Fishing has existed since ancient times. Archaeological excavations suggest that people were engaged in fishing back in the Paleolithic period. Along with hunting and gathering, fishing was an important source of food for humans.

Scientists know almost nothing about how the first people fished. Skeletons of fish were found at their sites, but no fishing gear was found. Most likely, in those ancient times, people hunted large fish with the help of primitive spears, simply put, sharpened sticks. There is a version that they even caught fish with their bare hands.

Primitive fishing tool - spears, darts, spears. Then sharp spikes made of bone went in - the first hook on a fishing line made of plant fibers, in ancient Rus'- from hemp. In general, not only clothes were made from hemp, they also wove nets and fish traps.

The oldest fish hook found by archaeologists was made approximately 30 thousand years BC. It can be argued that at that time some semblance of fishing rods with floats already existed. Also by this time, people learned to weave fishing nets and set traps.

According to the legend of the ancient inhabitants Macedonia, successful fishing compares to the art of the gods. Fishing using a rod was considered the destiny of the nobility. If the fishing rod fell into the hands of a mere mortal, the unfortunate person was executed (his hands were cut off).

Among the ancient Egyptians Among the upper classes, the net was despised and served as a tool for professional fishermen - the mob, the pharaohs preferred to pierce the fish with a spear, proving their speed and accuracy. Moreover, the hunting and fishing of the pharaohs had a certain touch of ceremoniality - a noble gentleman hunting was always depicted by the ancient Egyptians in his most honorable attire - in a royal skirt and even with a royal beard. Hunting was a precious privilege, a royal right.

Industrial fishing took place collectively - nonsense. The fish were gutted and dried in the sun. If fishermen moved far from home, then processing began immediately, on boats, just as is done on modern fishing vessels. Dried fish was the cheapest protein food in Ancient Egypt and therefore they prepared a lot of it. Fish was consumed by all levels of society and in the most different conditions: at home, visiting, on a hike.

Israeli archaeologists During the work, traces of a shipwreck that occurred in the 7th century AD were found at the bottom of Lake Tiberias (Sea of ​​Galilee). somewhat west of Galilee, where Jesus once preached. Among the wreckage of the ship, scientists found fishing gear, tools and other artifacts. As researchers suggest, ancient fishermen used all these items during night fishing.

A special find was a special fire basket. At night the light attracted fish and others sea ​​creatures and at the same time illuminated them, so that the fishermen could accurately cast their nets. The cunning method of hunting was especially widespread in the Mediterranean, however, in some other fish-rich areas - for example, in the village of Staraya Ladoga - evidence was also found of the use of a kind of “bait” for fish.

In addition to the basket, archaeologists found the main sinkers used to equip rectangular fishing nets. These sinkers - flat or rolled into cylinders - instantly lowered the net to the bottom almost immediately after the fishermen threw it into the water.

Scientists also discovered a bronze steelyard in the shape of a woman, which was most likely used to weigh all the fish that sailors caught in one trip.

An iron fishing harpoon with five prongs and an iron lot for measuring water depth were also found in the excavation. The lot was lowered from the bow of the boat and sometimes lubricated with lard. Particles of soil from the bottom stuck to the fat, which allowed sailors to determine the place of the boat in the sea, as well as the depth. “Fishermen returned home at night, often in conditions of poor visibility. In such a situation, the lot turned out to be the only navigational device capable of leading them to their native shores,” explain Galili and Rosen.

In Rus' fishing was also widespread. And it’s not surprising, because our rivers and lakes are so rich in fish. In Ancient Rus', they often caught fish using gear that resembled a girder. Even before the Tatar-Mongol yoke, fishermen used hooks that still exist today - with a ring and with a spatula.

When studying the topographic characteristics of traces of a wide variety of crafts of the Russian medieval city within the boundaries of Pskov (Krom and Dovmontov city, Medium city, Okolny town, Zapskovye, Zavelichye) it was discovered that almost all townspeople owned some kind of fishing gear. Most often these were small nets for personal needs; there were also accessories for large nets, seines, and, less often, accessories for hook tackle and percussion tools. They could engage in fishing for domestic needs dependent people. Fishing gear was decorated with images in the form of a five-pointed star, a boat, images of a cross, an animal, a bird's paw, letters or letter-like designs, and ornamental designs. In Ancient Rus', fishermen were called not those people who caught fish, but those who traded fish, but those who caught fish - catchers.

