Landing, Nets Gaffs, Tackle Boxes For Fishing

( Originally Published 1912 )

WHILE the rod, reel, line and hooks or artificial bait are the most necessary articles, and in many cases all that is really required for catching and landing an ordinary fish, there are other articles that are useful and sometimes can not safely be omitted. Of such is the landing net, for it is of great value for landing a heavy or lively fish. Many bass and trout fisher-men do not use a landing net, but many of these fish are lost because of it and it is nearly always the big one that escapes in this way. For the more common fishes it is not so much needed as stronger tackle is used and there is less danger of it giving way.

Landing nets may be divided into two classes; those for use when fishing from the shore or from a boat and those for use when wading. For the first mentioned use a net with a handle of from two to four feet is needed. The long handle is best when the time comes to net the fish, but it is less convenient in carrying, therefore the longer handle should be selected for use from a boat and the shorter length when fishing from the shore, but for this latter it should never be less than two feet long.

The frame or ring of the net should be of steel or other rust-proof and strong metal. It may be either oval or round and need not be of large size.

The net should be made of strong twine and should be deep and have a square bottom. The whole net, frame and handle, should be strong, and especially where frame and handle meet.

For use when wading the streams the net should be of the same kind but should have a very short handle with a rubber cord to hang from the neck. This keeps the net up out of the way when fishing, but the elastic cord allows the angler to reach out to the length of his arm to net the fish.

Some of these nets have wooden frames and solid handles. Some have detachable handles and many fold up or collapse in one way or another, to make them more easily transported. Some have hollow handles in which the frame may be placed when not in use; others have jointed handles. One may be coiled up into a very small size, but by far the greatest number of wading nets simply fold the handle into the net ring or frame. There are too many kinds and they differ too much to be described fully here, but one need only look through the catalogues of one of the large dealers in fishing tackle to see descriptions, and should have no trouble finding something to suit his requirements. Landing nets range in value from thirty or forty cents up to three-fifty or thereabouts, depending on the style and quality. Some frames and handles are sold without nets, and the cost of a net must be added to them.

Regarding the use of a landing net, like in most other things, there is a right and a wrong way. The proper way is to play the fish until he is fully exhausted and gives up fighting, then submerge the net and lead the fish over it. Never shove the net under the fish. The best thing then is to give him a little slack by lowering the rod and he will turn head down over the net, when it should be raised, lifting the fish from the water. If the fish is really exhausted this may be done with perfect safety, but if he is not you should not give him any slack line or attempt to net him head first. But you should never attempt to land a fish as long as he is in a fighting humor you always have plenty of time, so wear him out and land him in safety. Also never try to land a fish in swift water lead him into a quiet place before you try netting him.

It is only the smaller game fish that are landed with a net. Large fish such as pike, muskellunge, salmon, large trout and all kinds of sea fish are drawn out of the water with a hook, known as a gaff, after they have been played to exhaustion. They are sharp steel hooks, two inches or more wide, depending on the size of fish they are to be used for, and have handles from one and one-half to eight feet long.

Some of these hooks are made to lash onto a handle that is cut on the fishing grounds; others have the handle in short sections and screw together. For horse mackerel and other very large sea fish a combination of gaff and harpoon is used. The hook is barbed, and when hooked into the fish it detaches from the handle, the hook being fastened to a rope with wire leader, which is used to tow and land the fish with.

There are also what are known as automatic gaffs, fitted with barbed jaws which close on the fish when pressed against it. The Norlund is of this kind.

The Clincher gaff shown here needs no explanation, as the illustration shows how it is used. It can be used instead of a landing net for fish of medium size.

One thing that the fisherman must provide himself with is something in which to carry his catch. For fish of ordinary size, such as bass, trout, etc., that are taken when walking the shore or wading, and when the fish must be carried long distances, there is nothing so good as the willow creel, or basket. The various makes are so much alike that all that we need say regarding them is, get one large enough to hold a large fish without bending him. While some sports-men are likely to look on the carrier of a large basket as a "fish hog," he need not be one simply because he has a large basket. It should hold the fish without crowding and should also hold the angler's lunch and some spare tackle. On the inside of the cover you can fasten a leather purse to hold your fly book, leader box, etc., and all through the large creel will be most satisfactory. There are also canvas creels but I do not know much about them.

The creel must be provided with a suitable shoulder strap. The part that goes over the shoulder may be webbing and the other parts of leather. It hangs on the left side when in use and the strap hangs over the left shoulder, allowing free use of the rod arm. The strap is held from slipping off by a narrow strap that passes around the chest, under the right arm.

For still fishing or use when fishing from a boat you can use either a fish bag, which is made of twine and about the size of a landing net, or a stringer made of twine or chain. The stringer has a needle at one end and a crossbar at the other and the fish are threaded on by passing the needle in the gills and out of the mouth. By fastening the stringer in the water the catch will live all day. The fish bag is used the same way, keeping the fish alive.

