Fish net

“ When the former method (which is far the best) is adopted, the nets hang down perpendicularly, as in herring-fishing, and each little silvery victim is secured in a separate mesh by its gills. These fish must of course be the finest and best, as only sprats of a certain size could be secured in the mesh; and, moreover, the fish thus taken are not dragged about and bruised, as they are when the “stow-net” is used. ”

“ The net surrounded and brought to land every living creature that fell within its sweep, and was not small enough to escape through its meshes. Some of these are in their own nature and at all times unfit for food; others are useless at particular seasons. Every one who has watched the operations of fishermen on the shore is familiar with the appearance of star-fish and other low forms of marine life, which are drawn out by the nets, and cast away upon the sand. Large predatory fishes of a low type are also sometimes caught, when they venture too near in search of prey. ”

“ As the net hangs like a curtain in the water, herring in their progress get their heads into the meshes, whence they cannot retreat, and are thus held captive till the nets are hauled on board and the fish shaken into the hold. ”

“ As for the second, his most arduous task has been, not to dig the fish-pond, but to people it. For this purpose he has been compelled to become a fisherman, to manufacture a net. He has succeeded, with some threads from his fragment of a sail, the fibres of his cocoa-nuts, and tough reeds, woven in close meshes; unfortunately those fine fishes, breams, eels and angel-fish, which show themselves so readily through the limpid wave, are not as easy to catch as to see. Under the surface, almost at a level with the water, there is a ledge of rocks, upon which the net cannot be managed. ”

“ The invention of netting marked a notable advance in the primitive development of the fishing industry. The net in all its various forms and applications is the characteristic and all-important implement of the fishing industry. A net may be used either to surround a fish and drag it out of the water, as in seining or trawling, or it may be used to enmesh the fish, as in drift netting. The rise and development of the sea fishing industry has been due very largely to the gradually improved efficiency of the net. ”

“ When the fishermen approached their net, they saw by the movement of the poles that they had made a good catch. The net was fairly alive with pickerel, pike, bass, and suckers, but they caught no gars or paddle-fish.
“Why don’t we catch some of those queer fish?” Bill asked.
“Don’t know,” replied the trapper. “You never see those in winter. May be they go south to live in warmer water.”
In the evening, the men dressed all the fish they had caught. They did not smoke them as they had done with the fish caught in warm weather, but they placed them on frames of sticks in a brush shed. ”

“ Sometimes a few fish are taken with nets, from under the ice, which are put down by making holes at the distance of about fifteen or twenty feet from each other, and affixing the net line to a pole of this length, by which the net is drawn in the water from one opening to the other, till it is easily set. The fish that are caught, are pike, perch, and a species of herring, called gold-eyes, and for which an exorbitant price is frequently paid. The northern Indians angle for fish in winter, by cutting round holes in the ice about a foot or two in diameter, and letting down a baited hook. ”

“ If the "bait" is dead, he imitates life by bobbing it up and down. The male scari rush up in shoals to rescue their female fellow, and are caught by a companion-fisher with a net. For tunny, nets are used having large openings and furnished with a thick string. A bay is chosen with a convenient promontory, from a post on which the nets are fastened, while the fishermen row out to a rock in the sea. Here they leave a man, and return to shore by a roundabout route, carrying a string with them by which they can pull in the net as soon as the man on the rock announces the arrival of the fish. ”

“ The net swinging loose, yields to their pressure, and entangles them the more as they struggle to extricate themselves from it. This is a most destructive mode of catching fish, and generally secures the finest and largest.
Fish are sometimes taken in another way. A party of natives proceed to a lagoon, or lake of still water, each carrying in his hand a small net (ken-de-ran-ko) of a semi-oval shape, about twenty inches long, from seven to nine inches across, and from five to seven inches deep. This net is kept in shape by a thin hoop of wood running round it in the upper part. ”

“ A flap of netting suspended some distance inside the mouth of the net serves as a valve. It is easily lifted by the incoming fish, but tends to prevent their escape.
The netting is of hemp, the mesh gradually increasing from one inch at the cod end to about two inches near the mouth, and is preserved with tar.
When fishing, the vessel moves ahead at a steady, slow rate of from two to three miles per hour, dragging the trawl behind it. Smacks always trawl with the tide. If they trawl against the tide, the net is lifted from the ground. ”

“ When the net is raised the fish fall into a purse in the centre, from which they are removed by men who row under the now suspended net and allow the fish to drop from the purse into the boat. These nets are set up sometimes in nine to ten fathoms. I have never seen them used in any other bays than those on the coast of China, where, it may be observed incidentally, there is hardly any perceptible growth of seaweed, and one never perceives the smell of the sea or feels the smack of salt upon the lips, as we do on our coasts. ”

“ As the trawl is absolutely necessary, on the one hand, for capturing fish which frequent the bottom, so, on the other, the drift-net is essential for those whose resort is the upper portion of the sea. It is by this method alone that fish like the herring, the mackerel, and the pilchard—which may be termed surface fish—are caught in great quantities for food supply. ”

“ Fish are either taken with the net, the weir, or the hook. The net presents nothing remarkable, and is used as are nets all over the world, the natives weighting them at the bottom, floating them at the top, shooting them in moderately shallow water, and then beating the water with poles in order to frighten the fish into the meshes. ”

“ The lake fish are caught chiefly in nets, although men, and even women with babies on their backs, are occasionally seen fishing from the rocks with hooks.
A net with small meshes is used for catching the young fry of a silvery kind like pickerel, when they are about two inches long; thousands are often taken in a single haul. ”