Of course, now there is a lot of all kinds of gear and devices for fishing, but to this day, especially fanatical fishermen catch fish with their hands.
Here are some tips, well, if anyone wants to try the ancient method of fishing, the most ancient:

v A necessary condition for catching fish with your hands is mutual invisibility. You artificially ensure mutual invisibility by stirring up the water. For successful fishing, it is necessary to correctly select the distance from the agitation zone to the fishing site, so that the fish located in the shelter (under the cramp, the shore) do not get scared and leave it. If you are fishing in a small river with a weak current, then choose the distance from the place of stirring up to the fishing site to be approximately 15-20 meters. Muddy the water as silently as possible in the same place until the muddy water reaches the fishing spot downstream. Only after this can you move downstream to your intended place. Remember that the fish will be caught until you see your own hands immersed in the water.

V The fishing time is selected based on the following considerations. Starting from the very early morning, determined by sunrise, almost any fish feeds and moves intensively along the river in search of food, so there is no particular point in fishing in the morning. Moreover, the water in the river is still very cool. Therefore, it is best to catch fish with a fishing rod in the morning, especially if you know a lot about it. During the day, in the afternoon, the water in the river or lake warms up quite strongly and the fish looks for shaded, cool places where they can hide from predators and digest the food they have taken. Moreover, the bite on the fishing rod ended by lunchtime and all the fishermen left their places. This is the best time for hand fishing.

v Clothing for fishing by hand - If the bottom of a river or lake is sandy, with a small percentage of silt or clay, then it is better to put on old sneakers on your feet, and first put on socks with an elastic band to prevent sand from getting into the socks, which can severely rub the skin of your feet. If you are fishing in a reservoir with a muddy or clayey bottom, it is advisable to wear molded rubber boots on your feet. Thigh boots that cover the thighs should be worn when fishing in small rivers in spring and autumn, when the water is still very cold. You should also wear tights on your body, preferably wool, and a shirt buttoned with all the buttons and with the cuffs buttoned tightly. You should not wear any gloves, as you can only feel the fish with your fingertips. The color of clothing should not be bright, dark green, brown or black. The fish tank can be strapped to your belt and worn on the side or front.

Well, everything is clear with catching fish with your hands, now you need to figure out who to pray to if your hands are hooks...
The Slavs had their own patron hunters and fishermen - the Holy Great Martyr and Wonderworker Tryphon. IN The great martyr and wonderworker Tryphon is known as an exorcist of demons and has power over animals that cause “harm and vanity to fields, grapes, orchards and helicopter cities,” as stated in the exorcism of the Greek and Slavic breviaries. According to the testimony of St. Nicholas (Velimirović), in Old Serbia on his day, February 1 (14), a prayer service was served in the vineyards, so he is sometimes depicted there with a special winegrowing knife in his hand. On Russian icons, he is in the form of a rider on a white horse with a falcon - according to the miracle he performed in Moscow, for which we are revered as the patron saint of hunters and a reliable “ambulance” in various everyday needs.

And now, having prayed to Tryphon, you can go fishing with us, especially since the holiday will be on Sunday:
In the Tomsk region there are 18.1 thousand rivers, streams and other watercourses, with a total length of about 95 thousand km, including 1620 rivers with a length of more than 10 km (the total length of these rivers is 57.2 thousand km).

The main tributaries of the Ob, flowing into it in the Tomsk region: Tom, Chulym, Chaya, Ket, Parabel, Vasyugan, Tym.

Large rivers of Tomskregion- Kiya, Yaya, Kyonga, Chuzik, Chizhapka, Uluyul, Baksa, Shegarka, Iksa, Bakchar, Andarma, Parbig, Emelich, Salad, Nyurolka, Aisaz, Ilyak, Chertala, Yagylyakh, Laryogan, Kiev Yogan, Sangilka, Koses, Paigudina, Eltyreva, Lisitsa, Orlovka, Chichkayul, Chet, Suiga.

Large lakes of the Tomsk region- Vargato, Perelto, Vasilyevo, Nartovoye, Kurdo, Semiozerye, Purulto, Monatka, Horse-Rechesnoye, Chertany, Beloe.

