Images of fishing are omnipresent on Whidbey Island, but less visible are the first people to engage in the practice.

“Really, unless you know what to look for, it’s hard to realize there were native people living here for thousands of years,” said Rick Castellano, director of the Island County Historical Museum in Coupeville.

Castellano is presenting Fishing with the First People, starting at 3 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 6 at Oak Harbor Library.

The museum director said he became interested in the topic while doing research for the Native American exhibit, located in the museum’s basement.

“What I learned was really fascinating,” he said. “These early people learned so much from observation of sea life.”

To catch cod, early island inhabitants used a long pole to push down what looked like a badminton birdy to the bottom, where the bottom feeders dwell, he said. They would release the contraption, which would float up in a circular fashion. The typically curious fish would follow it to the top, where a spear usually awaited.

“That’s just keen observation,” Castellano said.

Native Americans created large, elaborate nets out of nettle and made fishing line out of bull kelp. Using just rocks and natural fibers, the first people were amazingly proficient, he said.

Castellano said it’s likely that halibut grew even larger then than the huge halibut of today. He marvelled at their ability to harvest the fish in their dugout canoes.

“… they could tear you and your canoe apart,” he said.

Many people aren’t aware of the island’s Native American history, since most of the tribal population left with the establishment of reservations off island in the 1850s, said Castellano.

When most people think of Indians, they envision the Southwest tribes commonly depicted in movies, he said.

There aren’t as many depictions of the Northwest tribes, who favored pointed hats to shed the rain over feathered headdresses.

• More information about the Native Americans who lived on the island, as well as artifacts, can be found at Island County Historical Museum, 908 N.W. Alexander St., Coupeville. Fishing with the First People will be presented at Oak Harbor Library, 1000 S.E. Regatta Dr.