114 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 
“ As I have never seen this method of fishing noticed in 
any sporting work, 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 trailers 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 fisherman 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 trailer'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. 
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 