Dmitry Karabelnikov

People learned to fish in the Volga region in the Late Paleolithic, and in the Mesolithic and Neolithic this activity became their usual trade. In those distant eras, local settled tribes of fishermen and hunters lived in our area, inhabiting the banks of rivers and lakes of the modern Nizhny Novgorod region. For their settlements, people chose sandy river dunes or smooth strips of long lake shores. But ancient fishermen gave greater preference to the banks next to streams and lakes that flowed into large bodies of water, from which small rivers originated.

Today we will tell you how and what they used to catch fish on Nizhny Novgorod rivers and lakes in ancient times. Of course, fishing gear has now become much more advanced. The approach to fishing itself has also changed: now fish are caught mostly for the sake of hobby; in ancient times, fishing was necessary so as not to die of hunger.

The ancient “Nizhny Novgorod residents” dabbled in sturgeon

It is known that a couple of hundred years ago, most Nizhny Novgorod rivers and lakes were simply teeming with a variety of fish. Therefore, it is not surprising that Nizhny Novgorod residents indulged in sterlet and sturgeon quite often. What then can we say about deep antiquity, when the number of fish in our reservoirs was, if not hundreds, then certainly tens of times greater, and the fish were much larger.

The main fishing gear was nets

The most common tools of collective fishing in the Stone and Bronze Ages, of course, there were networks. They began to be made in the late Mesolithic, that is, around the 6th millennium BC. In addition to nets, ancient tribes used fishing gear similar to today's fishing nets and seines. These fishing tools were woven from bast, nettle, hemp and flax threads, from sedge roots and leaves, and from twisted bast fibers.

Occasionally, archaeologists find shards of large clay vessels, on which the imprints of a small fishing net are clearly visible. In these prints you can even distinguish the fibers and knots of the network mesh. Sometimes this cell is so small that even the smallest freshwater fish should get stuck in it: roach and even bleak.

Where did the network imprints on the primitive pots come from, you ask? Archaeologists believe that ancient female potters sculpted these vessels on special blanks of grass and moss, covered with disused fishing nets or skins. Imprints of nets on ceramics were also found at the already mentioned Volosovskaya site in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The cell size of the ancient networks there was 10 by 10 and 20 by 20 millimeters.

But at the neighboring Panfilovskaya site near Volosovskaya, located just upstream of the Oka River, near Murom, network prints on ceramics are more varied: 10 by 10, 20 by 20 and 40 by 40 millimeters. The nets from the Oka sites were probably woven from thin threads of flax and hemp, since their prints are quite thin. In the early Mesolithic layer at the ancient settlement of Ozerki, a fragment of a network was preserved, connected by an intertwined plant thread only 1 millimeter thick. At the same archaeological site, a bone hook was found, tied with a knot from the same thread. By the way, to tie nets and traps, ancient fishermen used long thin stakes with sharpened ends, which archaeologists often find in the water deposits of ancient peat settlements.

If they were to excavate a hot tub in our regionIf I had one Neolithic peat site rich in organic matter, there would be much more evidence of ancient fishing gear in the Volga and Oka basins. For example, in the layers of peat at the Neolithic site of Sventoja in Lithuania, the remains of shuttles, oars and reels wrapped in linden bast rope were preserved. There, archaeologists unearthed a float made of birch bark, and scraps of nets made of linden bast with cells ranging from 2 to 7 cm.
Surprisingly, scientists even realized that when weaving these nets, ancient fishermen used a fisherman's (sheet) knot.

The master gave the sinker an unusual shape

Fishing in the Stone and Bronze Ages with nets is evidenced by
finds of fishing sinkers. In the Neolithic, sinkers were ordinary round pebbles tied or wrapped in bast or birch bark. I happened to find a couple of such sinkers near the ancient site of primitive man on the shore of Lake Kustorka in the Pavlovsk region. One of them is common for the Oka Neolithic. This is a polished round sandstone pebble ( photo 1), on the opposite sides of which there are recesses for braiding the sinker in order to tie it to the bottom of the net. To the experienced eye of a researcher, this sinker even shows potholes from the impact of the sinker on the walls and bottom of the ancient boat. By the way, the sinker can be dated to the 6th-3rd millennium BC.

