Twenty two spike fishing spear

Thrusting fishing tools, commonly found throughout Pomerania are one the oldest and most commonly used in traditional fishing. These include, among others, the comb-like spears - large tools shaped like combs, that were commonly used by German fishermen to catch fish feeding at the bottom, eels in particular. They were used to fish from a boat - a fisherman sitting close to the stern would lower the comb into the water and press it down to the bottom, impaling the fish with the sharp prongs. Thrusting tools, including the combs, were harmful for the fish population - used during the spawning they disrupted their breeding. In many cases, the impaled animals managed to escape, but as a result of their wounds they became ill and eventually died. For this reason, regulations prohibiting fishing with spears were introduced relatively early. In Prussia such laws were introduced already in the second half of the 19th century, Poland followed up in the 1930s. In the collection of the Department of Ethnography of the Pomerania of the National Museum in Szczecin there are eleven comb-like spears. One of them is a comb, coming from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, with a wooden back and pointed teeth connected by wire to strengthen the whole structure. The thickest and longest tooth, used to gape fish, is attached to the front part of the back.

Agnieszka Słowińska