El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1910-04-11

TN these April days no subject so
q completely possesses the mind of the
-. average American men as that OF
J fishing tackle. The lure of the opening
| of the game fish season ever has been
/ a strong one, and whether it be a. hook
! and line fit for catching q minnow. a
! steam power net for catching hundreds
| of barrels of herring mackerel, or
harpOon gun for laying low the
| mighty Leviathan of the sea. fishing
tackle is full of interest to him who
| dreams, and in his dreams hears the
| faint, far. call of the Wild
So far as game fishing is concerned,
the present season opens up inausPi
ciously. and that for the sole reason
| that some utilitarian Yankee has in
vented a new piece of fishing tackle,
a god and line which is alleged to reg
lister the weight of the fish one does
not catch. OF course no fisherman
could be worthy of the name and still
believe the testimony of such a cheap
john instrument as against that of his
own muscular sense. but he does dread
to hear the demand of the man from
| issouri.
Orient Tackle.
! In the fishing world many remarkable
| instruments and appliances are used,
but one must go to the Orient 10 find
! the most peculiar sort of tackle. One
/
| trained otter, and the fisherman who
is lucky enough to possess one has
| guarantee for a good seasons work.
In Mediterranean turtle fisheries the
! remora, or sucking fish. is used as an
assistant fisherman 1t is curious sort
of fish which attaches itself TO larger
| fish, to turtles. or or to boats them
selves, and when it gets a good grip a
mud turtle is not in its same class for
| holdingon qualities.
When 1t is caught a heavy ring is
placed about its body Just ahead of its
| tail and it is tethere6 to the boat.
When a turtle is in sight the remOra is
thrown out, and it fastens its forty
eech-power suction apparatus to the
shell Of the turtle 1t holds fast to
the turtle until that creature has been
,, towed alongside OF the vessel. when it
! is pried loose and sent after another
turtle.
Sometimes the remora gets contrary
and will not try to take hold of its
turtle, but will swim back to the boat
and fasten its sucker to the hull of the
boat.
Birds as Fishers
Akin to the remora in turtle fishing
is the use of the cOrmOrant in China
for fishing purposes The birds are
caught when young and are carefully
trained tight collar is placed about
tened They are thrown out into the
water and taught to catch fish and bring
them to the Chinese boats. 1t takes in
finite patience, much petting, and some
boxing OF ears to teach the cormorants
to fish without a collar and strings at
tached, but. when one masters the art
it is most valuable aid to the fisher
man.
The cormorants take a certain pride
in their work, and when they are unsuc-
cessful in their efforts they take their
places shamefaeedly TO await the next
tryout- The young usually are trained
to work by the assistance of the old
birds The owners are kindness itself
I to the birds when they work, but box
their heads and hurl imprecations at
them when they fail.
Spider Fish Net.
In some of the South Sea Islands
species of spider proves that it was
the original fishnet maker. A bamboo
sapling is bent on a sound shape and
tied. 1t stays in this position for some
time and then spider comes along
and uses it as a framework on which
to build its web This converts it into
sort of Broba Canadian tennis racquet
and with this the native knocks
fish out of the water as a tennis player
would strike ball out of his side of
The court The webs are as strong as
the dipnet of ordinary design.
IN the commercial fisheries of the
world all sorts of tackle are used. OF
course the vast majority of the worlds
fish supply is caught in nets The
most important of these nets is the
traw net. This is a arge-mouthed net
bag of gigantic proportions, with a
beam of about 40 feet long. At either
end of this beam is a triangular hoop
which serves the threefold purpose of
sinker. beam supporter. and sled runner
This net is Shot from the stern of
the boat and trawled along until it is
filled with fish, when It is hauled in.
SEEMING Fish.
The seine is one of the nets to which
the populace owes much of its fish sup
ply II is q plain net with sinker
weights at the bottom and cork floats
at the top 1t may vary in size from
the huge, quarter OLA mile-Iong and
sixtyfeet-wide Cornish pilchard seine
to the little handnet worked by the
fisher children along the beach
In the heavy salmon fishing of the
Northwest the seine ana the gillnet are
much used The seine is shot In, a semi
clrcleacrosS the stream, and when it is
full of fish it is hauled ashore horse
and steam power often being used in
the operation The fish wheel is also
used in the salmon fisheries 1t looks
much like an overshOt waterwheel. andj
over this the fish are shot into a staked
enclosure
In the herring fisheries the giIlnet |
is used. and some of these are of such
rAlnx