If you’re camping alongside a river or lake and fishing is allowed, you’re probably keen to bring your fishing rod with.

But do yourself a favor – leave the fishing gear in your vehicle or at home.

This is a fantastic opportunity to practice improvised fishing techniques. After all, in a true survival situation, you probably won’t have the luxury of grabbing your favorite fishing rod and bait!

There are many ways to improvise fishing. One of the best is to use a long, sturdy length of wood, shoelaces (or, preferably, the fishing line found inside many paracords), and something like a hairpin, sharp twig, or paperclip for the hook. Forage for worms and/or use food scraps as bait.

Another great technique to practice is spearfishing. You could even use the same improvised fishing rod, making it multipurpose and giving yourself a backup if your last string-like material breaks.

Simply sharpen one end using your survival knife (or a sharp rock in a pinch) and carefully fire-harden it. This is the easiest way to improvise a spearfishing pole.

A more advanced improvised fishing technique to practice is catching fish by hand. Somehow, it manages to look comical and impressive at the same time (provided you’re successful, of course – otherwise it’s just comical).

Like spearfishing, catching fish by hand – also called “noodling” – requires a lot of patience and a quick, sure hand. But both are tried-and-tested fishing techniques with a long, rich history.