Survival Fishing - Make a Gorge Hook

The gorge hook is one of the simplest and oldest types of fishing hooks. It is nothing more that a straight piece of wood or bone that is sharpened to a point on each end. The principle behind the gorge hook is that when the fish swallows the bait, the hook goes into the fish's mouth straight. When you pull on the line, the hook turns sideways and lodges in the fish's throat.

It is important to match the size of the gorge hook to the size of fish that you are trying to catch. If you are using a gorge hook that is an inch and a half long, and the only fish is the pond are small pan fish; you will probably not catch many fish.

A knife or even a sharp rock can be used to make a gorge hook. If you are making your hook from wood, the wood needs to be pretty hard. Bone is a little harder to work with, but it makes an excellent hook.

To make a gorge hook out of wood it is necessary to select a good piece of hardwood that is about one-quarter of an inch in diameter. Pictured below: Stick of seasoned American holly.

Sharpen both ends of the stick to a point. For the average size pan-fish the hook needs to be about three-quarters of an inch long and about one-eighth of an inch in diameter. Pictured below: top, starting to carve the gorge hook; bottom, gorge hook roughed out.


Use your knife to carve a shallow groove around the middle of the gorge hook. This will keep your line from slipping off of the hook. Pictured below: top, carving groove around the gorge hook; bottom, finished gorge hook.


Here are some gorge hooks made of bone.

Pictured below are several regular style hooks made of bone and twigs from a thorn bush.

Next we will make a stone sinker and a couple of different types of floats.