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Adding to that - all the cool kids these days are saying "baiting" instead of "trolling". The concept (and metaphor) hasn't been lost.

• WiseWeasel 10y ago
  Trolling is scraping the bottom, stirring the muck up into a net; not quite analogous to luring/baiting, a much more sporting tactic.
  • mirimir 10y ago
    No, that's trawling. Trolling is also called longline fishing, with many baited hooks.
    • WiseWeasel 10y ago
      Ohhhhh... it should be called trawling then! : P
    • kazinator 10y ago
      I suspect that when troll refers to dragging anything, it's just a spelling and regional pronunciation variant on trawl. According to etymonline.com, the etymology of "trawl" is: 1560s, from Dutch tragelen, from Middle Dutch traghelen "to drag," from traghel "dragnet," probably from Latin tragula "dragnet." Related: Trawled; trawling. Now, "troll" verb: late 14c., "to go about, stroll," later (early 15c.) "roll from side to side, trundle," probably from Old French troller, a hunting term, "wander, to go in quest of game without purpose" (Modern French trôler), from a Germanic source (compare Old High German trollen "to walk with short steps"), from Proto-Germanic truzlanan.* It's rather related to "stroll". Nothing in the semantics about fishing. I suspect that "troll" in longline fishing in fact refers to the long line with many hooks being pulled around; i.e. "trawled".