Similar three sinkers were found by an expedition of Nizhny Novgorod archaeologist Andrei Gonozov at a Neolithic site in the same area. Two of them are whole oval sandstone pebbles, which have
three recesses for tying the sinkers with a winding attached to the bottom of the net. One clearly shows brightened areas that appeared as a result of rotting on the sinker of the organic winding.

But my other find is truly interesting.This is a well-polished (ancient people polished stone tools with crushed stone, raw sand and other abrasives) green pebbles, to which the primitive craftsman gave an unusual shape compared to most sinkers ( photo 2). It is curious, but only after the sinker was completely polished did the primitive fisherman beat off the opposite sides of the sinker in order to more firmly secure the winding to it. And they wrapped the sinkers with strips of bast, birch bark, sedge, etc.

Fish were caught not only with nets

I would like to note that in the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, fish were caught not only with nets. And fishing itself was not the only trade of the ancient “Nizhny Novgorod” people: hunting and gathering were no less important. Ancient gourmets collected river shellfish, mushrooms, berries, nuts, wild bee honey, roots, wild fruits and herbs. But the main industry of settled tribes,permanently living on high riverine dunes, there was still year-round fishing. That is, it was fishing that brought a significant amount of food resources. Therefore, each season required special fishing skills and equipment. The main fishing objects were pike, sturgeon and catfish.

After a difficult, hungry winter, fish abundance finally arrived for the primitive “Nizhny Novgorod residents”. In late spring, during fish spawning, small rivers were blocked with “fences” or “fences”. Even in late autumn, in the lowlands, along meadows and ravines, flooded by river floods, they erected barriers made of wattle fence, brushwood and pine branches. In the spring, during a flood, fish rose into flooded areas and got stuck in these barriers.

To catch fish during floods, the ancients built traps and labyrinths from vertical stakes driven close to each other into the river bottom. When there were enough fish there, the fishermen blocked the only exit. Here they had to not yawn, but hit large fish with bone harpoons and spears, and scoop out small fish with a net. A similar trap was used by fishermen of the Balakhna tribes (Neolithic, 3rd millennium BC). This trap was almost a vicious circle, and it was found in 1878 at the Oka Plekhanov site near Murom.

Archaeologists find bone harpoons at peat sites of the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages. There is evidence that people in the Volga region were engaged in catching fish with a harpoon back in the Late Paleolithic. In addition, primitive fishermen hunted large pikes, catfish and other predators with bows and arrows. The tips of such arrows were made of bone, giving them a needle-like shape with a biconical head and a jagged edge. In this way (including using a spear) they caught large catfish and pike, tracking them in creeks and small overgrown reservoirs such as oxbow lakes. Anyway, we caught pike different ways: hit with a harpoon, stabbed with a spear, caught on a hook with live bait, with a spoon, and also with tops.

In spring, summer and autumn, the ancients fished with nets and nets. They set various traps - exact copies of the current "tops", "muzzles" and "dives". Thus, the remains of fishing “tops” were found at several peat archaeological sites of the Mesolithic era - for example, Ivanovskoye and Sakhtysh in the Yaroslavl region. These traps are made from split woven willow twigs or longitudinally planed pine splinters braided with linden bast. In the “top” found by archaeologists at the Neolithic settlement of Zvizde in the Baltic States, the remains of 16 pikes ranging from 60 to 136 centimeters in length were discovered.

Ancient fishermen also fished from boats using gear such as modern fishing rods, donks and subs. Fortunately, the fish in those days were much larger, they were indiscriminate in their food, and they grabbed hooks and baits that were so “stupid” that today’s fish certainly wouldn’t take them. Thus, at the lake sites of Ivanovskoye near Yaroslavl, bone fishing hooks were found large sizes. This was confirmed by the considerable size of the bones and scales of pike, catfish, pike perch, perch, tench and crucian carp found in the Meso-Neolithic deposits of the Ivanovo peat bogs.

Ancient fishermen made composite hooks: they carved small sinkers from stone, to which they tied bone points. During excavations, archaeologists find such fishhooks carved from bone and shell, and their appearance, to put it mildly, is not the most appetizing.

