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FISH-HOOKS OF WOOD.
These lines are of the ordinary kind used for laying down
at low tide pegged at either end, and having the hooks attached
to snoods at intervals, in the ordinary way. The hooks, or to
be correct, gorges, are thorns of the Whitethorn (see Fig. 1) with
about an inch of the stem, cut as shown in Fig. 2. The bark is
trimmed off, and a bit of twine attached. The bait, an ordinary
lob-worm, is attached or pushed over the gorge, as in Fig. 3;
from which it will be readily seen that, whilst it is a very
simple matter for a fish to swallow the bait and gorge: it is
impossible for it to be ejected or in any way got rid of: for the
apex of the thorn pointing at the angle it does, and being kept
in its position by the piece of the line on the one hand and the
pressure of the shank of the gorge on the other; must pierce
the wall of the gullet of the fish, and hold it even more securely
than any steel hook of the most scientific manufacture could do.
See Fig. 4.
In order to get as much information as I could, I questioned
Tom pretty severely. I need not quote the conversation
verbatim, though it was rather amusing. I first asked him why
he used thorn-hooks at all. He said nearly everyone did at one
time ; his father did and his grandfather did : (N.B. This is
a grand reason, and I often get it in answer to questions as to
old customs, &c). I asked, then, if thorn-hooks held the fish
as well as steel ones did. He did not seem to know, but thought
they did, besides they were so much cheaper, as they
cost nothing. Just then we had got to a white-thorn bush, and
he cut a dozen or so hooks in a very few minutes, trimmed
them up and gave them to me. "But," I said, "Why not use
steel hooks, they would surely last longer?" "Well," he said,
"You see those steel hooks get sanded, and the wooden ones
don't." Now here was a real reason ; so, upon further investiga-
tion, I found that as these long lines were laid on the bottom
at low tide : when the flow took place, the fine mud and sand
had a tendency to silt over, and conceal a baited steel hook ;
whereas the thorn hook possessed a buoyancy that kept it from
being thus covered up, and hidden from the flounders coming
up and feeding with the tide.
I also learnt that in byegone days, when thorn-hooks were
in more general use, they were baited by the women of the
village, and that they were paid a half-penny per hundred hooks
for the work.