Tlingit Halibut Hooks

Traditional Tlingit halibut hooks consist of two pieces of wood, usually alder and cedar, lashed together at an angle of 30 degrees with split spruce root. They are about a foot long and sturdy, for the fish they are designed to catch are the largest of flatfish, bottom dwelling, routinely 20 to 100 pounds and possibly far larger. When the hook is in use, in deep, open waters, its carved arm is down, running roughly parallel with the ocean floor, and the bone barb carries a strip of octopus as bait.