Trout tickling

Trout tickling is the art of rubbing the underbelly of a trout with fingers. If done properly, the trout will go into a trance after a minute or so, and can then easily be thrown onto the nearest bit of dry land.

Trout tickling has been practiced for many centuries. It is mentioned in Shakespeare's comedy Twelfth Night, where it is used as a metaphor for bamboozlement by Olivia's servant Maria, who is about to play a vengeful prank on the pompous steward, Malvolio:

  Close, in the name of jesting! Lie thou there,
  for here comes the trout that must be caught with tickling.

The technique was a common practice used by boys, poachers and working men in times of economic stress, particularly during the 1930s depression-era. Poachers using the method required no nets, rods or lines or any other incriminating equipment if apprehended by the police or gamekeepers.

Thomas Martindale's 1901 book, Sport, Indeed, describes the method used on trout in the River Wear in County Durham:

The fish are watched working their way up the shallows and rapids. When they come to the shelter of a ledge or a rock it is their nature to slide under it and rest. The poacher sees the edge of a fin or the moving tail, or maybe he sees neither; instinct, however, tells him a fish ought to be there, so he takes the water very slowly and carefully and stands up near the spot. He then kneels on one knee and passes his hand, turned with fingers up, deftly under the rock until it comes in contact with the fish's tail. Then he begins tickling with his forefinger, gradually running his hand along the fish's belly further and further toward the head until it is under the gills. Then comes a quick grasp, a struggle, and the prize is wrenched out of his natural element, stunned with a blow on the head, and landed in the pocket of the poacher.

In Scotland the technique is more often called "guddling" or sometimes "ginniling". The practice is currently illegal under most circumstances in Britain. A related method of catching catfish by hand is called noodling in the U.S.A.

...
Wikipedia