Med-L-Fishing-art

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Med-L-Fishing-art - 7/21/18

"Medieval Line Fishing" by Lord Magnus O'Carr aka Torin.

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NOTICE -

This article was added to this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium, with the permission of the author.

These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous

stefan at florilegium.org

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Medieval Line Fishing

by Lord Magnus O'Carr aka Torin

Dedicated to Master Demetrius il Condottiero

This is the information that I have found about line fishing so far. This does not mean that there is not more or that this is the end of study on this topic.

I have offered sections that I have titled "Anachronist" so that you can substitute parts of the fishing rig for mundane parts to get you on the water and fishing quicker. I would urge you to make period equipment, but sometimes this is not practical. For fishing is the end of this, because it is the thrill of catching a fish.

Since I have started this line of research the first question I get asked is how far back does (line) fishing go? The answer is in two parts.. The first is that archeologists have found a prehistoric Neolithic bone hook, which does not mean that they did line fishing. However there is a reference by Marcus Valerius Martialis who was born between 38 AD and 41AD and died between 102AD and 104AD in Hispania (Spain) and was published from 86 AD to 103 ad who wrote "Who has not seen the scarus rise, decoyed and killed by fraudful flys...". This does not describe the act of line fishing, but is in reference to flies and not hooks. This shows that they were trying to bait the fish. The term fly is used for an imitator type of bait for fish. This was followed by Claudius Aeolian who was born in 175AD and died in 235AD who described the practices of Macedonian anglers on the Astraeus River: "...they have planed a snare for the fish, and get the better of them by their fisherman's craft....they fasten red wool ...round a hook, and fit on to the wool two feathers which grow under a cock's wattles, and which in color are like wax. Their rod is six feet long, and their line is the same length. Then they throw their snare, and the fish, attracted and maddened by the color, comes strait at it, thinking from the pretty sight to gain a dainty mouthful; when however, it opens its jaws, it is caught by the hook, and enjoys a bitter repast, a captive." This describes line fishing and both are close together in history that they show that this style of fishing was done in the Roman Empire.

The other documentation I found is five books: A Treatys of Fishing Wyth an Angle by Dame Juliana Berners in 1486, Booke of Fishing with Hook and Line by Lenard Mascall in 1590, Secrets of Angling by John Dennys in 1613, Barkers Art of Angling by Thomas Barker in 1653, and The Complete Angler by Izzak Walton and Charles Cotten in 1686.

The purposes of this class is to give you the information needed to investigate period fishing, the information and illustrations in this document are from the listed books.

The Rod

Period

The length of the rod is from 9 foot to 12 foot. It is made of hazel wood. The tree cannot be more than two years old, and cut in the fall. One third of the rod can be a hard wood handle.

The collection of the hazel is crucial to the working of the rod, each document that references this is very specific that the time of year that the hazel wood is taken is very important. They are unanimous that the time is fall, from Saint's days to a description of the conditions in which to harvest. To a description of how to straiten the staffs as they dry. The use of the Saints days to harvest is a bad day to use to harvest the hazel staffs but the description of "take in the fall when the leaves have fallen and the cold is setting in." is the better way to decide when to harvest the hazel staffs, as the seasons do not turn the same in one part of the world as they do in another, and the time is crucial to the flexibility of the staff for fishing.

The Construction of the Rod

One third of the rod can have a hardwood handle with a tapered hole in the handle and the hazel tapered to match. The hole and pin should be flame hardened and wedged together with a brass or copper sleeve that keeps the connection between the hazel staff and the hardwood handle. The rod does not have to have a handle. You can use just the hazel staff alone with out a handle. There is a loop at the tip of the rod. One description includes a barrel at the butt end of the rod to wrap the line around. This is not a reel just a spool. This rig also describes a loop of wire at the tip to allow the line to move though the loop. This would allow you to adjust the length of your line to the situation. The other method with the loop at the tip end of the rod you would attach your line to the tip of the rod and fish with one length of line.

The image above shows the rod with a handle and a loop at the end of the rod with the line attached at tip of the line.

