The Armour Archive

I've seen a find for fishing weights in the Viking age, but so far havn't seen any depictions or finds of the net itself. I've got a modern reference, but it notes that the form of the nets in the book are modern.

Anyone have any earlyish documentation for fishing nets? Close to contemporary with the Vikings would be great, but I'd like to look at just about anything.

Thanks!
Sveinbjörn

What kind of net? a gill net, a hoop net(tubular net with a "throat" to keep the fish in) a drag net?
My family did commercial fishing on the missouri river for a few years ....I could show you the older analogs of aa hoop net(basket net, wicker net, eel net)

There was a cool bbc doc on "how they used to do it" and they showed how to make a tidal trot line for flounders and such and instead of hooks the used hawthorne thorns(no catch and release with these....the swallow them and it gets lodged in the gut).
Besides hoop nets...which are along the lines of the fish trap they showed, but ranged from 9 ft for slat sided "basket traps" to 16 feet for the hoop type, which has hoops from 4ft diameter down to 18inches....can hold up to about 600 pnds of fish....another freshwater method was to cover the mouth of a tributary creek or small river and then drag chains and beat the water, scaring the fish into the gill net.

kelly powell wrote:What kind of net? a gill net, a hoop net(tubular net with a "throat" to keep the fish in) a drag net?
My family did commercial fishing on the missouri river for a few years ....I could show you the older analogs of aa hoop net(basket net, wicker net, eel net)

I'm not very familiar with nets, as they can't be used in my area for recreational fishing. I'd love to see what you have. I'm learning as I go.

Sveinbjorn, also on the MO river in Calontir

• Netting tools from the Outer Hebrides, made before the 8th century
• Bone needles, probably made for netting, found on Orkney and Jarlshof and dating to 850-1000
• Viking netting needle made from bone, from a Viking settlement on the Orkney Islands, c. 9th-10th century

More at http://larsdatter.com/netting.htm -- you might also want to see http://larsdatter.com/fishing.htm too.

kelly powell wrote:There was a cool bbc doc on "how they used to do it" and they showed how to make a tidal trot line for flounders and such and instead of hooks the used hawthorne thorns(no catch and release with these....the swallow them and it gets lodged in the gut).
Besides hoop nets...which are along the lines of the fish trap they showed, but ranged from 9 ft for slat sided "basket traps" to 16 feet for the hoop type, which has hoops from 4ft diameter down to 18inches....can hold up to about 600 pnds of fish....another freshwater method was to cover the mouth of a tributary creek or small river and then drag chains and beat the water, scaring the fish into the gill net.

Thanks! I'll have to see if I can find that doc on video.

I'll do a little research and add it to my more contemporary knowledge....but a lot should be si,ilar.
A future project i was going to do was a wicker eel trap.....I'm going to try out the methods of making wicker this late summer....

I would ask someone on Tavern Yard or South Downs to see if Ryddrich f(sp? Peryn's Husband) from South Downs could get in contact with you. He did a HUGE exhibit a few years ago on earlier fishing methods, and was laureled soon after for his documentation on everything he did.

Thanks, I'll have to try to find their mailing lists.