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Fish Spears
Various Fish Spears
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The Wildwood
Trackers June 22/03 meeting focused on fishing
methods. Here are some photos from that meeting. |
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Fish spear by Walter Muma |
The next three photos
show three steps in making one type of fish spear.
A stout stuck is split down the middle at one end.
The resulting 2 stick ends are made into points
by sharpening.
A small stick is wedged into the bottom of the
crack to force the pointed ends apart. |
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Fish spear by Walter Muma |
A piece of sharpened
bone splinter is affixed to each spear point, just
down from the end. You will likely have to cut a
small slot in the wood to help keep the bones
pointing down towards the center of the split.
The idea here is that when you spear a fish with
this tool, the fish will be gripped on each side by
the bone pieces, and will not simply slide away.
The main wood ends are sharpened in case the fish
doesn't slip neatly in between them. |
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Fish spear by Walter Muma |
Finished.
A larger piece of wood has been wedged into the
crack, to force the ends apart even further.
Note that the main stick is bound just
below the crack to prevent it from splitting apart
below that point.
The bone fragments have been tied on with heavier
cordage as well.
I found that the trickiest part of making this
spear was in figuring out how to keep the bone
pieces pointing downwards. As you can see from the
photo, I have only been partially successful. |
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Fish spear by Walter Muma |
A second type of fish
spear. Note that this one does not utilize pieces
of bone. Instead it relies on the ends of the spear
being cut into barbs, which will hopefully hold the
fish once it has been speared.
Also there is a third pointed piece of wood in
the middle of the crack.
The cordage used in this example is artificial
sinew. |
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Fish spear head by Murray Yazer |
Another type of fish
spear. Note that for most of the samples shown on
this page, the fish "spears" are actually spear
heads, meant to be attached to the end of a blunt
spear, which is then thrown at the fish in the
water.
This example shows carved barbs at the end,
instead of using bone fragments.
Note also the small sticks wedged in the crack,
to force the prongs outward. |
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"Leister"-style fish spear |
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Fish spear by Les Misch |
This type of fish
spear is known as a "Leister" fish spear.
This one has smaller sticks tied on to each side of
the main stick.
Bone pieces are tied to the end of each of them,
serving the same purpose as described above.
Note that the main central shaft has been
flattened to help hold the side sticks in place.
Also there is a bone fragment set into the end of
the main stick. |
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Fish spear by Les Misch |
Les Misch proudly displaying his "Leister"-type
fish spear. |
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Fishing Arrowheads Fishing
arrowheads are designed to be mounted on the end of an arrow, which is then shot
at fish from a bow. |
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Fishing arrowhead by Murray Yazer |
Here is a fishing arrowhead, made by
Murray Yazer. The string across the middle is to prevent the fish
from slipping away from the sharp prongs which hold the fish. |
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