How to Make a Fish Trap in 30 Seconds

 by Samuel C
Contest WinnerFeatured
video How to Make a Fish Trap in 30 Seconds
If you have a plastic bottle and a cutter/knife/scissors, that's great --- you can make a fish trap in a minute -- it is so satisfying to catch a fish!
That is the reason I make this Instructable.

Features of this design:
Rocks in the bottle --- sinks the bottle; stabilize the bottle against the waves.
Small bottle --- easier to lift when filled with water; will be harder for small fish to escape through this small opening than the 5L bottle opening.
Cut the bottle at a low level --- the top and the bottom part will fix together firmly without tape, glue, fishing line, or wire.
Not to use fishing line --- easier to opening/close the trap; easier to make the trap.
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enemigo says: Dec 2, 2012. 5:53 AM
same concept as a fly trap the fish/fly enter for the bait but when it's time to exit most all of them go to the top and progress round and round looking for the opening, almost never going to the center where the opening is. They don't have the capacity to think like we do, so their lack of reason traps them, not a closed door.
(in response to "torned00" )
enemigo says: Dec 2, 2012. 5:37 AM
sand in the bottom uses a lower profile and thus the fish have a harder time finding the opening to get out.
fallout-fanboy #1 says: Oct 22, 2012. 1:26 AM
i made somthing like this but three times bigger
uhsnamih says: Jun 8, 2011. 5:23 PM
nice one for zombie eclipse
FlatLinerMEDIC in reply to uhsnamihJul 30, 2012. 1:01 AM
Not if the water is contaminated.=/
drummerman72 says: Apr 15, 2012. 8:05 PM
no offence meant to anyone but...... not hunting would be more cruel than most people could imagine some people i dont know if it was p.e.t.a. or someone else bought all the deer tags in my area one year my aunt has a 80 acre farm it was terrible to watch, the population of deer had exploded over the previous 2 years after deer season with no kills we got to watch deer dying from disease and starving to death i am a fisherman i am a hunter i am a conservationist and i am a realist i do believe and practice take only what you can eat and eat whatever you take i have no ill will for vegans and vegetarians i have some friends who practice the lifestyle but as i have explained to them i hunt and fish because of my love of nature better a quick bullet than a week of starvation i admire the beliefs and the conviction of people who abstain from eating meat but if no one hunted/fished what would we do about the over population of animals due to the lack of natural predators the only predators they have now are hunters and cars sorry about my little tangent i did love the trap btw i am trying to make a bigger one thanks
Frank Lampard 13 says: Aug 24, 2011. 9:56 AM
it looks easier then catching a fish with a rod...lol ill try it :)
trans4mation says: May 15, 2011. 2:18 PM
Nice tutorial! And might I add we DID NOT evolve.
Ckeranen says: Apr 20, 2011. 9:14 PM
I do this when I go fishing. You can use the smaller fish for bait.
Timofte Andrei says: Oct 6, 2010. 5:55 AM
try with a bigger bottle with a larger cap ;) and drill the bottom of the bottle ;) oh and...what have you done are more than a minute compressed in 30secs;)
torned00 in reply to Timofte AndreiOct 26, 2010. 1:48 AM
what if a small fish just ate all the trap and easily gone out because of the hole.
Dukeeey says: Aug 20, 2010. 10:48 AM
I tried this before and would like to tell you all that the fish doesn't die unless the trap is made wrongly. When you take it out the water, water stays in the bottle so the fish survives and you just take the top back off then let the fish go again. If you leave a sharp edge, the trap is too small, leave it in there for too long or put oo many rocks in it, the fish could die.
lilrocker90 says: Jul 28, 2010. 10:13 AM
hmmm thats a cool concept, but i wouldnt KILL a fish if im not going to eat it, and that fish is too small to eat so i would use this concept to make a bigger trap... nice though
Hayman1995 says: Sep 4, 2009. 12:49 PM
Poor snails and fish :( does anyone else feel like me?
sabbysayshi in reply to Hayman1995Jul 27, 2010. 1:02 PM
i eat babies
ducktape.mac in reply to Hayman1995Jun 11, 2010. 8:32 AM
no.
allix69 in reply to Hayman1995Jun 1, 2010. 3:36 AM
 not really, life is the suns gift of energy and it must be given from one life to another for the better to survive
kissiltur in reply to Hayman1995Sep 4, 2009. 3:18 PM
Yes. I usually avoid the meat recipes and anything to do with hunting or fishing since I'm a veggie, but this looked intriguing from a simple mechanical point of view. Poor squished gastropod.
