Gorge hook for survival if you have no fishing gear

Gorge hooks are the oldest fishing hooks, many examples are found in prehistory.



The idea is that fish swallows the baited hook length ways, but when tension is applied the hook stands on end and lodges in the jaw and palate of the fish.

Note one end is longer than the other from the line connection, which helps the hook stand in the gullet of the fish when tension is applied to the line.

We used bamboo hooks and agave fibre double twist fishing line, these are extremely strong. In minutes you make them up and have lines in the water.

Just shove the hook up the length of a grasshopper or moth, and these will float on the surface splashing and flapping around attracting the fish. Very hard for a fish to ignore that, it’s a call to dinner.

The top of a palm branch has a U shaped channel on it, this lends itself for use as a very effective fishing rod.

The line lays in the channel, and your thumb sits on the line which can now act as a drag by applying pressure in the channel.

All you have to do is tie lashings along the length of the palm branch to prevent the line from jumping out of the channel.

Lay the line behind you on the beach when casting, have a 2 foot length of baited line hanging from the tip of your rod, you can adjust the length with thumb pressure, then cast.
As the line reaches the release point, take your thumb pressure off and allow the line run out. And when the bait reaches the distance you want, apply thumb pressure to halt it.

If you are using gorge hooks, it is important to allow the fish to swallow the bait completely and then set the hook. This means you don’t strike immediately on feeling the fish hitting the bait, otherwise you are just pulling the bait out of its mouth.
Many times I’ve allowed enough time for the gorge hook to enter the stomach of the fish, this is a really good solid hookup as the sharp bamboo pierces upper and lower stomach, really wedging in there. Then you can reef that fish in hard with confidence. This can be important because a long fight with a fish will attract sharks, which will lose you the fish.