HUN Chapter 32: Weaving a Gill Net

Today was the thirty-eighth day of wilderness survival.

Lin Yu'an walked out of the warm stone shelter, and the chill around Chilko Lake was becoming increasingly intense.

"Time really flies. In the blink of an eye, I've already spent more than a month here."

"Speaking of which, this season's rule restrictions are really quite numerous. Grizzly bears, fishers, female deer, all animal cubs, none can be hunted."

"For fishing, we can't exceed an average of two fish per day. Fortunately, according to the production team's rules, after the fortieth day, we'll be allowed to use fishing nets. So I need to start preparing in advance."

He carried the camera into the shelter, pointing it at the willow basket storing smoked meat and remaining sunchokes.

"Although we currently have some food reserves, these are far from enough to cope with the long winter that's approaching."

"Aside from the abundant harvest during the previous fish spawning migration, I've been coming up empty-handed for many consecutive days of fishing. So I must make good use of this opportunity when fishing nets become permitted, trying more possibilities for obtaining food resources."

"Therefore, I've decided to start making a small gill net today, choosing to set up a small gill net on the inner side of a bend where the current is gentler."

Lin Yu'an took out a roll of nylon fishing line from his supplies that he hadn't used extensively before.

"I have a roll of approximately 0.35-millimeter nylon fishing line here. Its strength and concealment are both quite good, sufficient for weaving a small gill net."

From a pile of wood scraps, he selected a dry wooden stick about the thickness of a thumb and roughly four centimeters long.

Lin Yu'an displayed the wooden stick in front of the camera and said, "I plan to weave a gill net with diamond-shaped mesh holes of about four centimeters. Using this small wooden stick as a reference will ensure the mesh holes are basically uniform in size."

He found an area with flat ground that could receive sunlight but was somewhat sheltered from wind. This became his temporary net-weaving workshop.

He first set up several spruce trunks, maintaining a distance of about two meters, and tightly pulled a "headline" with paracord as the starting reference for weaving the gill net.

"I'll start weaving the first row of mesh holes from this net's headline."

Lin Yu'an unwound about seven to eight meters of line from that precious roll of nylon fishing line and tied it tightly to the left end of the headline with a secure "double slip knot."

"Using the four-centimeter wooden stick as a gauge, wrap the fishing line from below the headline clockwise around the gauge once, then thread it back to form a standard loop."

"This action must maintain consistent force each time around the gauge, otherwise the mesh holes will be uneven in size."

Immediately after, his fingers moved, threading the free end of the fishing line through the loop just formed, and pulling hard to tie the first standard "sheet bend" on the headline.

"There are many types of knots for gill nets. The core requirement is that they must be firm and cannot come loose on their own when fish struggle, otherwise the mesh size will change, affecting the fishing effectiveness."

Lin Yu'an demonstrated to the action camera on his chest, slowing down his movements as much as possible, hoping to capture every detail of the knot-tying to ensure viewers could understand clearly.

The nylon line skillfully shuttled, pulled, and tightened between his fingers, and a standard half-diamond mesh hole clearly appeared on the headline.

"When tying the first knot, you must ensure it's tightly attached to the headline and that the loop formed is exactly equal to the length of the wooden stick."

"This way, the size of our first mesh hole is precisely determined, and this reference point is very important."

Then he repeated the previous action again, wrapping the fishing line around the wooden stick, shuttling, tying, and tightening to tie the second knot on the headline. He continuously repeated this seemingly simple process that was extremely testing of patience.

Soon on the headline, a row of neat, basically uniform half-diamond mesh holes gradually extended.

Lin Yu'an planned this gill net to be about two meters wide, which meant the first row would need about forty-plus such knots.

"You must remember, the first row of mesh holes is the foundation of the entire fishing net. If the first row is already crooked or loose, then this net, when woven, will definitely have greatly reduced effectiveness."

After completing all the half-mesh holes in the first row, he began weaving the second row.

Starting from this row, he no longer needed the headline as a direct reference, but used the lower half of the previous row's mesh holes as the new "headline" for weaving.

"Starting from the second row, we're weaving complete diamond-shaped mesh holes."

"Each new knot connects to the center line between adjacent knots in the previous row, thus forming a stable and uniform diamond structure."

Lin Yu'an occasionally lifted up the completed portions of the net, displaying them to the camera. Those clear diamond grids appeared particularly distinct in the sunlight.

"When weaving gill nets, the biggest taboo is being impatient and trying to pursue speed."

"Once a certain knot is tied incorrectly or not completely tightened, it will lead to wasted effort and failure."

"Moreover, if the mesh holes are uneven in size, small fish might pass directly through, while large fish cannot be effectively caught by their gill covers, thus easily escaping."

Lin Yu'an planned this gill net to be about four meters long and approximately two meters wide. This size should be sufficient to effectively intercept most waterways while being convenient for one person to deploy and retrieve.

After a day of wholehearted diligent work, when Lin Yu'an tied the last knot of the last row of mesh holes and secured the line end with a "net finishing knot."

A nylon gill net with uniform mesh holes and tight knots finally appeared complete in his hands!

He untied the gill net from the headline between the two trees, gently shook it open, held the net's headline with both hands, and displayed it completely in front of the camera.

"Hey, look at this! The main body of a purely hand-woven small gill net is finally complete!"

"But for a gill net to expand vertically in water, the weight distribution of floats and sinkers is very crucial, directly affecting the net's form in water and the fishing effectiveness."

Lin Yu'an began making floats and sinkers for the gill net.

For floats, he chose very lightweight dried aspen branches. For sinkers, he selected some stones.

"These aspen branches are already very light, and after sufficient drying, they have excellent buoyancy. We'll tie them evenly to the gill net's headline, allowing the net's upper edge to float well."

Then he tied the prepared small wooden float segments to the gill net's headline at intervals of about twenty centimeters, making each knot very secure to ensure the floats wouldn't easily fall off.

Similarly, he also tied those bundled small stone sinkers to the gill net's footrope with the same spacing and secure knots.

He carefully adjusted the position and rope length of each float and sinker, ensuring they were evenly distributed and could balance the forces on the entire net panel in water, thus expanding it vertically to the maximum extent.

"Alright, the floats and sinkers are all installed. Our purely handcrafted gill net is now truly complete!"

"I just need to wait until the restriction period ends, and then I can use it!"

After storing the completed gill net, the sun had already tilted westward. Lin Yu'an went to check the snare trap locations.

Strangely, every trap was in a triggered state, the bait had disappeared, but no prey had been caught.

He carefully investigated the cause and finally discovered a tuft of animal fur around one trap site that looked like fox fur.

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