AND HOW TO CATCH THEM. 99 



requires no great art to lay out, and will last, with 

 care, for a considerable time. The finer the twine, 

 consistent with strength, the more readily the fish 

 will strike into and become entangled in the net. 

 Trammels vary somewhat in length and depth with 

 the localities in which they are used, but from 70 to 

 80 yards long, and from 25 to 30 feet deep, will be 

 found a convenient net to manage. These nets are 

 usually laid down in the evening, and taken up in the 

 morning. To shoot or lay it down, two persons are 

 needed, one to scull the boat slowly ahead, whilst the 

 other, first having thrown over a heavy stone and rope 

 to act as an anchor, proceeds to heave over the twine, 

 taking advantage of any run of current or peculiar 

 set of tide caused by the formation of the coast or 

 discharge of a river, so as to drop his net across the 

 most probable run of the fish. These, in their wander- 

 ings in search of food during the night, run their 

 heads through the mesh, and become entangled either 

 by their gills or pectoral fins. The trammel, like the 

 drift-net, hangs curtain-like in the water, and is best 

 use.d by night ; but, unlike it, is leaded at the bottom 

 sometimes sufficiently to considerably submerge the 

 corks. This arrangement is had recourse to in order 

 to stop the ground fish in water of considerable depth. 

 Buoy ropes are used to show the position of the net, 

 and a heavy anchor stone at each end to keep the 

 foot line extended. The best description of trammels 

 are those with a second or duplicate net, so to speak, 



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