Page:Natural History, Fishes.djvu/240

226 Pike, combined with the goodness of his flesh, make his capture a favourite object of ambition with anglers. He is chiefly taken with trolling and spinning-tackle, which we have already briefly described. A contrivance called the ligger, peculiar to the great meres, or marshy lakes of Norfolk, is said to afford great diversion, and is thus described by Mr. Yarrell:—"The ligger or trimmer is a long cylindrical float, made of wood or cork, or rushes tied together at each end: to the middle of this float a string is fixed, in length from eight to fifteen feet; this string is wound round the float except two or three feet, when the trimmer is to be put into the water, and slightly fixed by a notch in the wood or cork, or by putting it between the ends of the rushes. The bait is fixed on the hook, and the hook fastened to the end of the pendent string, and the whole then dropped into the water. By this arrangement the bait floats at any required depth, which should have some reference to the temperature of the season; Pike swimming near the surface in fine warm weather, and deeper when it is colder, but generally keeping near their peculiar haunts. When the bait is seized by a Pike, the jerk looses the fastening, and the whole string unwinds; the wood, cork, or rushes, floating at the top, indicating what has occurred. Floats of wood or cork are generally painted, in order to render them more distinctly visible on the water to the fishers who pursue their amusement and the liggers in boats. Floats of rushes are preferred to others, as least calculated to excite suspicion in the fish."