Coracle and Fish Trap
The rivers of the Conwy Valley were known for their abundance of salmon and sea trout or sewin. Between the estuary at Conwy and the rapids at Betws-y-coed, several methods of fishing were used including coracle-fishing and building fish traps.
The Conwy type coracle is small oval shaped, without a keel, used by one fisherman. Coracles were used in pairs with a net held between them. At the end of a trawl downstream with the net, the coracles would have to be carried back to the start point on the fishermen’s backs.
The coracle consisted of a frame of wooden laths and a skin of animal hide. By the 1800s canvas covered in pitch or tar replaced animal hides.
