CHAPTER III 



METHODS OF FISHING 



FISH may be captured with spear, trap, line or net. 

 Which of these methods is employed necessarily depends 

 very much upon the size and habits of the fish, and upon 

 the skill and available equipment of the fishermen. 



Spears and traps were used in prehistoric times and 

 survive to this day in various forms, e.g. harpoons, 

 lobster pots, hedge baulks, fishing weirs and the various 

 ingenious traps and entanglements that are used by 

 primitive races in all parts of the world. The logical 

 development of the spear and the trap into the line and 

 the net was made possible by the invention of string. 



To design and construct a trap, it is generally necessary 

 to know something of the habits of the fish to be caught. 

 Hedge-baulks and fishing weirs are fairly extensive 

 enclosures made of brushwood, basket work, stakes or 

 stones, constructed on the foreshore in such a way that 

 at high tide the sea carries the fish into the enclosure and 

 leaves them there when it recedes. These fishing weirs are 

 probably the primitive origin of most forms of fishing 

 nets. 



The crab or lobster pot or creel is constructed of 

 basket-work, in shape somewhat like a safety inkpot, 

 so that the lobster or crab can easily enter it, but, once 

 in, is unable to escape. Lobster pots, suitably baited 

 with fish and weighted, are distributed over the fishing 

 ground a rocky bottom full of crevices from small, 

 open boats, and are gathered the next day. 



Fishing with hook and line is also a very ancient method. 

 Before the discovery of metals, the hooks were made of 



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