The Traditional Fisherman's Forum

I'm pretty sure 'leger' is the correct spelling, from the French léger for a light, or slight weight.

Ledger is from the St.Ledger racing stakes



Actually it's a book for keeping accounts in.......


Yay! I've learned how to do an é é é

Taken from "Techniques of Ledgering" by Harvey D. Torbett (1960.Thorsons Publishers Limited. (Thought to be the first volume solely devoted to leger/ledger fishing) :-

"Walton ... mentions 'Ledger-baits.' Of these he says '... and you are to note that I call that a ledger-bait which is fixed or made to rest in one certain place when you shall be absent from it ...' This is in keeping with the original use of the term, which appears to have been derived from the Old English 'licgan' or 'lecgan,' meaning 'To lie or lay.' This is in its turn probably from the Latin 'Legere' which means practically the same thing. The French term 'legere,' spelled like Latin but of course differently pronounced, means 'Light in weight' and probably this too has some bearing on the angler's use of the word. The modern spelling of the term is still a matter for contention amongst anglers, and the roots of the word itself would tend to suggest that 'leger' might be more accurate. Modern dictionaries quote both 'Ledger' and 'Leger,' as being correct, the former being given as the most used and therefore the more correct of the two. The same reference books give the meaning of the term in accordance with Walton's usage ... 'A line which is fixed in one place.' "

Given the Latin and French definitions of the word ('To lie or lay and 'Light in weight') ... I, personally, would suggest that it could more accurately be defined as "Angling with a weight as light as possible to effectively fix a bait in one place" ... but then ... I was made to drop Latin after only one year at Grammar School because I was so bad at it !!!

Couple of points, first - those translucent whippings are stunning

second, I reckon it should be leger but my spell checker seems to think ledger is correct. As is the way with the English language we can use whatever and the one that gets used most becomes the norm. I recall being told by an editor that the word 'barbeller' wasn't a real word, just one that we barbeller's tended to use but doing some research (sad I know)I found it entered the dictionary in the Nineteenth century to describe - well barbellers. Maybe we should have a poll and set a standard Ledger or Leger on TFF for the benefit of future collectors.

And last - Nobby - please share your new found skill mate, I've been trying to do those e's with the bit on top for ages and I'm damned of I can do it. I'd ask Google but I can't type it to ask the question of you know what I mean.

AshbyCut wrote:Taken from "Techniques of Ledgering" by Harvey D. Torbett (1960.Thorsons Publishers Limited. (Thought to be the first volume solely devoted to leger/ledger fishing) :-

"Walton ... mentions 'Ledger-baits.' Of these he says '... and you are to note that I call that a ledger-bait which is fixed or made to rest in one certain place when you shall be absent from it ...' This is in keeping with the original use of the term, which appears to have been derived from the Old English 'licgan' or 'lecgan,' meaning 'To lie or lay.' This is in its turn probably from the Latin 'Legere' which means practically the same thing. The French term 'legere,' spelled like Latin but of course differently pronounced, means 'Light in weight' and probably this too has some bearing on the angler's use of the word. The modern spelling of the term is still a matter for contention amongst anglers, and the roots of the word itself would tend to suggest that 'leger' might be more accurate. Modern dictionaries quote both 'Ledger' and 'Leger,' as being correct, the former being given as the most used and therefore the more correct of the two. The same reference books give the meaning of the term in accordance with Walton's usage ... 'A line which is fixed in one place.' "

Given the Latin and French definitions of the word ('To lie or lay and 'Light in weight') ... I, personally, would suggest that it could more accurately be defined as "Angling with a weight as light as possible to effectively fix a bait in one place" ... but then ... I was made to drop Latin after only one year at Grammar School because I was so bad at it !!!

AC, we are kindred spirits, my friend. My old Latin master ( 'Popeye' we called him due to his immensely thick spectacle lenses making his eyes 'pop out') took me to one side before I moved from Chiswick County Grammar school to Stoneham Grammar in Reading at the end of 1962, and said, " Kemp, if you have a choice of Latin or Art at your new school............take ART !!!!!". That was after a couple of years of torment

And, AC, 'well done that man' on a fine dissertation on the Leger/Ledger question It looks like we're leaning towards Stoney's written use of the word.

Acute and a grave hyphens can be obtained by copy/paste method using French to English on google translate if this helps DB
Or alternatively...http://www.ehow.com/how_5609856_type-ac ... -word.html

I too was asked to drop Latin after just one year AC! A nice find with regard to the origin of the word.
Wherever we walk, Walker walked before us I see!

Dave, I did just Google it and found that one has to press and hold 'Alt', down left by the space bar, then press '+', before typing three numbers from the numerical keyboard on the extreme right.


