CHAPTER 4 



Fishing Gear and Methods 



Dayton L. Alverson 



The history of man's use of fishing paraphernalia is not well docu- 

 mented. We can, however, be confident that fishing was one of his earliest 

 skills for obtaining food. The hand spear was probably the earliest device 

 used to take fish, and we can imagine that man soon learned to use 

 barriers in shallow creeks or at the mouths of tidal inlets to impound 

 fish. Radcliff^ noted that ancient man used the ''gorge" in the Paleolithic 

 era. The ''gorge," which was perhaps the forerunner of the hook, was a 

 short, straight, or curved piece of wood, bone, or other material sharpened 

 at both ends. The "gorge" probably was baited and attached to the end 

 of a fiber line. The device when taken by a fish, became wedged in his 

 mouth. 



The use of bait to lure and capture fish is considered by Augur^ as a 

 great step forward in man's progress. He remarked that: "This was a 

 tremendous advance in the development of fishing methods. Surely the 

 catches increased enormously, and the intelligence of the new device must 

 have spread rapidly among tribes. We may confidently believe that at 

 this time the older men, seeing the jubilant and heavily-laden fishermen 

 returning day after day from the fishing grounds, originated the remark 

 which has been handed down throughout the ages and which in its sim- 

 plest form runs something like this : 'If this keeps on the good fish will all 

 be caught out of the water in about three years.' " When attempting to 

 improve and maintain their economic status through the adoption of 

 technological advancements, today's fishermen are continually plagued 

 with similar remarks. 



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