If you are a live bait user you will want a minnow trap. There are several good glass traps which if baited with cracker crumbs and let down into suitable water for a day or a night will catch plenty of small fish for bait. They also catch crawfish sometimes. There is a device that can be fitted into the mouth of a common glass fruit jar and makes a very good minnow trap.

Some anglers prefer to use a net for catching minnows. One of the nicest of these works like an umbrella and occupies but small space when not in use. The net is also useful for catching crawfish.

If you have any fishing tackle worth mentioning you will want a tackle box in which to keep it and in which to carry it when going on a fishing trip or out on the water in a boat. Nothing is more annoying than to not be able to find some very much-needed article when getting ready for fishing and especially so if you are wanting to get an early start to the fishing place and have slept a little too long. Of course a prudent angler will not wait until morning to get his outfit together, but he wants it all together just the same, and you will want some means of carrying it all when going on a fishing trip. Then again you want it all together when you go out on the lake in a boat, for you may want to try some other bait, or you may want to quit the fly tackle and try bait-casting as the day advances.

Tackle boxes are made of leather, copper or japanned tin, and if you are of a mechanical turn you can make one your-self out of wood. Ordinarily they are made with compartments for reels, artificial baits, hooks, lines, and other articles that are likely to be needed. There are usually one or more trays that lift out. The leather and copper ones are best but one can get just the kind he needs or the kind he can afford.

A fly fisherman must also have a fly book in which he can carry a stock of flies of various patterns. These are made of seal or Morocco leather, alligator, pigskin, and the cheaper ones of canvas. Here again one may purchase what he can afford, but the higher grades are always best. It is not necessary though that' they hold a large number of flies for my experience is that a large variety is seldom needed and the majority of fly fishers do not use over a dozen patterns. I have even known fishermen to fish through an entire season using only two or three patterns of flies. But even though you do favor a few patterns only, you will want plenty of that kind and you want a convenient method of carrying them, so that you can pick out the very fly you want and separate it from the others with the least possible loss of time and temper.

Among the books most popular are the Jack Frost, the Cooper, the Mansfield, the Levison, the Orvis, and the Chubb. Modifications of the older styles are also made. In most of the old styles the flies are held by clips of some kind on pages like the page of a book. Some of them have serrated edge strips of metal at the ends of the leaves to hold the hooks, and a coiled wire spring in the center to hold the snells straight. Others have the springs arranged longitudinally, a separate one for each fly snell, and they keep the snells stretched so that they dry straight and are always held securely, though easily removed. The Levison is of this kind. All of them have felt pads between the leaves to dry the flies after using.

The Mansfield has removable folders to hold the flies. This, like the loose leaf system is very convenient as the fisherman may carry just as many or a few flies as he likes.

The Cooper fly book is one of the latest. It is of the loose leaf kind and has an envelope on each leaf for the flies. The envelopes each hold from three dozen to six dozen flies and they have celluloid windows at the top so that the flies are in full view. These envelopes are claimed to be moth proof. It also has a drying pad, a leader holder and a pocket for bait hooks.

Another made on a somewhat- similar plan is the Jack Frost. It has celluloid envelopes to hold the flies and the envelopes are held in place in the book by snap buttons. It has an aluminum box with moistening pads for leaders and for moistening the snells of the flies before using. A chain is also provided so that it will not be lost.

Small, oblong, aluminum boxes may be had to carry leaders and snelled flies in for moistening. These have felt pads which are made wet and by placing the leaders and fly snells under them they are softened and strengthened, which should always be done before they are used. But they should not be left between these damp pads after the day's fishing.

Eyed flies are carried in metal boxes or cases. These have either got clips to hold each fly separately or strips of cork in which the points of the hooks are held.

In case the fly book has no pads for moistening the leaders the angler should have a leader box for this purpose. These are flat, round boxes, about four inches in diameter, with hinged cover, and are fitted with felt pads for moistening. The boxes are made of aluminum, copper, or steel.

Two other articles that I want to mention before closing this chapter are the hook disgorger and the line releaser. The former is most useful in fishing for bottom feeding fish, which swallow the hook. It is an instrument so shaped that it fits into the curve of the hook and by its use a swallowed hook may be removed without difficulty, and without the usual surgical operation, which is not pleasant for a tender-hearted angler. The hook releaser is useful when fishing along wooded streams, and especially for fly casting. Its purpose is to release a hook that gets entangled on a branch that is out of reach of the hand. It is simply a hook-shaped knife with a cord attached, and to use it, you fix it on the tip of the rod and hook it over the branch, then re move the rod and pull the cord, cutting the branch to which the hook clings.