Why Island Fishers Caught Needlefish With a Kite, Not a Hook

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0:00 Fishing lines hung from the sky
1:23 They already had hooks
3:04 The fish that beats a hook
4:30 How spider silk grips a beak
6:11 A morning of kite fishing
8:15 Why a kite at all
8:40 A method spread across an ocean
10:46 The leaf kite that flies badly on purpose
12:28 Where did kites begin?
14:35 Europe's kites were fireworks
16:36 The same trick, rediscovered

In 1599, Dutch sailors off the spice island of Ternate watched fishermen hang their lines from a leaf flying in the sky. At the end of the line there was no hook, only a small wad of spider web. And it worked.

Islanders across the Moluccas, parts of Melanesia and Micronesia had been carving shell hooks for roughly 20,000 years, yet for one fish they chose a kite instead. The needlefish has a bony, toothed beak that shakes hooks loose, so fishers used spider silk that tangles in its teeth and a kite that keeps the lure dancing far from the canoe. The humble single-leaf kite turns out to fly badly on purpose. The same hookless idea is being used again by garfish anglers in Denmark today.

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#ancienthistory #kitefishing #fishing #indonesia #pacificislands