TRIMMERING. 6 1 



The best mode of setting night-lines is by what 

 are called bank-runners. I do not mean a peg 

 with a slit in it, and a coil of line at foot, though 

 many good fish are so taken ; but one made with a 

 round piece of wood like a cotton reel in its upper 

 part, and a long strong spike to fasten it on to the 

 bank, or, a safer mode, into the bed of the river, a 

 foot below the surface. The reel is passed through 

 a circular iron nail, round which it runs freely ; 

 twenty yards at least of good water-line must be 

 attached, with a leaden bullet tied some two feet 

 from the end, to which a single hook on six or 

 eight inches of gimp, strong, but not over-thick, is 

 fastened by a slip knot. There are various modes 

 of baiting, and various baits are used gudgeon, 

 dace, roach, or frogs. Agreeing probably with 

 .dace, roach, and frogs, I prefer the first, and, in- 

 deed, have placed them in order of precedence 

 according to my own judgment. Some fishermen, 

 with a baiting-needle, pass the gimp down the side 

 of the bait under the scales, or under the skin of 

 the frog, " handling him tenderly," as old Izaak 

 has it, so that the poor creatures may keep alive for 

 many hours. This is, without doubt, a most killing 

 method, but unnecessarily cruel, for a jack will 

 take a dead bait, or at least one which he believes 

 to be in a dying or helpless state, almost, if not 



