Fishing-tackle.--Fish-hooks are made of iron, not steel, wire. While the
piece of wire is straight, it is laid along a little groove in a block of
wood, and there barbed by the stroke of a chisel, slantwise across it.
The other end is flattened by a tap of the hammer, or roughened, that it
may be held by the whipping; then the point is sharpened by a file, and
finished on a stone. The proper curvature is next given, and then the
hook is case-hardened (see "Case-hardening"); lastly, the proper temper
is given, by heating the hook red-hot, and quenching it in grease.
A traveller should always take a few hooks with him: they should be of
the very small and also of the middling-sized sorts; he might have a
dozen of each sort whipped on to gut; and at least a couple of
casting-lines, with which to use them: also several dozens of tinned iron
fish-hooks, of various sizes, such as are used at sea; and plenty of
line.
Fishing-lines.--Twisted sinews will make a fishing-line. To make a
strong fine line, unravel a good silk handkerchief, and twist the threads
into a whipcord. (See also "Substitutes for String.")
Gut is made from silkworms; but the scrapings of the membrane in the
manufacture of catgut (see "Sinew-thread") Make a fine, strong, and
somewhat transparent thread: twisted horsehair can almost always be
obtained: and boiling this in soap-lees, takes away its oiliness.
Shoemakers' Wax is made by boiling together common resin and any kind of
soft grease, which does not contain salt, such as oil or butter. A sixth
or seventh part of pitch makes it more tough, but it is not absolutely
necessary for making the wax. Try if the quantity of grease is sufficient
by dipping the stick with which the wax is stirred, into water to cool
it. When the wax is supposed to be successfully made, pour it into water,
then taking it out while yet soft, pull it and stretch it with your wet
hands as much as it will bear; do this over and over again, after dipping
it in lukewarm water, till it is quite tough. Wax is used of different
degrees of hardness, according as the weather is warm or cold.
Reel. If you have no reel, make a couple of gimlet-holes, six inches
apart, in the butt of your rod, at the place where the reel is usually
clamped; drive wooden pegs into these, and wind your spare line round
them, as in fig. 1.
[Fig 1: illustration as described above].
The pegs should not be quite square with the butt, but should slope a
little, each away from the other, that the line may be better retained on
them.
{Fig. 2 and Fig 3--line as described below].
A long line is conveniently wound on a square frame, as shown in the
annexed sketch (fig. 2); and a shorter line, as in fig. 3.
If you have no equivalent for a reel, and if your tackle is slight, and
the fish likely to be large, provide yourself with A bladder or other
float; tie it to the line, and cast the whole adrift.
Trimmers are well known, and are a convenient way of fishing the middle
of a pool, with only a short line. Anything will do for the float--a
bladder or a bottle is very good.
To recover a lost Line, make a drag of a small bushy tree with plenty of
branches, that are so lopped off as to leave spikes on the trunk. This is
to be weighted with a stone, and dragged along the bottom.
Otters.--What is called "an otter" is useful to a person on the shore of
a wide river or lake which he has no other means of fishing: it is a very
successful at first, but soon scares the fish; therefore it is better
suited to a traveller than to an ordinary sportsman. It is made as
follows:--A board of light wood, fourteen inches long and eight inches
high, or thereabouts, is heavily weighted along its lower edge, so as to
float upright in the water; a string like the bellyband of a kite, and
for the same purpose, is fastened to it; and to this belly-band the end
of a line, furnished with a dozen hooks at intervals, is tied. As the
fisherman walks along the bank, the otter runs away from him, and carries
his line and hooks far out into the stream. It is very convenient to have
a large hand-reel to wind and unwind the line upon; but a forked stick
will do very well.
Boat fishing.--In fishing with a long ground-line and many hooks, it is
of importance to avoid entanglements; make a box in which to coil the
line, and a great many deep saw-cuts across the sides, into which the
thin short lines, to which the hooks are whipped, may be jammed.
Fishermen who do not use oars, but paddles, tie a loop to their line:
they put their thumb through the loop, and fish while they paddle.
To see Things deep under Water, such as dead seals, use a long box or
tube with a piece of glass at the lower end; this removes entirely the
glare of the water and the effects of a rippled surface. Mr. Campbell, of
Islay, suggests that a small glass window might be let into the bottom of
the boat: Plate-glass would be amply strong enough. (See
"Water-spectacles.")
Nets.--A small square net may be best turned to account by sinking it in
holes and other parts of a river which fish frequent; throwing in bait to
attract them over it; and then hauling up suddenly. The arrangement shown
in the figure is very common. A seine net may be furnished with bladder
for floats, or else with pieces of light wood charred to make them more
buoyant. The hauling-ropes may be made of bark steeped for three weeks,
till the inner bark separates from the outer, when the latter is twisted
into a rope. (Lloyd.) Wherever small fish are swimming in shoals near the
surface, there the water is sure to be rippled.
[Sketch of net arrangement as described].
Spearing Fish.--The weapon used (sometimes called the "grains") is
identical with Neptune's or Britannia's trident, only the prongs should
be more numerous and be placed nearer together, in order to catch small
fish: the length of the handle gives steadiness to the blow. In spearing
by torchlight, a broad oval piece of bark is coated with wet mud, and in
it a blazing fire is lighted. It is fixed on a stage, or it is held in
the bow of the boat, so high as to be above the spearman's eyes. He can
see everything by its light, especially if the water be not above four
feet deep, and the bottom sandy. But there are not many kinds of wood
that will burn with a sufficiently bright flame; the dry bark of some
resinous tree is often used. If tarred rope can be obtained, it may
simply be wound round a pole fixed in the bow of the boat, and lighted.
Fish can also be shot with a bow and a barbed arrow, to which a string is
attached.
Intoxicating Fish.--Lime thrown into a pond will kill the fish; and the
similar but far more energetic properties of Cocculus Indicus are well
known. Throughout tropical Africa and in South America, the natives catch
fish by poisoning them. Dams are made, which, when the river is very low,
Enclose deep pools of water with no current; into these the poison is
thrown: it intoxicates the fish, which float and are taken by the hand.
Otters, Cormorants, and Dogs.--Both otters and cormorants are trained to
catch fish for their masters; and dogs are trained by the Patagonians to
drive fish into the nets, and to frighten them from breaking loose when
the net is being hauled in. Cormorants, in China, fish during the winter
from October to May, working from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M., at which hour their
dinner is given to them. When they fish, a straw tie is put round their
necks, to keep them from swallowing the fish, but not so tight as to slip
down and choke them. A boat takes out ten or twelve of these birds. They
obey the voice: if they are disobedient, the water near them is struck
with the back of the oar; as soon as one of them has caught a fish, he is
called to the boat, and the oar is held out for him to step upon. It
requires caution to train a cormorant, because the bird has a habit, when
angry, of striking with its beak at its instructor's eye with an
exceedingly rapid and sure stroke.