Fishing net

“ If you see a fish rise, throw your flies about a foot above him, and then let them gently float over the place where he rose. In stream fishing, have a quick eye, and ready hand, and strike immediately you perceive the fish to have risen at your fly; and observe that if you have the luck to hook two Trouts at the same time, net the one lowest down your line first, for should a novice inadvertently attempt to net the one upon the higher fly, he will very probably loose them both. The heads and tails of streams are favourite resorts of Trout, and ought to be carefully and diligently fished ”

“ The bait is cast as far as possible toward the school as it is running past the point of an inlet or the end of a pier, and reeled in slowly, but rapidly enough to keep the bait on or near the surface, no sinker being employed. If the fishing is done from a pier, a very long-handled landing-net must be provided. The best plan is to fish from a small boat moored to the pier, as the angler is not so likely to be seen by the fish, and they are more easily landed. ”

“ 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. ”

“ This arrangement permits one to fish alone, and if trolling to drop the oars quickly and take up the rod without danger of losing them.
A landing net should be a part of every fisherman’s outfit
A landing net should be a part of every fishing outfit. More fish are lost just as they are about to be lifted from the water than at any other time. ”

“ In the fishery for sardines for canning, bait is almost as important as the boats and nets. In no other net fishery in the world is bait so extensively employed and so essential to the success of the industry. The scarcity of bait is always a serious matter in the fishing districts, curtailing the catch, reducing the income of the fisherman, and often producing distress among the fisherfolk. ”

“ Though I have said that I never see the fishermen off the pond I do see them sometimes fishing for bait. They cut a big hole in the ice for this, one big enough to let that monster pickerel that is never caught come through, and through this they drop to the bottom a big hoop net. This they bait with cracker crumbs and now and then pull it eagerly to the surface, often with many shiners in it. There are small ponds that are famous for being rich in bait alone and from these the wiser fishermen draw their supply. ”

“ The net is essentially a circular disc of netting, to the circumference of which small weights are attached at regular intervals. A cord is attached to the centre of the net, and the fisherman, standing knee-deep in the water, grasps the net by its centre, swinging it round his head, and casts it so that as it approaches the water it opens out, and with a soft splash sinks through the water until it lies outstretched over the fish. ”

“ When a boat arrives on the fishing-grounds, a net is shot and slowly towed by means of a short line attached to the cork line and fastened in the stem of the boat. In summer fishing, when sardines are abundant, the fishermen often let one net go adrift when it is full of fish, trusting to pick it up later, and put out another net. ”

“ The drag lines are then brought back to the smack for hauling. By this method plaice are captured alive, and are kept in large floating fish-boxes until required.
Next in importance to trawling among the English fisheries is the use of drift-nets for mackerel, herrings and pilchards. It is undoubtedly the most common method of net-fishing on the coasts of the British islands, but nowhere is it so general as in Scotland. There are, however, great drift fisheries on the eastern and southern coasts of England, Drift Nets. ”

“ Small wonder, then, that rents for rivers, spring or autumn, continue to increase, and that the Government of the day is being constantly and consistently urged to increase the close time for net fishing, in order that the upper riparian owners may have some chance of replenishing their pools. ”

“ Last night it p. 101lightened to the South, as we sat in the Suffolk Gardens—I, and Posh, and Mrs. Posh. . . .”
The “making up” may require some little explanation. The “drift” fishing—i.e. the herring and mackerel fishing (for though sprats and pilchards are caught by drift nets, it is unnecessary to consider them when dealing with the great North Sea drift fishing) —is carried on on a system of sharing profits between owners and fishermen. Trawlers, i.e. craft that fish with a “trawl” net for flat fish, haddocks, etc., etc., are managed differently. ”

“ 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. ”

“ An immense range of nets with very small meshes so small as to prevent the herrings from fastening in them, is extended round a shoal of fish, and gradually moved towards some creek or narrow inlet of the sea. The nets are drawn close and made fast across the entrance, and the enormous body of herrings thus crowded up into a narrow space is taken out and cured at leisure. This mode of fishing is called a “lock.” ”

“ This is dragged along the ground by the vessel, and on the art of the fisherman in its employment, in a great measure depends the quality of the fish he catches. If, for example, he drags the net too quickly, all that are caught are swept rapidly to the end of the net, where they are smothered, and sometimes destroyed. A medium has to be observed, in order that as few as possible escape being caught in the net, and as many as possible preserved alive in it. ”

