101 Uses for Paracord [infographic]

There’s a good reason why you don’t bring a lot of things with you when you go on an outdoor adventure. You may need a pillow for a more comfortable rest at night inside your tent, or a rope ladder to climb some treacherous terrains. But you don’t bring all of what you think you might need when camping or trekking or whatever you do in an adventure. If you did, you would be carrying your whole house with you.
This is where a modest piece of equipment comes in. A paracord looks like it won’t be much, but it can actually do so much. A paracord, which means a parachute cord, is basically a lifesaver. You need a shoelace? Use a paracord. Your leather watch strap ripped? A paracord will hold it together. You suddenly need to rappel? Paracord can be your lifeline. Aside from the obvious uses—such as tying an object to something or using it as a rope—there are a lot more that you can do with a paracord. You don’t have to be trekking in the countryside or camping in the wild to have a use for it. You can find that even in an urban setting, a paracord can be crucial to you.
Learn how to use a paracord in so many different ways in the infographic below.
infographic 101 Uses for Paracord

Sounds Fishy: An Often Overlooked Bug-Out Bag Item That I Always Add

I’m always intrigued by what people argue about when trying to decide what to put in their bug out bag or survival kit. You know…. fire starters, water filters, food rations, I need not say more. We all picture survival scenarios that we try to be prepared for. Maybe one of those is being stranded in the woods or lost near a stream or lake.

Freshly caught trout cooking in a skillet over an open flame

So here is a question…..Do you have any actual fishing lures and line in your kit? I’m not talking about a bit of string, a few hooks and a sinker. I’m talking about maybe a small 150 yd spool of super high tech fishing line. Maybe you have paracord in your kit but think you have nothing but time to strip one of the 8 strands out of it and use it for lashing or fishing line. Why waste your time and precious resources? The latest technology can give you the diameter of old 4 lb test with the strength of 40 lb test using super braids made out of exotic fabric like trademarked “Spectra” lines. Snares, bed and shelter lashing, trip lines, temporary sutures, and yes fishing, the possibilities are endless and ready to use.

So you have some compact line, what kind of lures could you carry for let’s say a salt, fresh or fly fishing situation? Opinions are close but vary on the top 10 lures in the world for these types of fishing. Most would agree on our sample of a short list of some of the best lures ever invented because all and many more are time tested and proven fish catchers. Do your own research if you wish but consider the possibility of including one or two lures from each category to your well thought out survival kit.

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Here’s a list of just a few lures to save you some time…..

Fresh water:

Heddon Torpedo, Red Devil or Daredevil Spoon, Rapala Floating Minnow, Panther Martin, Hula Popper, Mepps Aglia Spinner, and of course the famous versions of the rubber worm!

Salt Water:

Diamond Jig, Gold spoon, artificial shrimp or DOA shrimp, Mirrolure twitch baits, Bucktail jigs and Johnsons Silver Minnow

Fly fishing manufactured lures:

Hares Ear Nymph, Adams Dry Fly- which some consider the most effective, Woolly Bugger, and one of the new modern favorites…The green “mop fly” (That’s’ right, a fantastic lure made from the tiny microfiber fingers in a floor mop. Talk about survival…make your own!  It resembles the parachute inch worm which fall from trees and the trout and other fish go nuts.)

We hope this article gets you thinking of the few extra inches of space you could add to your survival kit and of course many arguments can be made of all the amazing lures we haven’t even begun to mention. That is the real point of the article…just to get you thinking and preparing!

 

Make Your Own Survival Fishing Rod

HOW TO MAKE A SURVIVAL FISHING ROD

There was a lot of interest in building these, so I found these instructions. There are many ways to build something like this. I encourage you to change this design, make it better, and figure out what works best for you as there are different rod designs based on fishing technique.

These are mostly made of PVC pipe. I picked up 10 foot lengths of 1/2 inch PVC and 3/4 inch PVC for about $1.50 each. You can make several of these fishing rods with that much PVC pipe.

First, I used a hacksaw to cut pieces of both the 1/2 inch PVC and 3/4 inch PVC that were 10 inches long. Why 10 inches? No particular reason, you can make them whatever size you want.

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I used some sandpaper to smooth the edges that I had sawed and to remove the markings from the outside of the PVC pipes.

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You’ll need a 3/4 inch slip cap, a 1/2 inch slip cap, a 3/4 to 1/2 threaded connector (female/male), and a 1/2 to 1/2 inch threaded connector (female/female). These fittings cost around $0.60 each.

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I didn’t need to use any adhesive to get the pieces to stick together. You’ll want to be able to remove the slip caps later on anyway, since you’ll be putting you’re fishing tackle into the handles.

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I drilled 3 holes all the way through the 1/2 inch PVC pipe with a 3/32 inch drill bit.

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I used pieces from medium sized binder clips to make the eyelets of the fishing rod.

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Remove the silver parts and use pliers to bend them until they look like the one on the right.

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Then, clip it into the holes that you drilled through the 1/2 inch PVC. You’ll need to do this three times.

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We opted to use a premade ice fishing reel because it would have been difficult for our kids to build an improvised reel. However, I’ll show you a quick way to make one after I show you how we attached these. We paid $2.96 each for the reels.

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We disassembled the reels and used the white plastic piece on the left as a guide for where to drill the holes into the 3/4 inch PVC pipe.

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I used the same 3/32 inch drill bit from before to make the holes and then screwed the white plastic piece into the 3/4 inch PVC.

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Then, you simply screw the two pieces together and you’ve got yourself a fishing rod! Don’t forget that the slip caps come off of each end, leaving you with plenty of room for storage in both sides.

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This improvised reel is made from a spool of fishing line and a few pieces of hardware. I drilled a hole into the 3/4 inch PVC with a 7/64 inch drill bit. To secure it to the rod, I simply put a screw through the center of the spool and used a washer to make it more stable. Be sure not to tighten things too much or the reel won’t spin.

I put an eye screw into the 1/2 inch PVC to act as a guide for the fishing line and threaded a bolt into the plastic part of the spool to act as a handle for the reel.

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The improvised reel works okay, but the action is not as smooth as the premade one. However, it is a little bit smaller and doesn’t cost as much.

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It breaks down nicely for storage. I cut some pieces from an old bike tire inner tube to band the two halves together.

All of the external pieces are removable and can be stored inside the handle with exception of the reel itself.

So, there you have it! Go have some fun and let me know how it turns out.

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