PIKE. 
1009 
Fig 260. Palkrolc. 
Trolling (Sw. slant), an old and well-known me- 
thod of angling, the description of which would carry 
us too far, if we attempted to give every detail. Iiire 
derives the Swedish name from the Belgian slonden (to 
gorge). The rod and line are plied from a rowing- 
grass or weeds that grow at the bottom or in mid- 
water without reaching the surface, in which case they 
may be avoided by the angler. Lastly the snood — a 
suitable violin-string (silver-string) is best — is fastened 
with a peculiar kind of knot (fig. 261, g ), tied in the 
loop at the end of the line. Now the trolling begins: 
the bait is dropped where the fisherman hopes to find 
a Pike, but soon drawn up again, so as to keep it bob- 
bing up and down. This motion entices the Pike to 
seize the bait, which the angler easily perceives by the 
check. As soon as the Pike has taken the bait, the 
fisherman instantly jerks back the rod sufficiently to 
allow the loop to slip off the pin at the end of the rod. 
The line is now free, and is let out until the Pike stops, 
when the boat is kept stationary, either by heading it 
towards the reeds and holding it fast, or by thrusting 
the butt of the rod into the bottom of the lake. The 
Fig. 261. a, reel ( lekare ); b and c, baiting-needles of different form (7 or 8 in. long, of wood or brass), in which the snood is wedged 
when it is to be passed through the bait; d — /, gorge-hooks of different form; g, lower part of the loop at the end of the line and the 
upper end of the snood, showing how the knot between them is tied. 
boat by one man, while another pushes the boat cau- 
tiously along the edge of a bed of reeds or in some 
other place supposed to be haunted by Pike. The line 
runs through a loop at the end of the rod, or is at- 
tached by a loop ( oska ) to a straight pin of wire fixed 
there, and can be let out or taken in at pleasure by 
means of a reel ( lekare ) fastened above the butt of 
the rod. The snood with the hook at its end is passed 
through the bait (a Roach, Bleak, Crucian Carp, or 
other Cyprinoid with bright scales) from the mouth 
to the end of the tail. The hook is shanked with lead, 
has one or two prongs (fig. 261, d — ■/), and should 
be barbless, the prongs being left to project backwards 
from the mouth of the bait. The snood is lashed with 
thread to the tail of the bait, and all the fins are then 
cut off, to prevent the bait from running foul of the 
fisherman now waits a while, at most 15 — 20 minutes, 
for the Pike to pouch, when it again begins to move; 
and now is the time to haul in both line and fish. 
Trolling may be practised with success from spring, 
after the close of the spawning-season, till late in autumn, 
though it should be observed that cloudy weather and 
a light breeze are more favourable than calm, fine days, 
on which the fisherman is seldom rewarded. The fish- 
ing-place is chosen during summer in grassy ancl 
shallow inlets, during autumn off stony shores and in 
deep water. 
Springkrok (fig. 262) is a modification of the 
preceding kind of fishing, and is conducted most com- 
monly at times when the fisherman suspects that the 
Pike is off its feed. The place should be the same 
as in trolling. 