“ Landing nets round or square, are made of strong silk or best water twine cord. Those nets having a joint in the centre of the shank, are most convenient when travelling. It is not advisable to have too deep a net, as your flies become very often entangled in such a one, and cause much trouble and loss of time in extricating them; therefore a net that is sufficiently deep to hold a good fish without admitting a possibility of escape, is the kind of net you require. ”

“ The most effective fishing-device is a large throw net made cornucopia shape. The large net is open and weighted with many sinkers of lead. The man throws the net with a full arm sweeping motion, so that it spreads to its full extent, and all the sinkers strike the water at the same time. The splash causes all the fish inside the circle to dart inward, and as it sinks, the net settles over them. The fisherman draws in the cord attached to the small end, causing the sinkers to drag along to the bottom until directly beneath him, when their weight closes the net. ”

“ Be sure the temperature of the water is right, then set a wide-mouthed pail or jar full of water down in the tank with the fish, and dip the biggest one at a time with a little hand net of soft material. Do not crowd the fish in the transfer pail, but rather make more frequent trips. Extremely delicate handling is absolutely necessary. Do not dip the fish out of the jar, but put it down in the water deep enough so they can swim out of their own accord. ”

“ In trailing along the bottom the net becomes entangled, and long before it can be unloosed the fish have escaped. This wholesale instrument of fish poaching is now rarely used. The net is necessarily large and cumbersome. Wet, it is as much as two men can carry, and when caught in the act, there is nothing for it but to abandon the net and run. This is an effectual check for a time, as a new net takes long to knit and is expensive, at least to the poacher. When salmon and trout are spawning their senses seem somewhat dulled, and they are taken out of the water at night by click-hooks. ”

“ They are, however, hated by the fishermen on account of the depredations they commit on more valuable fishes than themselves, great quantities of which they devour, when taken in the nets. The Dog-fish itself is often captured both by the net, and by the hook ”

“ The Clatsops, Chinnooks &c. in fishing employ the Common Streight net, the Scooping or dipping net with a long handle, the gig, and the hook and line. the Common nets are of different lengths and debths usually employd in takeing the Salmon, Carr and trout in the inlets among the marshey grounds and the mouths of deep Creeks,—the Skiming or scooping nets to take Smaller fish in the Spring and Summer Season; the gig and hook are employed indiscreminately at all Seasons in takeing Such fish as they Can precure by these means. ”

“ With a stick he drew on the sand this simple diagram.
"As soon as our nets run out," he continued, "we row around inside the circle and beat on our skiffs [82] with the oars and make all the racket we can to drive the fish into the nets. Then, each man rows back to the end of his net and takes it up being careful to pile it right so that it will run out smoothly and also be careful not to break meshes taking out fish. ”

“ All go into the net, both large and small, and, although the young3 fish ultimately escape through the meshes, many of them are damaged in so doing, while many young, flat fish, lying on the sea bottom, are damaged by the foot rope of the net, as it passes over them. ”

“ They do not go far out where the water is deep but seek, instead, the shallow waters near the shore or about the reefs and islands. They know that the deep water of the ocean contains very few fish and none that are of any value as food.
Each kind of fish has become adapted to certain parts of the ocean, for both the food supply and the pressure of the water differ with different depths. Fish caught in deep water are often dead before reaching the surface, because of the decrease in the water pressure. ”

“ Certain kinds of shellfish, for example oysters, mussels, cockles, live in the sand or attached to the stones or seaweed on the seashore, generally between high and low watermarks. They obtain their food from the water as it streams over their gills. They require adequate room for growth and development, and constant irrigation by water containing sufficient floating food. When mussel beds or oyster beds become overcrowded, the fish are ill-nourished, their health is impaired and their growth is arrested. ”

“ Those fresh-water fishes that do not wander away, go to the well-aired spots in their neighborhood to spawn—to the shore-waters, the wet meadows, or the junctions of rivers, or to the tributary streams of the lakes in which they live. Those salt-water fish which live at the bottom likewise go to the waters near the shores, where the flats and the meadows swarm during the spring with their young. The eggs of the cod and mackerel are buoyed upon the surface of the water, where the winds blow constantly over them. ”

“ Wading up stream, the angler casts before him into every likely stream and eddy, allowing the line and bait to come down towards him in mid-water, and striking the moment he perceives a check. This is a very killing plan, and is adopted with a modification of tackle, to fish with beetles, larvae, palmers, and, in fact, almost any kind of insect ; for the trout is a very omnivorous fish, and will hardly refuse anything that is small enough. The lure is cast overhand, as in fly-fishing, and practice enables the angler to cast nearly twice the length of the rod. ”

“ These are some of the creatures which share with the Fisher Folk the seas of the East Coast, and hundreds of devices are used to capture them. Nets of all shapes and sizes, seine nets with their bobbing floats, bag nets of a hundred kinds, drop nets, and casting nets. Some are set all night, and are liberally [144] sprinkled with bait. Some are worked round schools of fish by a single boat, which flies in its giant circle, propelled by a score of paddles dripping flame from the phosphorescence with which each drop of the Eastern sea is charged. ”

“ This is the effect of a spate—which is, after all, only a dose of earth—upon wild trout.
The mould should be mixed with water in a bucket, and, when the water is very thick and muddy, poured into the rearing boxes. The water in the rearing boxes should be so thick that neither the bottom nor the young fish, except when they come to the surface to take some passing particle of food, can be seen. The amateur should not wait till something goes wrong before giving this dose of earth; it is advisable to give it once a week at any rate, and oftener if the fish seem to be ailing in any way. ”