Anachronistic

We all think that building a rod would be fun however there are drawbacks. The rod is only good for one or two years. If you break the rod well then you can't fish. The materials are hard to find, they are expensive, transportation can be difficult, and performance will very from rod to rod. There is a modern rod a Tenkara rod, which is graphite, telescoping rod that has a lifetime warranty. This would be the modern equivalent to a period rod.

The Line

Lines in the medieval times were made from horsehair and silk. There is no description on how to braid or make the silk line. However there is a description that says that the horsehair is braided. Sadly there is no real description on how to do that, but it does say that the line tapers. To the right is a picture of the device used to braid the line. There is also a description of using horsehair and silk in the same line. There are recipes for dying the lines different colors. Those colors are yellow, green, brown, tawny russet and dusk. The description of the horse hair is that should be white to aid in coloring and that it comes from the tail of a stallion, you should not use the tail hair that comes from mares or geldings. You should also remove the hair that drags the ground.

Anachronistic

Rod with barrel

There is no description of the silk and how it is prepared to make a line, let alone the cost of silk. Horsehair is unreliable as for the strength and size consistence. For the modern equivalent use a fly line or an equivalent to that. To dye the lines with the recipes in the books would be difficult as the chemical composition of the common items used in period are not the same as they are now. There are many dying agents on the market that I would recommend you to use. Personally I prefer to use Sharpie markers in colors that are close to the ones listed in the books.

Hook

The hook was made from needles and the book that tells us to do that recommends different types of needles for the different sizes of hooks. The description is to anneal then shape them. Use a sharp knife to create a barb and then heat-treat them. There is no eye on the hook. To attach your hook to the line there was a snood added. The snood is horsehair that is tied to the hook. Different numbers of hairs correspond to the different size of fish. There is a reference to leaving the eye of the needle but this was not used to attach the line. As for sizes they did not have the standard sizes and they have today, but reference the size of the hook to the fish that you are going after.

Anachronistic

Today if you decide to not make your hooks then there are a wide line of hooks available that are made without eyes on the hook. If you cant find them or need a hook that is not made without the an eye you can just take a small pair of wire cutters and cut the eye off of the hook. There are hooks made to allow for the length of the shank of the hook to account for the material taken off for the removal of the eye.

Bobbers, or Strike Indicators

Even in the middle ages, fishing included the use of a bobber or strike indicator. They made these out of cork and would shape them using sandpaper, knife, and saws. Below are the shapes. The sizes to use are as follows, 1 hair= pea size, 2 hairs+= bean size, 12 hairs = walnut size.

Anachronistic

If you cannot make your own bobber/strike indicator, there are a number of modern bobbers. I would recommend a strike indicator that is on the market that looks similar in shape and construction as the period cork strike indicators; they are made of hard foam plastic. The performance should be very close to the period bobber/strike indicator.

Bait

To attract the fish to bite the hook you have to have a bait. There are two forms used, the fly and live bait. First we should cover how to connect the hook to the line, in period they used what is called a snood. A snood is a line that is tied to the hook then in turn is tied to the line when you put that hook on the line. This is made of horsehair. The larger the hook the more horse hairs you use. There was no universal guide but given in the Treatise of fyshing with an Angle: 3 hairs for perch; 4 hairs for Cheuyn, Chubbe, Bream, Tenche, and Eel; 6 hairs for trout, Grayking, and Great Cheuyn; 9 hairs for great trout; 12 hairs for Salmon; 15 hairs for pike. This gives you an idea of how many hairs for each size of hook, and as fishermen go they all have different ideas of how big a hook is need for each fish.

Live bait was also used by the medieval fisher. I have found reference to using small baitfish like the minnow, and miller's thumb. The description given of how to put them on the hook is to insert the hook at the tail of the fish and run the hook thorough the mouth of the baitfish. The other live baits are: the red worm, which is the common earthworm, the green worm which is a caterpillar and the grasshopper. There is no description of how you put these on the hook but there are not too many different ways to do this.

