DEEP SEA FISHING

[snocky]

Wonder why draggers are called trawlers. Doesn,t make sense. "SNOCKY

[Kyle Stubbs]

Trawling gets its name from the trawl net, which itself descends from the Dutch adaptation of the Latin word "tragula," meaning "drag net."

Kind Regards,
Kyle

[snocky]

To me a dragger drags & a trawler sets out trawls with lines of hooks. I t doesn,t make sense to describe a dragger as a trawler or vise versa. Draggers are not trawlers in any sense of the word as to what it means especially english.

[Kyle Stubbs]

I think you're confusing the word "troller" with "trawler." Trawlers use a deep or midwater drag net to collect a large catch. Trollers, like longliners, use individual hooks, except in troller they are suspended from trolling poles suspended over the vessels sides.

Kind Regards,
Kyle

[snocky]

Thanks Kyle. I rest my case. When i was a young feller we used to set tubs of trawls with baited hooks & we weren,t trolling. I,m well aware of trolling & it is completely different than trawling. These trawls were setout over long distances & separate from our skiffs. The trolling i know of is lines with hooks as you say but stay attached to the troller. Have you ever fished my friend? Dragging & trawling are two completely different ways of fishing. Over & out.

[davidships]

Very interesting snocky, and new to me too.
Clearly a different regional usage where you are than here in Britain, where I am familiar with the usage as described by Kyle and here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trawling

[Kyle Stubbs]

I have to agree with David, it's a completely different regional usage than in the western US as well. Here in Seattle, home to a very large fishing fleet, trawling is used exclusively to refer to towed nets, often with otter boards, and usually by vessels between 20 and 100 meters in length that go out to catch cod, haddock, shrimp and rockfish. Dragging is used on occasion to refer to the same method, but not to the extent as in such New England ports as New Bedford or Gloucester.

Maritime history, especially that of our local fishing fleet, is a personal pastime of mine, and in all my research I haven't come across any local usage of the word here in the way you describe. Instead, what you mention is closest to long-lining here, where single, detachable lines with a series of baited hooks are left in place, either buoyed or anchored, to be retrieved later. These vessels often operate here in the halibut and cod fisheries.

Kind Regards,
Kyle