Fykenets

A fykenet is a curious device made by weaving skilfully mastered and treated vegetable matter. Endearing and traditional, this object speaks for itself about a remote past, is art but at the same time craftsmanship, utility and ingeniousness.

It consists of a loose basket of intertwined rushes, used in the past for fishing in streams and small rivers. It comprises a conical part or body called «alma» (soul) and a rounded base part called «muerte» (death), through which a fish entered and got snared. They were placed countercurrent in streams which the fish swim up in the spring spawning season.

In general use in the Iberian Peninsula and particularly, as far as we know, in the central regions of both Castiles, they were always made with soft plant matter or wet wicker, picked from the banks of rivers or lakes, but always very flexible materials, like the thin rushes in the picture. Other very similar varieties were also used for sea-fishing, for example in the Balearics (Menorca), and made with split reeds or other materials and generally known as «nasas» (creels).

In spite of their simplicity, the technique for making them —which few people still know— is complicated and difficult to learn, due to the skill needed in moving your fingers and manipulating the fibre.

The photographs belong to the province of Segovia, the town of San Martín y Mudrián, where they were always made using fine rushes (Juncus inflexus). The toponym «La Garlitera» (fykenetter) remains in the town’s memory, a place on the outskirts of the town.

We were lucky to enough to meet friend and local resident Jesús Sanz Andrés who knew how to make them and who generously made them to order. He learnt the art from Cesáreo, his father. Jesús told us many things about fykenets during our short conversations:

«[…] Only fine rushes are any good, they were the best, they don´t break, you put them in the river countercurrent when the fish spawn in March, we used to call it the San José upstream. You have to pick long rushes… there are fewer and fewer long rushes and it´s more difficult to find them, you keep them in soak while they´re green. First you make the alma then you prepare the death which is the front bit where the fish come in. Finally you put a lid made of cattail or bulrush on the end of the basket and tie it with another rush so the fish can´t get out. We used to catch bermejuelas [Archondrostoma arcasii], «fishies» and tench in particular. They were only used for one season, every year we threw them away and would make new ones. All the lads in the village used to make them. There were a lot more fish than now. […] we used to catch a lot, and they were really tasty fried, there are hardly any left now.»

My sincerest thanks to Jesús who died in January 2023 aged 70: we will never forget him.