In addition to fishing hooks, they caught fish with flint and bone girders, which were used for attaching small bait fish. When big predatory fish swallowed this bait, the line stretched, and the pole-rod, in the middle of which the line was tied, turned across, firmly holding the prey. Such a flint vent, made of flint, was found by me in the Oka floodplain in our region ( photo 3).

In winter, ancient fishermen placed nets under the ice, “tops”; fishing was especially popular with jig-type gear, the invention of which occurred in the Mesolithic, that is, approximately 7 thousand 500 years ago! Findings of hooks from this ice fishing gear differ significantly from the usual ones. The rods of jig-muscle hooks have significant thickenings. It was these heavy hooks that were most productive for winter fishing.

Another way of winter fishing in ancient times was killing fish with stone, bone and wooden mallets. The fisherman walked slowly along transparent ice. Seeing a fish walking under the ice, he hit the ice with a mallet, and immediately pulled out the stunned fish through the hole cut with an ice pick. The most ancient fishing picks were found at the site of the Early Mesolithic era (7th millennium BC) at the Postnikov Ovrag-2 site near Samara.

Tools of ancient fishermen made from organic materials - remains of nets, bone harpoons ( photo 4), fishing hooks, birch bark floats, fishing traps, wooden boats and oars, as well as bones and fish scales - are well preserved only in layers of peat. Archaeologists excavate such peat sites of ancient fishermen (Mesolithic-Neolithic-Bronze) in the Upper Volga region. Nizhny Novgorod archaeologists have so far only explored sites in sandy soil, in which organic matter (bone, wood, birch bark) is preserved only in isolated cases.

Official science believes that people first learned to hunt, and only much later mastered fishing. Therefore, fish supposedly appeared in the diet of ancient man relatively recently. But modern archaeological excavations have significantly changed this idea. It is possible that our ancestors fished hundreds of thousands of years ago...

American caught a monster shark

Thus, researchers at the Hebrew University came to the conclusion that “homo erectus,” who lived in the Hula Valley 750,000 years ago, not only caught fish, but also knew how to fry it, and thus diversified his menu. Laboratory studies have confirmed: the primitive predecessors of people managed to catch catfish, tilapia and carp more than a meter long!

Apparently, the Hula Valley was once rich in lakes in which giant fish splashed. At the excavation site, many fish skulls, remains of crabs and fire pits were discovered.

Perhaps the most common fish that lived in different climatic zones, including the north, was sturgeon. The ancient remains of this “delicacy” are found on the Irtysh River. They are about 1.5 million years old. Scientists suggest that the river carried fish carcasses to the shallows, where archanthropes literally caught them with their hands.

Subsequently, they began to use a stone and a stick for fishing. To this day, in survival schools they teach how to fish according to the example of our ancestors: lift mud from the bottom with a stick, and when the fish begins to rush around in search of clean water, grab it with your hands...

The most popular fishing tools in the Stone and Bronze Ages were nets. They began to be made back in the 6th millennium BC. In addition to nets, ancient tribes used fishing gear such as drags and seines. They were woven from plant fibers: bast, nettle, hemp and sedge. Moreover, nets were made for both large and small fish.

Their prints are found on shards of clay vessels. From this unpretentious pattern, in which even fibers and knots are visible, one can judge that ancient people caught roach and bleak. Scientists believe that the pots were made of clay on special blanks of grass and moss, wrapped in old nets.

To tie nets and traps, ancient fishermen used long, thin stakes with sharpened ends, which archaeologists often find in the aquatic deposits of ancient peat settlements. Thus, in the layers of peat at the Neolithic site of Sventoja in Lithuania, the remains of oars, birch bark floats, and fragments of linden bast nets were preserved.

Finds of fishing sinkers also testify to fishing in the Stone and Bronze Ages with nets. In the Neolithic, sinkers were ordinary round pebbles tied or wrapped in bast or birch bark. To the experienced eye of a researcher, this sinker even shows potholes from impacts on the walls and bottom of the ancient boat. By the way, the sinker can be dated to the 3rd-6th millennium BC.

In the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, the main fishing objects were pike, sturgeon and catfish. Having survived a difficult, hungry winter, primitive people tried to make up for lost time during fish spawning. At this time, the river was blocked with “stakes”. They were fences made of brushwood and pine branches. Such fences were installed in the fall, and in the spring, during the flood, the fish rose and got stuck in the “spin.”