The three numbers in question vary, here is a 'copy and paste':



a with grave accent
à ALT + 133 À ALT + 0192

a with circumflex
â ALT + 131 Â ALT + 0194

a with tréma
ä ALT + 132 Ä ALT + 142

a e ligature
æ ALT + 145 Æ ALT + 146

c with cedilla
ç ALT + 135 Ç ALT + 128

e with acute accent
é ALT + 130 É ALT + 144

e with grave accent
è ALT + 138 È ALT + 0200

e with circumflex
ê ALT + 136 Ê ALT + 0202

e with tréma
ë ALT + 137 Ë ALT + 0203

i with circumflex
î ALT + 140 Î ALT + 0206

i with tréma
ï ALT + 139 Ï ALT + 0207

o with circumflex
ô ALT + 147 Ô ALT + 0212

o e ligature
œ ALT + 0156 Œ ALT + 0140

u with grave accent
ù ALT + 151 Ù ALT + 0217

u with circumflex
û ALT + 150 Û ALT + 0219

u with tréma
ü ALT + 129 Ü ALT + 154

French quotation marks
« ALT + 174 » ALT + 175

Euro symbol
€ ALT + 0128


Note that the second figures give an upper-case letter.



Here are similar codes for German umlauts and the like:

alt plus 132 ä (0228)
alt plus 137 ë (0235)
alt plus 148 ö (0246)
alt plus 225 ß (0223)
alt plus 129 ü (0252)
alt plus 142 Ä (0196)
alt plus Ë (0203)
alt plus 153 Ö (0214)
alt plus 154 Ü (0220)

So cheese in German, becomes käse.

Colonelgsc wrote:

AshbyCut wrote:Taken from "Techniques of Ledgering" by Harvey D. Torbett (1960.Thorsons Publishers Limited. (Thought to be the first volume solely devoted to leger/ledger fishing) :-

"Walton ... mentions 'Ledger-baits.' Of these he says '... and you are to note that I call that a ledger-bait which is fixed or made to rest in one certain place when you shall be absent from it ...' This is in keeping with the original use of the term, which appears to have been derived from the Old English 'licgan' or 'lecgan,' meaning 'To lie or lay.' This is in its turn probably from the Latin 'Legere' which means practically the same thing. The French term 'legere,' spelled like Latin but of course differently pronounced, means 'Light in weight' and probably this too has some bearing on the angler's use of the word. The modern spelling of the term is still a matter for contention amongst anglers, and the roots of the word itself would tend to suggest that 'leger' might be more accurate. Modern dictionaries quote both 'Ledger' and 'Leger,' as being correct, the former being given as the most used and therefore the more correct of the two. The same reference books give the meaning of the term in accordance with Walton's usage ... 'A line which is fixed in one place.' "

Given the Latin and French definitions of the word ('To lie or lay and 'Light in weight') ... I, personally, would suggest that it could more accurately be defined as "Angling with a weight as light as possible to effectively fix a bait in one place" ... but then ... I was made to drop Latin after only one year at Grammar School because I was so bad at it !!!

AC, we are kindred spirits, my friend. My old Latin master ( 'Popeye' we called him due to his immensely thick spectacle lenses making his eyes 'pop out') took me to one side before I moved from Chiswick County Grammar school to Stoneham Grammar in Reading at the end of 1962, and said, " Kemp, if you have a choice of Latin or Art at your new school............take ART !!!!!". That was after a couple of years of torment

And, AC, 'well done that man' on a fine dissertation on the Leger/Ledger question It looks like we're leaning towards Stoney's written use of the word.

Well Colonelgsc I had to do De Bello Gallico for my sins and still have my Latin Primer on the bookshelf.

I must admit I did think that the spelling of Ledgerstrike might have arisen due to some confusion by the writer on the first production rod which was then continued.

I have always used Ledger or Ledgering..........I like it that way. Simples .

Mr Vink, my Latin Master at the local Secondary Modern, attended by thickos like me, used to let me sit at the back of the class with colouring books and thick wax crayons* in the hope I would not join in with the others.

* Thick wax crayons were standard issue so I could not inadvertantly stab myself or others in the eye!

In fact thinking about it ALL of my teachers did this....do you think this was a conspiracy or were they subtly trying to tell me something?

The one good thing though was when I bunked off to go fishing they ALL turned a blind eye, probably grateful I was not there.

Matron does this nowadays....I'm not sure here but can you spot a pattern emerging?

Oh well, it's all a bit late now to alter things!

As ever,.....


Mole Power!!!

James wrote:Thanks Colin , they are amber tipped with a dark burgundy .it took me years to get such a good finish with translucent silk.

I bet it did because there's no margin for error .... every little blemish would be magnified . I'm thinking of commissioning you to build me another rod with that decor .. Do you think that intermediates in dark burgandy would be asthetically pleasing to the eye?.