Foraging: Roman & Celtic Hooks

[caiusbeerquitius]

Here`s one from Manchung, "celtic", about 2nd c. BCE. around 7 cm high.

[Robert]

These hooks are great! Thanks Alanus and Christian. And you made Marco very happy, too. Question Christian: By the way the hook is hung, it looks to have an eye. Is that correct?? The material is iron, by the looks of it.

[MDF]

Thank you very much Alan,
now knows more about the technique of Roman fishing ... now would be interesting to try some techniques with these materials. Has anyone ever fished with similar equipment?
As I said I want to rebuild a fishing kit (First I have to complete other work ) will surely try ... probably when I have time during my summer camp when I have many hours to try out new techniques!
I did some fishing weight, show a picture tomorrow.

[jvrjenivs]

However in German, you all might find the following website interesting. This boy does some wonderful fisherman impressions

http://www.historischerfischer.de/index.html

[Alanus]

Hi Jurgenius,

I had to "wade" through that German site, but YES!-- very interesting and informative.
To answer one question. I once tried fishing with a 200 year-old wooden rod. I was fishing with the editor of Salt Water Sportsman and he thought I was crazy. I caught 3 trout. That "Celtic" hook does look like it has a forged eye. It appears that hooks made during the Roman period had several differing methods of attachment, from wound servings to eyelets. Some Egyptian hooks had eyes, and so did Harappan ones in India.

[Alanus]

Has anyone ever fished with similar equipment?
As I said I want to rebuild a fishing kit (First I have to complete other work ) will surely try ... probably when I have time during my summer camp when I have many hours to try out new techniques!

Marco,

For making a "period" one-piece rod, both Dame Julia Berners and Izaak Walton are no help. The best source is Sergei Aksakov, Notes on Fishing. I can't remember the type of wood he recommended, but it had to be cut while the tree was still dormant, aka pre-spring.

The "cornel-wood" mentioned by Aelian was a species of cherry, something like dogwood and resiliant. Horsehair line should not come from a mare, but from a stallion or gelding because they don't pi** on their tails.8-)

[Epictetus]

I once tried fishing with a 200 year-old wooden rod. I was fishing with the editor of Salt Water Sportsman and he thought I was crazy. I caught 3 trout.

I would be afraid I'd break it!

I think Pliny the Younger was an avid fisherman. He mentions fishing in his Letters several times, including a bit about one of his villas that was so close to a lake he could fish from one of the rooms.

[Alanus]

The pond was noted for small trout, plus I "babied" the rod. It was one of the earliest known American-built wooden rods yet held up fine. Years later-- after I no longer owned it-- the rod sold at auction for BIG shillings!

Ah! So Pliny the Younger fished out his villa window, eh. Probably from a good comfy lectus in the Bay of Naples while contemplating what to do with Christians.

[MDF]

Hi Alanus,
these are some fishing weights that I made ​​with lead, copper and brass ... what do you think?

About the stick to the fishing rod, my grandfather told me that he recommended for excellent wood cutting it in January with descending moon!
In this way seems to have better characteristics.

Now I have to find a white stallion...


[attachment=800]IMG_0066640x480.jpg[/attachment]

[Alanus]

Hi Marco,

Your top left sinker, and third from top left, look much like sinkers we use over here today. Designed to slide up the line. These were probably much like those used in Roman times. Here is the oldest sinker in my collection, native American from right here in Maine, stone, grooved for the line, and 9cm long. Probably the Romans and Greeks used something similar for ground fishing:
[attachment=801]stonesinkereyedhooks002.JPG[/attachment]

And here are two eyed hooks,the first from Sintashta (Russia), early Saka/Sarmatian, about 2,000BC. The second hook, also bronze, is British, 16th to 17th century. They show how eyed hooks were used for millennia, and basicaly unchanged:
[attachment=802]stonesinkereyedhooks005.JPG[/attachment]
[attachment=803]stonesinkereyedhooks008.JPG[/attachment]


Your grandfather gave good advice, much like Aksakov, cutting the tree-wood in winter before the sap begins to run up from roots in the springtime.

[MDF]

Yeah, for lead weight I have changed a modern weight. For copper and brass weight I 'm based on Roman shape of weights.

Jurjen, I can not see this link ... maybe it's my problem?

[M. Demetrius]

I once tried fishing with a 200 year-old wooden rod. I was fishing with the editor of Salt Water Sportsman and he thought I was crazy. I caught 3 trout.

How many did he catch?

The hooks I saw in a Pompeii exhibit did not have loops on the top, but rather, the end of the shank was flattened. That made me wonder, exactly how did they tie their line onto that, and why not just use a loop?

[Alanus]

Hi David,

We got our smily-faces back!:lol:

I think he caught 2 trout with his modern tackle.

As you noticed, most Roman hooks were simply flattened at the top of the shank. The fisherman brought about 12 to 15cm of line down past the flat, held his thumb on the flat, took 4 to 6 loose wraps around the rounded shank, pulled the line up through (under the loops), and then tightened the loops by pulling both ends. The line, once tight, was held from slipping up by the flat shank. This was common practice for centuries, and when I was a kid we were still tying line to flat-shanked hooks. Offhand, I can't remember the name of the knot, but maybe Marco knows it.

[John Conyard]

Most "Viking" hooks from York also have flattened shanks...... Very easy to make.

[Alanus]

Yes, and also giving a very strong connection.:grin:
Hooks with eyes needed a knot that looped, and this point of the line would weaken and often break. You lost your fish and hook too!