Sometimes they set traps to catch fish and even built labyrinths from stakes driven into the river bottom close to each other. When there were enough fish, they had to be quickly hit with bone harpoons and spears.

A net was often used for small items. Archaeologists find bone harpoons at peat sites of the Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Ancient people hunted pike, catfish and sturgeon with bows and arrows. The latter were given a needle-like shape with a jagged edge.

In the warm season, they preferred nets and nonsense, vertices that have hardly changed since primitive times. Traps were also made from split intertwined willow twigs or longitudinally planed pine splinters braided with linden bast.

In one of these traps, archaeologists discovered the remains of 16 large pikes about one and a half meters long. The ancients also fished from boats, using gear reminiscent of modern fishing rods and donks.

The ancient fishermen had a compound hook. Small weights were carved from stone, to which bone points were tied. They also fished with live bait, for which they used flint and bone girders to mount small fish. When a large fish swallowed the bait, the vent turned across, firmly holding the prey...

So the fish - by the way, the most useful product containing the body's essential fatty acid- appeared “on the table” back in time immemorial, as did the “technologies” for catching it.

A selection of authentic photographs of those awarded the St. George Cross.

Internet version of brochures from 1916, about the St. George Knights of the 1st World War.

Primitive fishing Few things can be imagined that are more ancient and more popular than fishing. In primitive society there were only three ways to provide oneself with food: hunting, gathering and fishing. As a result, this activity is firmly rooted in the life of all humanity and remains popular to this day.

Fishing is also one of the reasons for the settlement of people near water - rivers, seas, that is, it has had an undeniable influence on modern culture (World Fisherman's Day was established in 1985 - June 27), the location of cities and villages. There have always been entire fishing settlements, inhabitants who were passed down from generation to generation deepest knowledge about methods of catching and processing fish.

Even then, a kind of barter began to emerge. And during the formation of the first civilizations, fish were actively exchanged for all types of goods. Based on this, fishing has become one of the most profitable and widespread crafts.

Our ancestors were no exception to this fascinating activity. Along with agriculture and cattle breeding, fishing was an integral part of the life of our ancestors. Fish was always in demand and highly valued in every tribe of ancient Rus'. But even then, fishing was not only a way of obtaining food, but also a kind of dispute with wildlife, a desire to prove one’s superiority. Who will be stronger, more dexterous, more patient? All this served as the basis for the emergence of fishing sport.

During the excavations, the first tools were found that helped our forefathers catch fish. These were forts, the most popular weapons. They were sticks pointed at one end. Used for fishing in shallow waters. Various hooks made of stone, wood thorns, fish and animal bones were also found. They were attached to the tendons of animals, and later to woven threads. The threads were used as fishing lines, they were woven from horse tails, hemp and silk. The invention of synthetic fibers influenced the production of fishing lines; their modern version consists of high-strength polymers.

In addition to the usual fish, crayfish, oysters, and shrimp were caught. This was done using special traps and nets. Nowadays, the use of these devices for recreational fishing is prohibited.

It is known for certain that Alexander III was a passionate fisherman. He happily spent his leisure time doing this activity, and when he succeeded, he left with his whole family for the Finnish skerries. I rode boats and fished.

Modern fishing

IN modern society two types of fishing can be distinguished. Fishing itself is usually called fishing as a hobby, recreation or sport. There is also an industrial type of fishing.

Industrial fishing differs mainly in the volumes and methods of catching and processing, as well as in the purposes. First of all, fishing provides food. For pharmaceutical purposes, fish oil is used, which is extracted from cod liver. Commercial fish that live in Russia can be divided into red fish (sturgeon, whitefish and salmon) and small fish (sichel fish, catfish, carp, crucian carp, pike perch, pike).

Recreational fishing is usually not aimed at achieving commercial goals. Fishing is often used for psychological relief and moral pleasure. It is an integral part of modern tourism and is quite popular as a sport.

Fishing mainly differs between sea and fresh water in summer or winter time of the year. For amateur fishing, a wide variety of gear is used: spinning rods, fly rods, bottom fishing rods (with sinkers), girders, float rods... The most popular fish for amateur fishing are crucian carp, ide, pike, salmon species, catfish, gudgeon, bream...

