FISH LIKE IT’S 1799
On July 2, 1789, The Pittsburgh Gazette published a tragic notice:
“Yesterday were brought to this place and buried the bodies of two young men named Arthur Graham and Alexander Campbell, who had gone out the evening before to fish. They were killed by the savages about 2 miles from this place.” Fishing the Three Rivers in the 18th century wasn’t always that dangerous. A few soldiers were probably assigned to string trotlines to catch provisions for the troops, but most fishing was recreational and done pretty much the way we do it now.
“Any way you could catch a fish today is how you could catch a fish during the 18th century,” said Justin Meinert, living history program coordinator at the Fort Pitt Museum at Point State Park.
Sunday is the first of two statewide Fish for Free Days (the second is July 4). They’re Fish and Boat Commission promotions when fishing licenses and trout and Erie permits are not required of anglers age 16 and older. (Younger anglers always fish for free.)
At Point State Park, staff will provide free contemporary loaner rods, tackle, bait and assistance to anyone who wants it. Mr. Meinert
small musket balls for [sinkers].”
By 1759, Fort Pitt was populated by about 100 civilians and 300 to 1,000 soldiers, who rotated in and out of camp. There was no commercial fishing to feed them, and a fish entree was a rare treat.
In personal diaries, business ledgers and military inventories of the period, however, recreational fishing is mentioned often and casually. To the east, in the Allegheny Mountains, 18thcentury anglers were inventing trout fly patterns that are still used today. But in the slow-moving flood-prone pre-navigational waters surrounding Fort Pitt, the practical technique included a cane pole, bobber and bait.