George Whittaker collecting salmon from putchers at Goldcliff, circa 1923
Putcher fishing is a type of fishing (usually of salmon) which employs multiple putcher baskets, set in a fixed wooden frame, against the tide in a river estuary, notably on the River Severn, in England and South East Wales. Putchers are placed in rows, standing four or five high, in a wooden "rank" set out against the incoming and/or outgoing tides.[1]
Conical baskets on a wooden frame are also used elsewhere; here, Wagenya, to catch the fish thrown downstream by rapids at the Boyoma Falls (aka: Stanley or Kisangani falls) on the Lualaba River, near Kisangani in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As in the UK, fishing spots are inherited.
^Goldbold, R.C. and Turner, R.C. (with contributions by Hillam, J., Johnson, S. and O'Sullivan, A.), Medieval Fishtraps in the Severn Estuary, Medieval Archaeology, Vol 38, 1994, pp 19-54. Publisher: Maney. ISSN 0076-6097.