How Did They Fish?

Hello friends! As the title states I'm interested in how people, particulary from the eighteen hundreds fished. Allow me to elaborate, I'm writing a fantasy story based around a Dwarf sea faring trade empire modeled on the Hanseatic League, and as such, fish will be a large commodity, and I need information in order to competently write the scenes. Thank you to any and all that help me!
 
basicly modern net fishing without the machinery to help pulling the heavy loads.

Other than the fact that throwing out nets and pulling them in have been supported by a motor, and a motor getting you out to the banks instead of wind and/or pure oaring its suprisingly similar back to somewhere in the middle ages when people started making nets.
 
Really? That's.....pleasently surprising actually. Makes my life way easier friend. Thank you for the help!
 
Nets have been found in archeological sites at least 5000 years old.

Line & hook fishing was also practiced almost universally & was as common as net use. IIRC fishermen often carried hooks for when nets were not practical, or affordable.
 
basicly modern net fishing without the machinery to help pulling the heavy loads.

Because of this, perhaps even by Dwarven standards, your fishermen would have strength and stamina. Also, you should consider how the society treats those who are unable to fish.
 
In regards to the Hansa, remember that while fish were a commodity, they weren't the biggest commodity. More important was their sale of the raw goods of the east for the manufactured goods of the west. Their biggest advantage on that front was small communities of Germans who had spread throughout the area. In fact, some of these trading posts evolved into cities, as was the case for Tallinn, Riga and Danzig. It would be interesting to have the Hansa be middlemen between the developed Elves and the undeveloped men or viceversa.
 
I'm imagining the transporting of material between the Dwarfen Archipelago and the mainland alongside the sale of spirits, slaves, and a myriad of other smaller enterprises will make up the economy, its just fish, like it was five hundred years ago, will make up a large part of it. Its not just strictly "fish-life" its more "fish+this+this+this+this=profit". Also! I'm not even sure their will be elves, but there will be an oppressed underclass of Orc slaves that serve the dwarves, set the stage for some neat uprising scenes I feel.
 
This piece has some good stuff on pre-machine ocean fishing - as long as your world has cod, or similar.

Note that preservation is as important as catching - you'll need a largeish workforce, and facilities, for drying/smoking/salting.
 
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