second paragraph.

             The next day another reply arrives. This states that the webpage does not mention that you can rotate the housing.

             I have a look at the webpage again. A whole paragraph has disappeared! Can you guess which one?

             I have an idea. I put the webpage address into “Wayback Machine” and find an older version of the webpage. There is the second paragraph. I have sent the company this link and for good measure took a “snip” of the page including the second paragraph that had vanished overnight. No reply so far.

             Two lessons learned here. The first is that if you are complaining about a misleading or incorrect representation on a webpage, take a “snapshot” or “snip” as proof for if the webpage changes. Secondly, Wayback Machine can be a useful fallback.

             In fairness, the supplier did offer to let me return the item from the start. Given the low cost I was not going to bother and was just going to chalk up the loss. Now, given the changing webpage, I have decided to return the item and am curious as to how they behave. Will they return my money or will they welch because the packaging has been opened? I have no idea how I could have determined the housing could not be rotated without removing the packaging!

             I will update this page when the matter is resolved, and will name and shame if necessary.

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The Engineer's Compass.

           Probably the oldest compass I have is an “engineer’s compass” similar to that in the photo below. These can be found at very modest prices so I suspect a number of readers might have one lying around.

 

           I acquired mine a long time ago. So long ago, in fact, that it predated the internet and I had very little idea as to how to use it. Books and magazine articles on compass use concentrated on baseplate compasses such as the Silva and Suunto brands. What were all these wires and notches and tiny magnifiers for?

           I had to work out how to use it myself. The method I came up with involved tilting both the cover and the lens bracket inwards so that they just made contact. I could look past the wire through the notch on the lens bracket. I could read the value off the dial using the lens. The gentleman in the photo below seems to have made the same conclusion.

 

 

           Nowadays there are a wealth of websites and online manuals on how to use a lensatic compass. I wasn’t quite right, but I was not that far wrong either.

           The lens bracket should be tilted inwards. By experimenting with the angle you can improve your image of the dial. According to most manuals the cover should be vertical for using the sighting wire. You will find, however, that if you incline the cover inwards it casts a shadow over the compass and the reflection of the wire allows you to read the value on the dial through the lens more accurately.

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