jr.tuckluck13 in reply to kissilturJul 16, 2010. 10:52 AM
I have to be honest with you, being a vegetarian is entirely unhealthy. Almost every vegetarian I know is malnourished.
fallout-fanboy #1 in reply to jr.tuckluck13Oct 22, 2012. 1:28 AM
i agree
Hayman1995 in reply to jr.tuckluck13Jul 16, 2010. 11:30 AM
Yeah? Vegetarianinm suits some people more than others
jr.tuckluck13 in reply to Hayman1995Jul 16, 2010. 12:41 PM
But you have to consider that if people weren't meant to eat meat we wouldnt have canine teeth and incisors. only molars. Humans are meant to be omnivorous.
Hayman1995 in reply to jr.tuckluck13Jul 16, 2010. 1:16 PM
Fair comment , but as in evolution we move on from there. We evolved empathy for other living things, so the next step, at least as I hope, is that future generations loose the specialised hunting body parts for enhanced empathy and knowledge, and perhaps those who cannot live as vegetarians and vegans healthily adapting to it, if you see my point? And people living ignorantly and blindly eating the processed rubbish pouring from mcdonalds are just standing in the way of progress!
fiddleman2007 in reply to Hayman1995Mar 15, 2011. 8:49 AM
OR we eat fresh venison and cattle. Just because we eat meat doesn't mean we eat poorly.
bears0 in reply to Hayman1995Jan 22, 2011. 8:00 PM
yeah people back in the 50s that were country men were really strong and some could even take a 300 lb log and pick it up and carry it on their shoulder.
jr.tuckluck13 in reply to Hayman1995Jul 16, 2010. 8:51 PM
Oh don't get me wrong, empathy is necessary, but to an extent. As I said, we are made to hunt. Simply the way we were built and continue to be built proves that. We have proportionally enormous legs with massive muscles for running and hunting. The same goes for our arms. As for the future, there is more proof that hunting is becoming more prevalent. Humans are growing larger and having greater muscle mass to be able to take more stress. For example, humans today have a much larger heart than someone from, say, the 17/800's, yet not as large as the Native Americans from the same time period. Vegetarianism is also simply illogical. Though bears and monkeys, omnivorous like humans, have compassion and empathy like we do, and are capable of such towards other species, they still hunt to survive. THey know that their bodies need the protein, as do ours. Vegetables and fruits provide very little, if any protein, which our bodies need to build more muscle. THere is scientific proof that Vegetarians are not as healthy and have a terrible BMI because their bodies lack Protein to make muscle. ANy professional athlete will tell you as well that you need to be balanced in what you eat to stay healthy. And I'm not talking meat as in a Bigmac. I mean fresh, hearty, unprocessed meat. There is no escaping that it has to happen.
Hayman1995 in reply to jr.tuckluck13Jul 17, 2010. 5:05 AM
Yeah? Well my point is that over the past 150 years there has been a huge change in peoples lifestyle, we don't hunt anymore, at least most people, and the few that do usually use guns to hunt, so this idea of us advancing to hunt in muscle strength seems to be more to attract the opposite sex etc. So now the more important part of our evolution is to think more to strive for knowledge, to earn more money, to live better. So the junk in our DNA is not necessary, at least not as much, for hunting. Just to get lucky!
bears0 in reply to Hayman1995Jan 22, 2011. 8:01 PM
i hunt sometimes with my buddy when i get the chance.
jr.tuckluck13 in reply to Hayman1995Jul 17, 2010. 9:12 AM
You still ignored most of what I said. The only things you talked about was the change in strength. And I never said humans were becoming stronger. Our muscles are becoming larger, simply saying we have more muscle mass. As for your comment on earning money, knowledge and to live better, that has nothing to do with natural evolution.If money had never been created and people had continued to use a barter system, we would never push for more of it. Human beings are not meant to live indoors. Our build proves that. Many of the diseases that we have now, heart disease, obesity, high cholesterol, etc, never existed in ancient civilizations. There are two reasons for that. 1, the people of the time had no way of escaping the physical activity. THey had no cars or supermarkets, so they had to walk and hunt/gather. 2, They never did just one of those two. They ate what was available to them where they lived, a balanced portion of meat and plant material (actually they ate a little more meat than anything else,but tat just added to the healthiness). These diseases did not even Exist in their time because they ate what was available with no hesitation. Things like diabetes are caused by unbalanced nutrition. Everyone seems to think that a vegetarian diet can stop diabetes, but it can not. I know a woman who nearly died because of type 2 diabetes caused by vegetarianism. it is simply unethical.
