Net (fishing)

“ 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 capital employed in the Devon and Cornwall fishery was, some years ago, estimated at £200,000.
Two principal modes of net-fishing are employed for the capture of the Mackerel. The first is by drift-nets. A number of nets, twenty feet wide and twenty fathoms long, are attached by one side, in succession, to a stout rope, called the drift-rope, which is well corked. The boat being at the distance of some leagues from shore, throws overboard the end of the rope, to which is affixed a large buoy. ”

“ As soon as they near the shore, they bring the two ends of the net to the land, fix them there, and are then able to pick up and throw ashore all the fish that are in the net. Some of the more active fish escape by leaping over the upper edge of the net, and some of the mud-loving and crafty wriggle their way under the lower edge; but there is always a sufficiency of fish to reward the natives for their labor.
Like the fishing line, the net is made of chewed reeds, and the labor of chewing and twisting the string belongs exclusively to the women. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The management of the landing-net or gaff is another serious matter. If the fish be small, tell the man to have the net ready, and "run it in;" but if it is a good-sized fish, you must tell him not to put the net near till he gets the word from you. Many a time we have suppressed an exclamation—the reverse of a blessing—when we have seen the hoop of the landing-net strike the fish, and were in suspense for a second or two as to whether he was on or off. If the gaff is necessary, it is almost as well to let your man hold the rod after you have tired the fish thoroughly, and gaff him yourself. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In general, fishes are caught in four ways—by baited hooks, by spears, by traps, and by nets. Special local methods, such as the use of the tamed cormorant [146] in the catching of the ayu, by the Japanese fishermen at Gifu, may be set aside for the moment, and all general methods of fishing come under one of these four classes. Of these methods, the hook, the spear, the seine, the beam-trawl, the gill-net, the purse-net, the sweep-net, the trap and the weir are the most important. The use of the hook is again extremely varied. ”

“ The net is suspended from a set of rings which run freely on the pole, and ropes are rove so as to haul the net forward or back to either of the holes, at which the fish are taken out. When clear, the net is set again. Great numbers of fish may at times be taken by fishing with the hook through holes made in the ice. A contrivance known as a “tip up” is often used. The annexed illustration will serve to show the nature of the arrangement. A hole is bored in a piece of flat stick; through this a cross-pin is driven, leaving it long enough at the ends to rest across the hole in the ice. ”

“ 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. ”

“ These pond fish grow very rapidly, and are taken by nets of all shapes and sizes. Sometimes a net forty feet square is suspended from bamboo shears and worked by ropes and pulleys, the net being lowered and after a short time, during which fish may be driven towards it, slowly raised, the fish remaining in the net, the edges of which leave the waters first. In ponds of large area forty or fifty men may be seen, each with a net twelve to fifteen feet square suspended from a bamboo pole, all fishing at the same time. ”

“ 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 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ For fishing they have a kind of casting net, and when they go out to catch zebras, antelopes, and other animals, they do so by stretching nets across the narrow outlets of ravines, and then driving the game into them. The nets are made of baobab bark, and are very strong. ”

“ In nets for catching large fish the weights are necessarily heavier than those intended for small ones, but a couple of hours’ fishing with a light net will be found sufficient exercise for one day for those not accustomed to them. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Women carry small fine casting-nets in the hand, and throw them so dexterously as often to enclose a whole shoal of little fishes; some kinds are no bigger than whitebait. For larger fish, akin to herrings and salmon, various nets are made of different fibres, such as the hybiscus, banyan, or pandanus bark or flax, the two latter being the strongest and most durable. Sometimes two nets are thrown at the same time—an inner net with fine mesh, and an outer one much coarser—to resist any larger fish which might break through the inner one. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Gill-nets or drift nets are extensively used both in the seas and in inland waters, since they are suitable to any water of sufficient depth to float them properly. They are set or drifted across channels or across the course of migration of fishes. Schools of fishes, striking the net, will become entangled. This is one of the favorite methods for capturing species that move in schools at or near the surface, such as the herring, and which cannot be easily trapped or taken with the line. ”

“ Formerly the fish were taken mainly by immense seines, hauled by a large number of men; but now all the deeper part of the river is fished with the long, delicate gill-nets that drift to and fro with the tide, and are managed by two men in a boat. The net is of fine linen thread, and is practically invisible to the shad in the obscure river current: it hangs suspended perpendicularly in the water, kept in position by buoys at the top and by weights at the bottom ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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.” ”

“ 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 net is thrown out on the ebb tide, stretching nearly across the river, and drifts down and then back on the flood, the fish being snared behind the gills in their efforts to pass through the meshes. I envy fishermen their intimate acquaintance with the river. They know it by night as well as by day, and learn all its [page 159] moods and phases. The net is a delicate instrument that reveals all the hidden currents and by-ways, as well as all the sunken snags and wrecks at the bottom. By day the fisherman notes the shape and position of his net by means of the line or buoys ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ All require for their performance the use of a rod, a line, a hook, and a bait. The first is bottom-fishing, which nearly resembles that mode of sea-fishing with the handline, which we have just described. It consists of angling near the bottom of the water, with worms, gentles, bread, paste, and other animate and inanimate baits; it is the simplest, most common, and most primitive mode of angling, "first learned, and last forgotten."
Trolling is more difficult. It is performed in mid-water, that is, neither at the surface, like fly-fishing, nor at the bottom, as the preceding kind. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Indications of spawning having been observed, the covers are put on the races, and as soon as there are fish in the raceway, the net is gathered up in one hand and the frame held in the other, in such a position as to be put in the grooves as quickly as possible, so as to let none of the fish escape from the race. Go quietly to the spot, and do not walk down the raceway to get to it, but approach from one side and put the net in the grooves as quickly as you can. The water running down will swell the net out to its full length. ”