17th Century Hand made cold forged brass fish hook.

17th Century Hand made cold forged brass fish hook with a brass wire leader.

http://museum.wa.gov.au/maritime-archaeology-db/artefacts/gt851-copperbrass;

More On Fly Fishing.

18th Century Angling. Hand lines & fishing poles.

Below: 17th & 18th century Fishing poles with fixed lines.

You will note that these fixed lines were often very short, the pole being used to drop the line away from the bank.

Below: Hand lines tied on bush poles 19th century.

Below:18th Century hand lines.

Hand Line Fishing 17th & 18th Century.

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=qyYRbGzqn08C&pg=PA126&lpg=PA126&dq=hand+line+fishing+18th+century&source=bl&ots=ej8QrPLFNG&sig=rXsDg2aL77LGnS7Nsqpypal9kmA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwja87LDj9HYAhUMt1MKHcNnCU8Q6AEIZjAO#v=onepage&q=hand%20line%20fishing%2018th%20century&f=false

http://www.historicanglingenterprises.com/

http://www.historymuseum.ca/cmc/exhibitions/hist/canp1/ca03beng.shtml

https://books.google.com.au/books?id=wkd3JHwDnKgC&pg=PA138&lpg=PA138&dq=fixed+line+fishing+in+the+18th+century&source=bl&ots=13KVZeLjAT&sig=jHys4yZEqPw7V0R2j37I-DW71A8&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjEjZ3is9HYAhXCuVMKHfYLC-UQ6AEIYTAL#v=onepage&q=fixed%20line%20fishing%20in%20the%2018th%20century&f=false

ISLAND CARIB FISHING TECHNIQUES6 French observers of the 17th and 18th centuries, including some excellent anglers, unanimously admired the fishing skills of the Island Caribs. These Indians, who expertly sought out productive banks and deeps (Breton 1665: 131- 132 S.V. chbbi, 355 S.V. minroua), even had a word translatable only as ‘(reproach to a man who does not know how to fish” (Breton 1665: 59 S.V. miticati. oue). Island Caribs frequently fished with handlines from their dugout canoes.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1525/aa.1966.68.6.02a00020/pdf

http://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/cultureheritage/10131abwfish.pdf

As you can see from above, period paintings of inland fishing always show the use of fixed lines on poles. However, it is evident that there were hand lines in use in the 18th century & earlier, in fact this method is probably one of the oldest methods of fishing. Travellers are not likely to have carried poles with them, these poles with fixed lines were used by city & towns people. Travellers could either use a hand line as is, or they had the option of cutting a pole & tying the hand line to the end of the pole. Hand lines can also be used as fixed lines, hanging from a tree branch & left overnight.

Author's hand lines & spare hooks.

Angling Information. A Treatyse of Fisshynge wyth an Angle.

http://www.hagstone.net/1496.html

A Treatyse of Fisshynge wyth an Angle.

18th Century Angling Equipment.

This 18th century treen was used to carry a selection of hooks, weights & line.

An 18th century fishing treen or Fisherman's companion, made from Boxwood.

http://www.rubylane.com/item/454213-TA10228/18th-Century-Fishing-Treen-Fishermanx27s-Companion

This metal minow lure was made in the 1720s.

Brass wire being used as a leader on this original forged hook.

Barker's Delight: or, The Art of Angling (2nd ed., 1659)

http://ebooks.gutenberg.us/Renascence_Editions/barker1.html

Period Fishing Links for Free Download.

http://internationalroutier.wordpress.com/2011/02/20/three-books-of-fishing

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