From the absence of any, even conjectural, word for or representation of a float, we can only infer that ground bait fishing was the chief, perhaps the sole, line method in vogue.
I can find no evidence that the Assyrians availed themselves of the spear, the trident, drugs or poison, but as the first two figure in Egyptian, Jewish, and Roman records, and appear to be the common property of all early peoples, the probability is that they were known and used in the Two Rivers.
The fish of these resembled the fish of the Nile in their alleged refusal to rise to a fly, but our soldiers have caught on the fly hundreds of “salmon” of good weight up to 112 lbs. One (hand-lined) scaled 170 lbs., and one (speared) ran up to 215 lbs. This “salmon” is a kind of mahseer, the noblest of the carp family,[907] or, according to Mr. Tate Regan, a barbel, probably the species Barbus esocinus described by Heckel as coming from the Tigris.[908]
The second method was by Netting, which to judge from its repeated occurrence either as a pursuit or in metaphor was universal, and prevailed far more extensively than line fishing, especially in Sumeria. The only Sumerian word, according to Dr. Langdon, for fishing, ha-dib (one of the oldest words in the world for the act or occupation), signifies or is akin to a word signifying “to surround,” i.e. with a net, as does the Babylonian term bâru. If this be the case, Netting probably constituted their universal, possibly their only fishing.
In the eastern division of Assyria proper lie the main tributaries of the Tigris, such as the Zāb and the Diyālā, rising among the Kurdish mountains. As Netting was naturally more restricted in this area than in the Persian Gulf, line fishing possibly obtained more widely here than in the South.
THE NET OF NINGIRSU (SO-CALLED).
From L. Heuzey, Restitution matérielle de la stèle des Vautours, Pl. 1, Fragment E.
At any rate it is from the Sumerian excavations that we derive a well-known example of metaphorical Net fishing. This is to be found in what till lately has been held to be a fine representation[909] of Ningirsu, the god of the Sumerian Telloh or Babylonian Lagash, triumphing over his enemies.