Drying and smoking as methods of processing and preparing the catch

Of course, in earlier times, long-term storage of fish was difficult. Drying and smoking fish could increase shelf life, provided that it was processed well and there was no access to moisture during storage. These two methods are similar in principle.

By salting and subsequent drying, the development of decomposing bacteria is stopped. For drying, fish are hung in the open air above human height (the higher, the greater the movement air masses), it is prepared due to exposure to ultraviolet radiation (chemical transformation of proteins occurs, and all fats are evenly distributed throughout the muscles).

Smoking, more quick way processing. When hot smoking, fish is treated with smoke at a temperature of 45-120 for several hours. Partial dehydration occurs, the smoke produces a preservative effect.

The material was prepared based on materials from the website "Fishing Pages of St. Petersburg" fishers.spb.ru.

After Fuxi and her sister created humanity, there were more and more people on earth every day. The people of that time were not like today. In those days they did not know agriculture. From morning until late at night, people hunted wild animals, ate their meat and drank their blood. If they kill few animals, famine will come. They won't kill anyone at all - their stomachs will be empty. Food was not easy to come by in those days.

Fusi saw all this, and his soul was heavy. “If this always happens, many people will die of hunger,” he thought. On the fourth day he came to the river. He walked and walked and suddenly raised his head - lo and behold, a big fat carp was jumping out of the water. Here the second carp jumped out, followed by the third. Fusi thought: “Big carps, fat, catch and eat, what’s wrong?” I didn’t spend much effort, I caught a big fat fish right with my hands. Fusi was very happy and took the carp home. Fusi's children and grandchildren found out that he had caught a fish, they came running overjoyed and began to pester him with questions. And Fusi tore the fish into pieces and gave a piece to everyone. We tried it and liked it. “Since the fish is tasty, let’s catch it now, that will help us,” said Fusi.

Fusi. From a Chinese engraving

His children and grandchildren, of course, agreed and immediately ran to the river. We stayed there from noon until evening, and almost everyone caught a fish. They brought the spoils home and ate them with pleasure. Fusi immediately sent messengers with a letter to those of his sons and grandsons who lived in other places, advising them to also fish. Less than three days had passed before all Fusi’s children and grandchildren learned this. Only, as they say, with everyone good deed a lot of hassle. On the third day, the dragon king Lung-wan appeared with his first minister - a turtle - and shouted:

Who invited you to fish? Look how many of you people, catch all my dragon sons and grandsons! Stop this immediately!

OK! If you don't allow us to fish, we won't. Just look, there will be nothing to eat - we will drink water, we will drink all the water clean, all your water creatures will die.

The turtle - Lung-wan's first minister - crawled up to his ear and quietly whispered:

Look, these people are grabbing fish with their hands. Give them this condition: if they don’t drink all the water, let them fish. Just don't let him catch it with your hands. And without hands they won’t catch a single fish.

Lung-wan listened to the turtle's advice and liked it. The Dogon king burst out laughing, turned to Fusi and said:

If you don't drink the water completely, you can fish. But just remember one condition: do not grab the fish with your hands.

Lung-wan decided that he had managed to deceive Fusi and, joyful, went back with his turtle minister. And Fusi thought all evening, the next day he thought until dinner - he still couldn’t come up with anything. After lunch, he lay down under a tree and began to look at the sky and think.

He sees a spider weaving a web between two branches. The thread will pass on the left, the thread on the right will be pulled through, and the round net is ready. The spider finished its job, ran into a corner, and hid.

Soon the mosquitoes and flies flying at a distance were all caught in the net. Then the spider calmly crawled out of its corner and began to eat.

And Fusi had an idea. He ran to the mountains, found vines and twisted a rope out of them. Then, like a spider weaving a web, he made a rough web. After that, he cut down two sticks, made a cross from them, tied a net to it, then attached a long pole to the cross, and everything was ready. He took the tackle to the river and threw it into the water. Fusi stood on the shore and quietly waited. A little time passed, he pulled the net up - fish were fluttering and jumping in the net. This method indeed turned out to be successful. Fusi passed on the secret of weaving nets to his sons and grandsons. And since then, all his descendants knew how to catch fish with a net, and no longer experienced a shortage of food. To this day, people fish with nets.