Artificial flies are the other bait. There are many different flies. There are furs, wools, and feathers tied on to a hook to get the fish to take the hook. Other than the Cotton flies in The Complete Angler, there are 7 flies listed in A Treatise of Fishing with an Angle from 1486, there are twelve flies in Book of Fishing with Hook and Line from 1590, there are two flies in Barkers Art of Angling. The seven flies that are listed in A Treatise of Fishing with an Angle, are seven of the twelve flies that are listed in the Book of Fishing with a Hook and Line. This shows in the one hundred and four years between the two books that Lenard Mascall only had five more flies that Dame Juliana Berners did, or did he? Sixty years after Lenard Mascall published A Book of Fishing with Hook and Line, Thomas Barker published Barkers Art of Angling, where Barker takes the view of listing two flies but tells you that all other flies use these two techniques. Barker is leading the angler to create new flies, or to investigate insects to mimic them on their own. As to The Complete Angler where there are 65 flies listed. I believe that Cotton went out and found every fly being used by every fisherman of that time.

Fishing Technique

There are several techniques that were used. There is not a lot of description of how to cast a line, but there is a mention of dappling and hints at casting, and drifting. Dappling is letting the line hang at the end of the rod where you believe there are fish, then moving it up and down to attract the fish. This can be done at the surface of the water or at the hook, ether live bait or fly, is submerged and moving it though the water shallow to deep, back to shallow. Casting is drawing the line back and letting the line go straight in the air behind you, then whipping it forward so it will lightly land on the surface of the water. Mundanely this would be a fly cast. Drifting is casting the line out to let the current drag the line to where the fish are. This technique does not work where there is no current or in slack water.

My thoughts

The research and this class is not the definitive end of the subject; this is the beginning of the trip. I have tried not to say or imply that this is the only period way to fish, I do not have all of the research done. I see this as the first step in a long journey, not only of research but also of practice. For practice is the only way to confirm the way it works, from the way it is written.

With the research I have done, I have discovered that there are a lot of the descriptions that are left to what was considered "common knowledge", this means that your left to decipher some of the ways that things are done for fishing. For example, there are recipes for dying your lines. There are also comments to dye the fly materials, but with no recipes for the dyes. We can conclude that the dyes used for the lines are used for the fly materials as well. There is a vise used to make the hooks, it is not a large leap to think that the vise used to make the hooks would be used to hold the hook when fly tying. Especially if you try holding the hook with your thumb and finger and try tying a fly, you will find another way to hold the hook.

I think that flies endured the ages (86AD to present) due to the fact that they are artificial baits. If times are hard or conditions do not provide for the live bait, they are available. Flies can be made during the long winter months when there is no fishing and used when they are needed. Easily stored and ready in an instant. I look at the flies that are used today and the flies that are described in the documentation and then the description from the Roman era, that is almost 2000 years and the flies are the same. The same pattern that is described in the Roman writing I have found are used today.

Fishermen have been inventive since the first day that man threw line into water. No matter what from the first cast to the last cast, we will think, try, modify, invent, and use things that will make others shake their heads. Sometimes in amazement and others in shock so as to improve the process of catching fish. So go forth and experiment with medieval fishing. Even Thomas Barker encourages experimentation, he tells you how to tie two flies and the rest of the flies are based on those two patterns. This encourages research and experimentation. Research the bugs in your area and try to tie new flies.

Acknowlegments

There are many people that encouraged me to start researching fishing history. I know that most people don't care about the acknowledgements but its kind of a way of giving credit where credit is due.

Andrew Marshal

For writing the article on the cotton flies that started me on this road, also his encouragement and insight.

Paul Jones

For conversations and insight.

Demetrius IL Condottiero

For taking a stick jock and showing him that he could research and write

Genevieve de Chambery

For believing in a big dumb brute

Thorline

For making sure that I got to the competition that sparked the interest of others in period fishing

Sorcha

For continually nagging me to do something artsie

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Copyright 2017 by Casey Carson. <the1torin at gmail.com>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited. Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.

If this article is reprinted in a publication, please place a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.