THB PIKB. 255 



to the windward side of the pond. This kind of fishing used for- 

 merly to be carried on by means of blown bladders, though the 

 latter does not seem to be much practised now. Fishing of this 

 kind has also been carried on by fixing a bait hook to the legs of 

 ducks and geese, and driving them into a pond. Walton, and in- 

 deed several of the earlier writers on angling, speaks of this as a 

 very common diversion ; and Daniel mentions that it was formely 

 practised in Loch Montieth, in Scotland, which abounds with very 

 large perch and pike. " Upon these islands, says Daniel, a num- 

 ber of geese were collected by the farmers who occupied the 

 surrounding banks of the loch ; after baited lines of two or three 

 feet long had been tied to the legs of these geese they were driven 

 into the water ; steering naturally homewards in different direc- 

 tions the baits were soon swallowed ; a violent, and often atedious 

 struggle ensued, in which however the geese at length prevailed, 

 though they were frequently much exhausted before they reached 

 the shore. This method has not," he says, "been so long relinquish, 

 ed, but that there are old persons upon the spot who were active 

 promoters of the amusement." 



But the most extraordinary mode of carrying out a trimmer that 

 has yet been resorted to was a paper kite, which I have been 

 informed upon undoubted authority was practised at Slapton Lea, 

 a large piece of water in Devonshire, by a celebrated sporting 

 character who was then residing in that neighbourhood. The baited 

 line was attached to the string by some contrivance or other ; but 

 at any rate it was so cleverly managed as to cause the death of a 

 great number of pikes in that water. 



In smaller streams and ditches a trimmer may be set as follows : 

 a rod of withy or hazle with a slit at the extremity is stuck into 

 the bank, the point projecting over the water, so preventing the 

 bait, which is confined by the line inserted in the slit before men- 

 tioned, from swimming too close to the shore, or in fact from wan- 

 dering in anyway from the spot. The remaining part of the line 

 is made fast to round a sheave fixed on the top of a stout wooden 

 peg, which is driven in and stuck firmly in the bank side ; so that 

 when the line is detached from the rod by means of the fierce jerk 

 of the pike on laying hold of the bait, it unwinds from the sheave, 

 and allows the fish to bear away the bait. 



But the most fair and legitimate way of fishing for pike is by 

 trolling, and which as far as sport is concerned, throws every 



