THE ANCIENT ART OF TROLLING 97 



publisher of the ' Delight,' brought out the first edition 

 of ' The Complete Angler.' Walton seems to have had 

 a somewhat childish belief in the virtues of gum 

 of ivy in oil of spike for the anointing of a dead 

 bait, and we may without unkindness assume that 

 he was not an experienced or enthusiastic pike 

 fisher. His observations were either historical or 

 natural history gossip, and for all his immortal idyll 

 informs us to the contrary, he had little more personal 

 experience of pike than he had of salmon fishing. 

 It is to be noted that he speaks of the ledger bait for 

 live bait fishing, and the walking bait for trollin'g, but 

 his practical directions are confined to the live bait, 

 either fish or frogs. 



It will be seen from the foregoing that it has not 

 been strictly correct to write and speak of Robert 

 Nobbs, Esquire, A.M. (he calls himself by this title, 

 but is suspected of having been a Northamptonshire 

 clergyman holding the vicarages of Applethorp and 

 Wood Newton) as the ' father of trollers ; ' yet he was 

 a man who undoubtedly made trolling a speciality, 

 regarded it as a cult, and considered it worthy of a 

 monograph. This, indeed, is the correct designation 

 of his work, 'The Complete Troller, or the Art of 

 Trolling, with descriptions of all the instruments, 

 tackle, and materials, requisite for a gentleman troller, 



H 



