114 



THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 



"As I have never seen this method of fishing noticed in 

 any sporting w^ork, I propose giving such an account of it 

 as, I hope, a reader who has never witnessed it will under- 

 stand. The troller provides himself with a convenient 

 sized, light, well-corked skiff; it should be large enough to 

 carry four persons, without sinking deep in the water. He 

 must also take care to get two good oarsmen, accustomed to 

 row among the rapids. The lines generally used are made 

 of flax, (sometimes of cotton,) and twisted very hard, from 

 ninety to one hundred and thirty feet long. On each line 

 there are two brass or steel swivels, one about a foot from 

 the hook, the other some twenty or more, according to the 

 length of the line. The lines must be very strong, but not 

 so thick as to be clumsy, and the steel hooks sharp, with 

 large barbs. The figures of the hooks are made to vary 

 according to the notions of their different owners, who fre- 

 quently have them made to order, by smiths in the neigh- 

 bourhood. The long-shanked hook is generally esteemed 

 best. Old trollers are as particular about the shapes of their 

 hooks, as cockers are about their gaffles. One end of the 

 line is made fast to a cork or buoy, as large as a common 

 seine cork. This cork is thrown overboard, when the hook 

 catches against a stone or the limb of a tree; for the boat is 

 under such head-way, and the line being nearly all out, if 

 the fislierman holds on to his line he will break it. He, 

 therefore, in such case, throws the buoy overboard, by 

 which he can find his line, and goes back at his leisure to 

 take it up, and disengage his hook. The bait consists of 

 small fish, such as anchovies, minnows, chubs, &c. &c. If 

 the troller intends starting at daybreak, (the usual hour,) 

 he angles for his bait the afternoon previous, and buries 

 them in the wet sand by the edge of some convenient 

 stream, or keeps them in spring water. If they are ex- 

 posed to the atmosphere during a warm summer night, they 

 become tender, and tear from the hook. 



" Two persons generally fish from the same boat; one of 

 them steers with one hand, and fishes with the other. Each 

 fisherman lets his line out over the side of the boat nearest 

 to him, and close to the stern, (where they sit,) holding it 

 in his hand, a few inches from the water, and leaves the 

 end attached to the cork in the bottom of the boat. He 

 pays out nearly all his line, and keeps constantly pulling it, 

 by short jerks, to feel if it is running over a rock or tree 

 top. The boat is rowed as fast as possible across the river, 

 from shore to shore, above, and as near to the falls as they 

 can go, to avoid being swept down them. The rock fish 

 lie below the falls and ripples, waiting for the small fish 

 that are carried over by the current. Here then the bait 

 falls over, with a constant rotary motion, like a live fish 

 whirled over, side foremost, and struggles in vain against 

 the falls. The swivels turn every time the bait turns, and 



prevent the line from twisting up into knots; and as there 

 are no sinkers, the rapid head-way of the boat drags them 

 along so fast that the lines have no time to sink. At sight 

 of the bait tumbling over the falls, the rock fish darts up- 

 wards from his cavern in the rocks, and swallows hook 

 and all. The bite of the rock is quick as lightning, and 

 gives a sudden jerk to the arm of the fisherman. When 

 he first discovers he is snared, he rises to the top of the 

 water, and begins to lash it furiously with his forked tail, 

 like a 'spirit conjured from the vasty deep,' then plunges 

 down again to the bottom. He is dragged from thence by 

 the fisherman, who hauls in his long line, hand over hand, 

 until he brings his fish alongside of the boat. If he is of 

 tolerable size, weighing only seven or ten pounds, the trol- 

 ler lifts him into the boat by the line; but if the fish is 

 large, he runs his arm down into the water, and lifts him in 

 by his gills. The excitement that this scene produces in all 

 those in the boat, is not to be described. One instant you 

 see the fish making the water foam with his tail, the next 

 you lose sight of him; one instant the troller feels him jerk- 

 ing desperately backwards, the next he darts ahead towards 

 the boat, carrying the line with him; and the fisherman, 

 who ceases to feel him, is distressed for fear he has broken 

 loose from the hook. The black oarsmen ease up rowing 

 to laugh and shout with great glee. The troller's anxiety 

 to secure his fish is so great, that he alone, of all the com- 

 pany, is silent, and full of uneasiness, until he gets him into 

 the boat. In this manner, it is not unusual to catch, with 

 two lines, ten or twenty fish, varying in weight from five 

 to twenty pounds each, in an hour — sometimes they are 

 caught much larger. When the fish do not bite fast, the 

 troller does not become wearied soon; his line is always 

 out, and he is in constant expectation of feeling a bite, as 

 the boat glides backwards and forwards across the river, in 

 search of luck; he is not confined to one rock, like the 

 sleepy angler. 



" This would be very dangerous sport to persons unac- 

 customed to it; let no presumptuous cits venture upon it by 

 themselves. The flat-bottomed boat must be rowed through 

 the most dangerous falls and whirlpools in the river. Some- 

 times she is forced, at an imperceptible progress, against a 

 current, running down at an angle of forty-five degrees. If 

 one of the oarsmen happens to fail in strength, or to dip his 

 oar with a false stroke, the current will snatch it upwards 

 out of his hands, and the frail skiff will be dashed to pieces 

 amongst the rocks. Often they are obliged to get out of 

 the boat on some rock above water, and haul her over. A 

 person unaccustomed to it, cannot rely upon his senses of 

 hearing or seeing. He is first deafened by the stunning 

 roar of the incessant flood, then sickened by the tossing of 

 the skiff amongst the waves and eddies. The huge rocks 



