All local tribes fished with lines and hooks which were made by lashing a sharp piece of bone to a section of twig, at an acute angle. Atsugewi and mountain Maidu also used a “gorge” for angling. This was a slender piece of bone two or three inches long fastened near the middle and sharpened at both ends. Hooks were sometimes baited with meat, grasshoppers, or large flies, but man-made “flies” as fishermen know them today were not used. Sometimes meat or grasshopper bait was used by Atsugewi on fish-lines without any hook. Atsugewi women occasionally fished with baskets and with hook and line. Hooks were often tied in a series on a line attached either on both banks of the stream or to a pole secured in the bank or tied to tules or to brush, and left over night. A series of basket traps was sometimes likewise stretched across a stream.
A Klamath fish hook similar to those used by local tribes. Single barbed hooks were also employed.
Salmon fishing was done largely with harpoons which differ from spears in having one or more movable barbs or toggles of bone. These opened when the harpoon was pulled back (outward in the victim) thus securing the catch all the more firmly. This was necessary for such large and heavy fish as salmon. Yana tribes caught their salmon with either hook and line or by spearing with a two pointed harpoon.
Natural falls were favored fishing sites. There Indians caught salmon and steelhead trout as the fish attempted to scale the falls. Long handled nets were used. Atsugewi went so far as to build scaffoldings to assist either in this method of fishing or from which to harpoon large fish. In the latter case many whitish rocks, where available, were thrown into the stream to build up a light colored bottom for better visibility in harpooning or spearing.
After the fish were caught they were killed by striking with a stick as a general practice. Mountain Maidu sometimes killed fish by striking their heads on rocks. The central Yana, interestingly enough, killed fish by biting them!
In quiet portions of streams fish were poisoned by placing certain pounded plant materials in the water. Yana and Yahi used crushed Soaproot; Atsugewi used pulverized Wild Parsley. Wild Parsley application made the water bluish, and caused the fish soon to rise to the surface of the water floating belly-up. Where suitable quiet pools did not exist in a stream, they were sometimes formed by the Indians through temporary damming. Buckeye nut pulp, which is poisonous, was not used in this area for poisoning fish.
Long basketry fish traps, usually constructed by men, were also utilized. The design and proportions of these varied with the tribe.
Each of the Lassen area tribes had taboos which prevented youths, and in the case of Atsugewi, their parents too, from eating the first fish each youth caught.
