254 



THR F1KB 



When a trimmer is baited with a frog, and of these it seems the 

 yellowest are the best, it should be managed according to honest 

 Izaak's directions, although these have caused his memory to be 

 maligned by a set of modern pharisees, who with gnat straining 

 squeamishness pretend a sympathy for insects and reptiles they too 

 often deny to their suffering fellow creatures. His directions are 

 as follows ; " Put your hook into his mouth which you may easi- 

 ly do from the middle of April to August, and then the frog's 

 mouth grows up, and he continues so for at least six months with- 

 out eating, but is sustained, none but, " he whose name is won- 

 derful," knows how ; I say put your hook, I mean the arming 

 wiie through his mouth and out of his gills, and then with a fine 

 needle and silk sew the upper part of his leg with one stitch to 

 the arming wire of your hook, or tie the frog's leg above the upper 

 joint to the arming wire ; and in doing so, use him as though you 

 loved him, that is, harm him as little as you possibly may, in or- 

 der that he may live the longer." 



A bait of this kind may be employed either with a rod and line, 

 or for a trimmer ; but upon the whole it seems better adapted to 

 the latter mode of fishing. In trimming, whether a live fish or a 

 frog be used, enough line must be unwound to keep the bait at a 

 sufficient depth, which is to be secured by being inserted in the slit 

 in the peg or cork, or between the rushes in the ligger, to prevent 

 the beited fish by his own strength from unwinding the line. The 

 proper depth the bait should swim, as viell as the length of line to 

 be allowed it, depends upon a variety of circumstances. In deep 

 waters a scope of a yard or more may be allowed, but in those 

 that are shallow, or where weeds approach near the surface, then 

 a very small portion can be permitted ; for if much line were then 

 used the bait would cither run purposely in amongst the weeds, or 

 become involuntarily entangled with them, or by detatching some 

 particles, which adhering to the line ; hooks, or bait, would pre- 

 sent an unattractive appearance to the pikes. 



In order to manage a trimmer properly in large waters a boat 

 is almost indispensable, though in some parts it may be fastened 

 to some bush or a stick driven into the banks ; in smaller ponds 

 trimmers may be started on the windward side, and be met on the 

 opposite shore ; but these should have sufficient scope of line to 

 allow the trimmer to come within reach, though this will scarcely 

 be possible if the pike when hooked should pertinaceously adhere 