“ Fishing down-stream is by far the best plan, for obvious reasons, if the angler wades slowly and cautiously, so as not to roil the water. The principal reason is that one's line is always straight and taut in swift water, and the flies can be more easily controlled and floated down over the fish, which always heads up-stream. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As the dry fly man works upstream and the trout habitually lie facing the current, the careful and quiet angler seldom needs to cast a long line—provided, of course, he is casting practically straight up and actually stalking the fish from behind. But when casting diagonally up and across from either bank, in which manner it may happen that a great deal of the water may be most advantageously worked, the familiar fact that "keeping out of sight" is half the battle in trout-fishing must never be forgotten. ”

“ The fish swim against the nets, push their heads through, and then, owing to their gill openings, find that they cannot withdraw their heads, and in this way are caught in enormous numbers. Generally, fishing goes on all night, and in the morning the nets are hauled in, and, together with the attached fish, are thrown into the hold situated amidships. The drifters then return with all possible speed to the fish wharf. While the boats are returning to port, the men draw the nets from the hold and shake them free from any entangled fish. ”

“ 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. ”

“ To fish downstream in this manner requires no particular skill, as the stream does most of the work; and, while the great majority of fish risen are merely pricked and lost, those caught are below the average of size for the river fished. If the beginner is having a bad day and everything is going wrong, if he grows tired with his efforts to fish upstream and is tempted to resort to this method, rather than do so, let him knock off for a while and smoke a pipe, and then return, with renewed hope and vigour, to his upstream fishing, determined to master it. ”

“ But below the surface, when chasing fish, he uses only the fore-paws. The hind legs then stretch straight out behind and are used, with the heavy tail, for a great rudder. By this means he turns and doubles like a flash, following surely the swift dartings of frightened trout, and beating them by sheer speed and nimbleness.
When fishing a pool he always hunts outward from the center, driving the fish towards the bank, keeping himself within their circlings, and so having the immense advantage of the shorter line in heading off his game. ”

“ The whale-fishery has been fairly beaten out of the field by oil-spouting rocks. Why should we brave the perils of the Arctic circle when by sinking a tube in Pennsylvania we may strike a fellow of a thousand barrels, and wax rich while asleep? New London, Nantucket, New Bedford, and Edgartown have answered. The cod and mackerel fisheries have dwindled into like insignificance, say Marblehead, Gloucester, and all fishing ports along shore. ”

“ Even the wet fly should never [66] be fished in this way. Parenthetically, the present writer has always recognized a distinction between fishing downstream and casting downstream; the progress of the angler may be with the direction of the current—always most advantageous upon the swift and rocky mountain trout stream—while the actual casting may be cross-current, a very effective way of fishing the wet fly under normal conditions, or upstream and slightly across if desirable. When upon the water the natural insect floats downstream as the current directs it ”

“ The importance of fisheries in the food-supplies of nations, inland as well as maritime, and as offering a remunerative return for labor, can scarcely be overestimated. One great peculiarity of this source of wealth is that the sea harvest is ripened without trouble or expense for the fisher, who only requires to provide the means of gathering it.
Means of Capture. Lines. The principal means of capturing fishes are nets and the hook and line. The hand-line is much used for ordinary fishing, but where this is carried on extensively at sea, a ‘set’ or ‘long’ line must be used. ”

“ If you have a short gut line—two or three feet long—it will be well to fasten it to the end of the line and to the other end of the gut attach the snell of the hook. But when seeking many fish which are not very shy, the snell may be fastened directly to the line. In fishing in a gently moving stream no lead may be needed; if the current be quick a little will probably be required to keep the bait near the bottom. In pond-fishing or reaches of a stream which are very quiet a float as well as lead may be convenient. Some veteran anglers still enjoy the bobbing of the float. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Very many different species are caught in this way, but haddock, plaice, and cod are by far the most numerous, and make up between them nearly half the total amount of all the fish landed in England and Wales in a year. Much fishing is also done with seine nets, or with drift nets, both of which are long nets, attached to floats of cork or to air-bladders and let down into the sea without regard to the depth, and sometimes at a considerable distance from the shore. Stake nets, fastened to poles fixed in shallow water near the land, are also much used. ”

“ Lovers of deep sea fishing grow best from small beginnings. They yearn from tide flats to the spar buoy in the harbor channel, thence through Hull Gut to the rocky bottoms about the Brewsters. After that the sirens sing to them from every wash of white waves over ledges far out to sea, caution drowns in the temptation of blue water, and they fish no more except it is "down outside." ”