Hayman1995 in reply to jr.tuckluck13Jul 17, 2010. 11:37 AM
Sorry about that, but we have advanced, through unatural selection if you like, and it seems to work. Other traits are more important in our society than larger muscle mass. and with the whole lack of protien thing is a moot point because there are ways to get protien in quorn, the fungus meat sub and tofu.nnow if everyone became a vegetarian,those who could anyway we would still get taller and stronger because that is naturally what happens in evolution, all a change to a vegetarian diet is to shake things up with evolution and in a barter system people still want more than everyone else, wouldn't you?
gurnieBP in reply to Hayman1995Mar 26, 2011. 11:27 AM
haha,bit late{or alot}but do you like those wanna be meat flavors?
fiddleman2007 in reply to Hayman1995Mar 15, 2011. 8:54 AM
All of those food items suck. Instead of getting 1/4 of the required protein out of a nasty pale chalky substitute, why not just eat a steak?
jr.tuckluck13 in reply to Hayman1995Jul 18, 2010. 8:07 AM
Meat substitutes have no where near as much protein as Meat does. I'm not saying this based on opinion. It is solid fact. It has been proven by top molecular scientists. They have said that there is absolutely no way, other than animal products to obtain certain amino acids to make the human protein. Thus, without these products, you can not rebuild your body. The cells that make up your body will become old and die, and not be able to be replaced. Your body will fall apart and you will die a very slow, very painful death. It has been proven.
Hayman1995 in reply to jr.tuckluck13Jul 18, 2010. 9:35 AM
I'm a vegetarian, so....I'm ok. A balanced diet is nessecary, obviously. And supplements are available.
jr.tuckluck13 in reply to Hayman1995Jul 18, 2010. 6:40 PM
and there is proof that supplements do not work.
Hayman1995 in reply to jr.tuckluck13Jul 19, 2010. 12:43 AM
Yes I survive on a vegetarian diet and I have no need for supplements. If you think of the big picture, back to the evolution point. ( warning, half baked theory coming up) I now have a variation that allows me and many other vegetarians that allow us to get by in other ways without specific RNA etc in meat. Give it time to manafest in the gene pool for a few hundred years, we will have an adequate percentage of the population to change opinion..... Assuming we aren't all wiped out by nuclear weapons!
jr.tuckluck13 in reply to Hayman1995Jul 25, 2010. 9:26 AM
It's simply not possible. You can not make a human protein without animal products
mikesnyd in reply to jr.tuckluck13Dec 25, 2010. 12:37 PM
im sorry but if you do believe in evolution you must conclude that mother nature will derive what she needs from somewhere some how. And this may not be able to be seen by anyone in the current transition. There will be notification that it doesn't work at the time due to the current body requirements. I agree that if everyone just started eating vegan style and supplemented for protein by slowly weening themselves off of meat the body could and would find a way to produce life. and thus over a vast time period a new evolutionary path be created. However. I love meat. I am not gonna give it up. And so i aint helping in this matter of evolution. I like deer sausages and bear meat. And if we run out of animals to harvest due to the large nature of people i might go to cannibalism. But i sure hope I dont see that appen in my life time. ( MMMMMM T BONE)
fiddleman2007 in reply to mikesnydMar 15, 2011. 9:03 AM
Thats like saying that if everyone stopped pooping we wouldn't have to any more, or like everyone stopped breathing, we wouldn't have to breath. There are somethings that we need to survive.
mikesnyd in reply to fiddleman2007Mar 19, 2011. 9:17 PM
Stop pooping and see what happens silly man. Stop breathing and see what happens silly fiddleman. The things i refer to is the food source we rely on. Look at the evolutionary chain of man. If you dont think more changes may occur thats fine. I just mearly mean that more changes that are beyond my lifetime will occur. If the population grows expodentially like it is there will come a time when the world will be shoulder to shoulder with people and a small earthquake will be a relief so that others may eat. Due to the majority of the people being pro life and not wanting to kill a person who stole a grape to live, then over population is inevitable. And how do you propose to feed all these people? There wont be enough land mass for agriculture. Hydroponics will have to suffice. And Farming grazing animals will stop. There will be too many mouths and not enough resources. The time will come. not in my lifetime but some day.
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