Handmade Fishing Pole

Fishing always has been a constant food source for the Swedish population. Most immigrant men knew they would have to feed their families from local resources as they were going to the wilderness in America. This fishing pole would have fit nicely into an immigrant trunk.

The original fishing line would have been made with braided horsetail hairs (which shed water) and a barbed metal fish hook from the Sandvikan Saw Company (which invented the barbed metal fish hook) at the end of the line and fresh bait.

The person who was fishing would have unwound the line and cast it into the water. When a fish took the bait, the fisher would wind the line by holding one of the top corners and rotating it to wind up the line.

This is another example of Swedish design – simple, elegant, practical, and made from materials at hand.