If I understand correctly ground up walnut (outer) hulls and buckeye nuts are both good "survival situation" fishing toxins. Has anyone ever tried these? And does anyone know of any more?
Bark from the Chinaberry tree. Ground up, is the best natural source of rotenone on the North American continent.
I've never heard of the chinaberry so I looked it up...... kinda scary to have around if you have stock, just a small amount to kill a pig.. or human.
Rotenone works by sufficating the fish. It works very well in standing water like pools or ponds. You have to make sure you can retreive it by placing it in a cloth bag or something or it will continue to kill fish for a while afterwards, until it dissapates. It puts no toxins in the fish. They commercially sell rotenone for fish farming or used to several years ago. It was primarily used to clean a pond of trash-fish before stocking with catfish.
Rotenone is used extensively to this day to purge wildlife from bodies of water. It is used often in semitropical areas like southern Florida where non-native introduced species like Piranha sometimes find their way into the local waterways and breed.
On the subject of survival fishing... I have this seine net that I've used with a few other people and it works very well in the local rivers. Two people on the net itself, and one or more people upstream stomping down to the net and making a lot of noise... I've gotten many fish this way and more than a few turtles as well. I really wouldn't want to eat anything that I had to poison to catch. There are so many ways to catch fish without poison that I don't really see the point. Why not explosives? Or electrocution? Or good old fashioned angling?
The point would be a larger payoff for a lesser effort. If you have a group (of one or more) to feed and no other equipment(no nets, nor explosives, nor electricity), fishing this way could mean surviving longer.
I wouldn't want to eat something I just poisoned either, but Seacowboys said it doesn't poison them, it suffocates them. I had thought it just stunned them or something... got them drunk maybe If it just suffocates them, I'm ok with it. Explosives - poor availability, draws attention. Angling - I'm an avid fisherman, but sometimes they just don't bite. And it can't always provide LARGE amounts of meat. Electric - I think it's a little tricky, but I'd like to learn more.
