218 THE LESTER-COCK TROT. 



The finer cotton lines make excellent snoods. 



The Lester-Cock Trot. The Lester- Cock is a piece of 

 board about three feet long, a foot wide, and an inch in thick- 

 ness, fitted with a mast and sail, which must be stepped one- 

 third from the fore end ; this being launched from the beach 

 when the wind is off shore, drags after it the trot or long line 

 with baited hooks at intervals, which will probably be taken by 

 either Bass or Pollack. Best bait, Squid or Cuttle in long 

 strips, or Mud- Worms ; also living or dead Sand-Eels. This 

 mode of fishing is much followed by the Greeks. 



The Sunken Lester-Cock. This is useful for ground fish, 

 and is formed of two zinc cylinders eighteen inches in length 

 and two and a half in diameter, connected by two slips of flat 

 wood, about four inches from each end, to the middle of one 

 of which a mast and sail are attached. Each of these cylin- 

 ders has a small hole on the upper and under side, consequently 

 the whole affair sinks after the cylinders become filled with 

 water. 



These sunken Lester-Cocks are useful for towing out a trot 

 for ground fish, and will sink more rapidly by attaching a bag 

 of sand (if necessary) to overcome the buoyancy of the slips of 

 wood and mast. 



The Otter. The otter is a piece of light wood, of say two 

 feet length, one foot depth, and an inch and a half thickness, 

 provided with sufficient weight in the shape of a lead or iron 

 keel to cause it to float perpendicularly, and is used to convey 

 a trot-line seawards, but has this advantage over the two pre- 

 ceding methods, that it can be used without wind, provided 

 you have some little extent of coast or beach available to walk 

 along as you tow the otter. 



To use a nautical term, it is slung on the 'sheer' by a 

 double bridle, to which the end of the line is attached. 



For an illustration, the reader is referred to the Otter Trawl 

 (fig. 73, p. 240), which is provided with two of these so-called 

 otters. 



A great improvement on the above would be to fasten the 

 line to the end of the otter itself, and afterwards connect it 

 with the bridle with a piece of fine twine ; when a fish is hooked 



