Troll, v. To troll, to run round; to fish with a rod which has a pulley towards the bottom.
Trolling, in the limited sense of the word, means taking jack and pike with the gorge hook; live-bait fishing, when a floated line is used; and snap-fishing, when the angler so places his baited hooks, that, immediately he feels a bite, he strikes with much force, and generally throws over his head, or drags the jack or pike on shore, instead of playing his victim till he is exhausted.
Trolling is a valuable branch of fishing, affording the angler several months’ amusement during the year, and it may be practised without danger to the health, when every other mode of angling ceases to be either profitable or prudent to follow; for as the winter approaches, fish seldom rise to the surface of the water, but leave the sharps, shallows, and scouers, for the more deep and still parts of rivers or other waters; the fly-fisherman may then lay by his tackle till the ensuing spring is well advanced.—Salter.
Trot, v. To move with a high jolting pace.
Trot, s. The jolting high pace of a horse.
Trout, s. A delicate spotted fish inhabiting brooks and quick streams.
This very elegant species is plentifully distributed through the British waters, and varies in weight from a few ounces to fifteen or even thirty pounds.
The general shape of trouts is rather long than broad; in several of the Scotch and Irish lakes and rivers, they grow so much thicker than in those of England, that a fish from eighteen to twenty-two inches will often weigh from three to five pounds. The trout is a fish of prey, has a short roundish head, blunt nose, mouth wide, and filled with teeth, not only in the jaws, but on the palate and tongue: the scales are small, their back is ash colour, the sides yellow, and when in season, is sprinkled all over the body and covers of the gills with small beautiful red and black spots; the tail is broad.
There are several sorts of trout, differing in their size, (for in many of the smaller streams there are trouts that always continue small, but are very great breeders,) shape, and hue; but the flesh of the best is either red or yellow when dressed; the female fish has a smaller head and deeper body than the male, and is of superior flavour. In fact the colours of the trout and the spots vary greatly in different waters and at distinct seasons, yet each may be reduced to one species. In Lyndive, a lake in South Wales, are trout called coch-y-dail, with red and black spots as big as sixpences; others unmarked, and of a reddish hue, that sometimes weigh nearly ten pounds, but are ill-tasted. In Lough Neagh, in Ireland, are trout called buddaghs, which rise to thirty pounds; and some (probably of the same species) are taken in Ulleswater, in Cumberland, of still greater weight; and both those are supposed to be similar with the large trout of the lake of Geneva, a fish says Mr. Pennant which I have eaten of more than once, and think very indifferent.