This rare set of 3 antique cork and wood pike trimmers came into stock recently.
Varying in size from 4 ½”-5 ¼” diameter, all are marked “P.D”, being the owner’s initials and numbered 2, 6 and 11, presumably being from a set of more.
With removable wood centre pegs, fitted with trace gut, wire and cork, these pegs act as a visible float top marker too.
These rare trimmers were used initially in the Lake District in early Victorian times by fishermen catching pike for food for the table. The practise spread nationwide soon after.
They were thrown in the lake at night and left to float with a live frog or fish bait on a barbaric gorge hook. The pike eats the bait; the angler taking to a boat retrieves the trimmer some time later or next day. Each fisherman’s trimmer was identified by his name and number and the fish harvested for food.
Fortunately this practise is now rightly outlawed yet this is a great historical set for any pike collector and certainly a talking piece.
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