Traditional Fishing Tools: Hook and Line
Anglers made hooks and fish gorges by lashing a sharpened bone to a piece of wood with line made from plant fiber or the hairs from a horses tail. They crafted some hooks entirely out of bone, others from the thorns of hawthorne. They used a line to tie on bait—fish eggs and eyes, woodworms, grasshoppers, flies, meat, even snowberries. Fishing lines, made from horsehair or dogbane or nettle, inner cedar bark, or some other plant fiber, were kept on a reel carved from wood or tied to a pole—lodgepoles and stout willow sticks were favored. They used stones for sinkers. With their hooks and lines, they caught trout, whitefish, suckers, and northern pikeminnows.
One of the ways that Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai anglers caught fish was with lines and baited hooks. The line in this photo appears to be made from horsehair, the hooks from the thorns of hawthorne (Crataegus douglasii). Photo courtesy Salish Pend d'Oreille Culture Committee. © 2008. All rights reserved.
An Interior Salish line and hook from the Thompson River of B.C., constructed of wood and bone (hook) and bark (line). Photo courtesy American museum of Natural History @ 2008 All rights reserved.
An Interior Salish line, hook, sinker, and reel from the Thompson River of B.C., constructed of wood and bone (hook), bark (line), wood (reel), and stone (sinker). Photo courtesy American Museum of Natural History. @ 2008. All rights reserved.
A wooden fish gorge used by the Kootenai Indians of British Columbia (Creston BC). Fish gorges are comprised of a short piece of wood, bone, horn, or flint with sharp ends and a central attachment for the line. They are embedded in bait. When the fish swims away, having swallowed the baited gorge, it lodges crosswise in the throat. Photo © American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Fishing on Flathead Lake with hook and line and poles. John Stanislaw said his parents would use a willow or lodgepole that was sometimes 10-15 feet long. Photo courtesy Salish Kootenai College. © 2008. All rights reserved.
Two Kalispel women (Louise Thomas (l) and Lucy Seymore (r) sit on river bank, fishing with poles. Unlike some other tribal activities, fishing was enjoyed by both women and men. Photo © Eastern Washington State Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Kalispel anglers in birch canoe on Cee Cee Ah Creek, Pend Oreille River, Washington, ca. 1908. Photo © Eastern Washington State Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Traditional Fishing Tools: Hook and Line
Anglers made hooks and fish gorges by lashing a sharpened bone to a piece of wood with line made from plant fiber or the hairs from a horses tail. They crafted some hooks entirely out of bone, others from the thorns of hawthorne. They used a line to tie on bait—fish eggs and eyes, woodworms, grasshoppers, flies, meat, even snowberries. Fishing lines, made from horsehair or dogbane or nettle, inner cedar bark, or some other plant fiber, were kept on a reel carved from wood or tied to a pole—lodgepoles and stout willow sticks were favored. They used stones for sinkers. With their hooks and lines, they caught trout, whitefish, suckers, and northern pikeminnows.
One of the ways that Salish, Pend d'Oreille, and Kootenai anglers caught fish was with lines and baited hooks. The line in this photo appears to be made from horsehair, the hooks from the thorns of hawthorne (Crataegus douglasii). Photo courtesy Salish Pend d'Oreille Culture Committee. © 2008. All rights reserved.
An Interior Salish line and hook from the Thompson River of B.C., constructed of wood and bone (hook) and bark (line). Photo courtesy American museum of Natural History @ 2008 All rights reserved.
An Interior Salish line, hook, sinker, and reel from the Thompson River of B.C., constructed of wood and bone (hook), bark (line), wood (reel), and stone (sinker). Photo courtesy American Museum of Natural History. @ 2008. All rights reserved.
A wooden fish gorge used by the Kootenai Indians of British Columbia (Creston BC). Fish gorges are comprised of a short piece of wood, bone, horn, or flint with sharp ends and a central attachment for the line. They are embedded in bait. When the fish swims away, having swallowed the baited gorge, it lodges crosswise in the throat. Photo © American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
Fishing on Flathead Lake with hook and line and poles. John Stanislaw said his parents would use a willow or lodgepole that was sometimes 10-15 feet long. Photo courtesy Salish Kootenai College. © 2008. All rights reserved.
Two Kalispel women (Louise Thomas (l) and Lucy Seymore (r) sit on river bank, fishing with poles. Unlike some other tribal activities, fishing was enjoyed by both women and men. Photo © Eastern Washington State Historical Society. All rights reserved.
Kalispel anglers in birch canoe on Cee Cee Ah Creek, Pend Oreille River, Washington, ca. 1908. Photo © Eastern Washington State Historical Society. All rights reserved.