Introduction: 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.

Finalist in the
Forbes Teach Me Fast Contest
77 Comments
7 years ago
This is excellent for catching small bait. The plastic bottle can be any size, but I prefer 2 liters rather than 20 oz. or smaller ( though they work just as well in a pinch) I like to add a rope and bright float to them, like a solo cup or anthing that catches your eye when looking for them as markers to find them again, I leave them out for a few hours at a time. Thank you for making this instructable. :)
12 years ago on Introduction
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;)
Reply 12 years ago on Introduction
what if a small fish just ate all the trap and easily gone out because of the hole.
Reply 7 years ago
the plastic disorients them, the trick is they don't see the hole top get back out. :)
8 years ago
For all of you that think that killing fish is wrong, this is a fish trap that (I'm guessing) is mainly used for catching fish for bait (that's what I'll use it for) or for putting in a fish tank/ pond.
10 years ago
And are the fish still alive?
10 years ago
What should I put as food/bait?
10 years ago on Introduction
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" )
10 years ago on Introduction
sand in the bottom uses a lower profile and thus the fish have a harder time finding the opening to get out.
10 years ago on Introduction
i made somthing like this but three times bigger
12 years ago on Introduction
nice one for zombie eclipse
Reply 11 years ago on Introduction
Not if the water is contaminated.=/
11 years ago on Introduction
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
12 years ago on Introduction
it looks easier then catching a fish with a rod...lol ill try it :)
12 years ago on Introduction
Nice tutorial! And might I add we DID NOT evolve.
12 years ago on Introduction
I do this when I go fishing. You can use the smaller fish for bait.
13 years ago on Introduction
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.
13 years ago on Introduction
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
14 years ago on Introduction
one time I cath 104 fishes in about 10-15 minutes with this tingh! it realy works!
Reply 14 years ago on Introduction
please use proper grammar, i mean there's a built in spell check lol