124 HINTS ON ANGLING. 



bait, the line should pass through the centre of an ordi- 

 nary sized bung, a small moveable peg being thrust in 

 with it to keep it fast; this peg should be fastened to the 

 bung with a thin thread of twine, which should pass 

 round the rim of the bung to keep it from splitting. 

 Eight or ten inches further from the bait, a very small 

 cork tied to the line will prevent it from twisting. 

 These floats are often painted of different colours, which 

 give them a showy appearance in the water. The line 

 thus prepared must be fastened at the other end to a 

 strong peg, six or eight inches long, which must be 

 driven into the ground, on which, when the trimmer is 

 taken up, the line can be wrapped. When the bait is 

 thrown into the water, a few yards of the line should be 

 coiled neatly against the peg, in order to allow the fish 

 to run off with a little more line if necessary. The 

 trimmer is better without shot or weight of any kind. 



Another kind of trimmer, called the " floating trim- 

 mer," is also a very killing affair, and is thus constructed. 

 A small roll of wood, seven or eight inches long, has a 

 shallow groove cut round the middle, and a small slit 

 about half an inch deep, sawn across one of the ends. 

 To the groove in the centre, a line about fifteen or six- 

 teen yards in length is firmly tied ; and when baited, as 

 before described, is wound round the roll of wood, with 

 the exception of three or four feet, or more, above the 

 bait; it is then drawn through the slit, but not too 

 tightly, so that when a fish seizes the bait he may in- 

 stantly release it, and run it off the roll without the 

 slightest resistance. Some make these trimmers in a 

 fanciful style, using large round bungs painted different 

 colours on the different sides, with the line so fixed that 

 when the pike takes the bait, the trimmer may roll over, 



