TEOLLrS'3. 4iS 



Its parts and itrengthening it5 jjintj in preparation for the 

 momentous struggle! We impatiently questioned onr oracle, 

 'jeorge Holland, as to the chances of success in trolling ; 

 bnt George, like aD. other oracles, was both pradest and 

 mvs-ical. He sa-w that 'we ■were determined that ir should 

 be in season, vhether or no; that we would take some 

 salmon trout, "bite or no bite;" and therefore he waiTed 

 ansirering onr questions directly, but told of Lis success four 

 ice(J:i ago ; said the day was not very fine for 'em — ^but we 

 might try. and if they did bite, we would probably take 

 some I Encouraging, very I and the sly twinkle in the fellow's 

 eye, still more so ! But we hadn't come two hundred miles 

 to be discotrraged, and we went. 



My friend had new-ringed his tackle with the painstaking 

 skill of true scienoj — while I, who pretend to no knowledge 

 of the niceties of art, had left mine to the experience of 

 George. The "shiners' were taken for bait with a dip net 

 at the outlet, and then in a light boat we launched upon 

 the lake. We were two in a boat — ^which is contrary to aU 

 precedent, as laid down in the Journal of Lake Piseco Tr^ut 

 Club, which has been appended to Wiley & Putnam's elecrant 

 edition of Walton and Cotton. There it is descTibed ex 

 cathedra, as follows — 



The trolling is done bv rod and reel, each fisherman 

 using two at the same time ; ihe reels are improved by 

 having a bearing upon them instead of a catch, so that tie 

 rod may be laid down with the line extended without nmning 

 out, tmless struck by a fish or some other obstruction. When 

 a fish seizes the bait the oarsman quits his oars, the other 

 is handed to him, and he reels up the line to prevent its 

 faUing upon the bottom, or the fish, from entanglement. 



This, of course, implies one fisherman to a boat — but with 

 such an oarsman as ours, we found there was not the slightest 

 danger of entanglement, with one at each end, while the 

 oarsman ^us left free to use the gaff without any risk of 



