18th Century Fishing Kit

[Crewdawg445]

Well I've been wanting to put together an 18th century style fishing kit. Today I got everything together, which I think has turned out great. All contents are placed inside a regular tin that I affixed wool to both the inside and the lid. The wool eliminates rattle from the kit while carried, and also gives a good backing for hooks. I made the handline board from a piece of cottonwood that I coated with three applications of tru-oil. My mainline is natural hemp, and the leaders I use are (purest don't hate) artificial sinew. The reason I like artificial sinew is I see leaders as a consumable, thus it's cheaper and easier to use than using my deer sinew which I save for special applications (I hoard it...). My leaders work great and are plenty strong for the usual catches. I have a small linen bag filled with various sizes of shot for weights. I'm able make a small slit through the shot and crimp to the leader with ease. Next items are a small block of beeswax for keeping my mainline and leaders in shape, then a small bundle of jute for transporting the catch to the fire! Rather pleased with the kit and it will be a nice addition for events and treks! Certainty a piece of kit that probably would have been found in many possible bags and is welcomed in mine! :hatsoff:

 

[Muskeg Stomper]

:thumbsup:

 

[Grizzly Adams]

That's choice! Outstanding work as usual.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Nice Crewdawg!....But right now it's below zero....What's you got for ice fishing? :haha:

 

[necchi]

Yeah but, Hooks with eyes?
I guess I haven't studied, but aren't the eyes kind of later on?

 

[Stumpkiller]

Nice.

Eyed hooks do go back to the 18th century (from Redditch), but spade tip hooks without eyes were much more common; especially in North America.

The good news is you can use the artificial sinew (or a few horse tail "hairs" in parallel) to make the snell and leader.

Spade hooks can be found here:
http://www.turkeyfootllc.com/Trekking.html

Or heat the eye to red with a torch, snip it off, heat the end again, flatten it slightly, heat & quench and you have a pseudo antique hook.

 

[coloradoclyde]

I've tried making my own hooks.....only thing harder is catching a fish with one.. :haha:
Paint's his shirt says, I fish poorly too.

 

[Crewdawg445]

Yup the hooks are a problem, modern day pan fish hooks... certainly will give them a workover as mentioned. Eyed hooks do go back as Stumpkiller also mentioned, but spade end hooks were allot more common and juse neat. I've also always tied modern hooks the same way you do a spade as well. I'll end up modifying them today and report back in. Here's an image of one tied just because.

Oh Colorado Clyde, exactly! Ice fishing, I live on a lake, so it's a must do sorta thing and I'll be attending a winter rondy next month so it's also something that will be done! Fun stuff it is! :thumbsup:

 

[Grizzly Adams]

It would appear if that hook is "snelled". Far superior to the other, conventional method of tying.

 

[JohnN]

Is there a special knot to use when using a spade type hook ?

 

[Brokennock]

Keith Burgess has a very good YouTube page and blog about 18th century living and has a good video about tying a leader to an eyeless hook.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Is there a special knot to use when using a spade type hook ?

Yes. The "whip" knot (or Uni-knot) - same as is used to snell modern hooks or attach eyes to fishing rods.

Only instead of running the line through the eye you lay it beside the spade (flattend end) of the shank.

If you are making your leader out of squirrel gut - soak it overnight before snelling the hook. :hatsoff:

 

[coloradoclyde]

It would be awesome if you took some pictures of your winter rondy and ice fishing excursion... :thumbsup:

 

[Crewdawg445]

Will do for sure! Get to wear my new turkey roach I made along with some other goodies! Anywho, went ahead and played with some hooks before I started on my trade rifle... All went extremely well, very pleased at how the hooks came out. Fast, easy and rather fun! Once tied, they are just as secure as one would imagine. :hatsoff:

 

[jackley]

The old way is to tie the ground line (Line from pole, tree limb or hand) to hook. Is to tie an over hand knot in ground line, lay that on spade of the hook, take a smaller diameter line, most of the time silk, and wrap the ground line to the hook below the spade. Using quit a few wraps. Now the ground line is secured to the hook by the silk. I couldn't get a pic of a hook to show this. So I made a spade that would catch a great white.



I hope you can get the idea from this.

Jerry

 

[Crewdawg445]

That's very nice! Thank you for sharing! The fishing kit is a new realm for me, besides my cane pole I've never carried anything on a day trek or overnighter. I'm looking forward to giving my new kit a go. Might actually get a chance tomorrow to stop by my honey hole.

 

[jackley]

If its like here, you better take an ice spud. There's 14" on the lake now.

Jerry

 

[Silky921]

I will make sure there's pictures. We're staying in a longhouse at a historical center that celebrates much of the eastern woodslands history.

So, we're pumped to have a guy like crewdawg joining us!

Anyone that's interested please let us know.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Cool! I look forward to seeing them. :thumbsup:

 

[Bon Sauvage]

That is soooooo sweet. What would you estimate the lb. test for you main line to be?