308 MODERN SEA FISHING 



The trammel is another net carried by many yachtsmen. It 

 consists of three walls of nets joined to the same head rope and 

 ground rope. The central wall is the deepest and of small mesh 

 about one and a quarter inch from knot to knot. The two 

 outer walls are of large mesh, twelve inches from knot to knot. 

 The net is about six to eight feet high, and the lower edge of it 

 is weighted to rest on the bottom, the upper edge being floated 

 by means of corks. The inner net of small mesh, which must 

 be made of some fine soft material, is quite double the depth 

 of the outside nets. When fish swim against this apparatus 

 they pass through the big mesh on one side and bring the fine 

 meshed portion through one of the large meshes on the other 

 side, thus making a sort of bag for themselves in which they 

 remain. This will be made clear from the illustration. 



A trammel of forty fathoms is the largest size required for 

 all ordinary purposes. One of that size costs about 9/. It should 

 be set in a line with the tide, and not across it, and is most 

 deadly about dusk. It is usual to set trammels about six or 

 seven o'clock, take them up at nightfall, remove the fish, reset, 

 and leave them till early morning. If they are left too long 

 any fish which are caught are likely to be eaten by cuttle-fish, 

 crabs, &c. These nets are particularly useful for red mullet. 



In waters which are not very prolific I have seen fisher- 

 men set a trammel net, and row round beating the water with 

 oars. This makes the fish dart about and drives some of them 

 into the net. 



Drift and seine nets hardly require lengthy consideration 

 here. The former consist of single walls of nets the under 

 rope of which is leaded, while the head rope is sufficiently 

 buoyed to float on the surface. These nets, which are joined 

 together, making often a length of several miles, drift with the 

 tide, and the shoals of herring, mackerel, or sprats, as the case 

 may be, swim against them in the darkness. The fish mesh 



