> ° HNN ES Rew Dork Htate College of Agriculture At Cornell Aniversitp Ithaca, M. D. Library Cornell University Library Sea-fish; an account of the methods of The Angler’s Library THE RIGHT HON. SIR HERBERT MAXWELL, Bart. AND F. G. AFLALO L SEA-FISH BY F. G. AFLALO WAN ELECTED ENGRAVING CO bey STAUNZE: BASS. SEA-FISH AN ACCOUNT OF THE METHODS OF ANGLING AS PRACTISED ON THE ENGLISH COAST, WITH NOTES ON THE CAPTURE OF THE MORE SPORTING FISHES IN CONTINENTAL, SOUTH AFRICAN, AND AUSTRALIAN WATERS BY F,. G. AFLALG : (WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY VARIOUS HANDS) ILLUSTRATED /640 Lonpon: LAWRENCE AND BULLEN, LtTp. 16 HENRIETTA STREET, COVENT GARDEN MDCCCXCVIII So SATO? A27 ONS RicHarRD CLAY AND s, LimiTEep, PREFACE IN the following pages will be found some account of coast-fishing under modern conditions. Few sports have grown so rapidly in popularity ; and one result of the recent increase of sea-anglers has been a tendency, on the part of both makers and amateurs, to adapt fishing tackle to the special requirements of salt water to an extent not dreamed of a few years back. Of these improve- ments, not a few of which have appeared during the two years that have elapsed since the publica- tion of the last work on sea-fishing, the author has endeavoured to take note in the second chapter. It may be objected that not one-fifth of the fishes included in the British list are mentioned in this book; but sea-fishing as a sport is a question of methods, many kinds of fish being captured by each style. vi i PREFACE The direction, however, in which writers on the sport can best serve their readers is undoubtedly that of local information; for it is here, in the shifting of the fish from one ground to another, in the erection of new piers and the destruction of old, that the greatest changes take place. A paternoster or leger, made up and baited as recom- mended by Mr, Wilcocks in his Sea Fisherman, would, zz the right place, take fish as well to-day as thirty years ago; but so quickly do local con- ditions change, so capricious in their movements are the fish, that even Mr. Wilcocks might gladly accept the latest “marks” from the veriest novice. The primary importance of up-to-date and ac- curate information about the seaside localities most visited by amateurs, those more particularly within easy reach of town, has not been lost sight of in the present manual, but is the subject of numerous references, not alone in the Appendix— to which many well-known amateur sea-fishermen, mostly resident at the coast, and therefore in touch with all the latest news, have been so good as to contribute—but also throughout the book. The Editors have to acknowledge the kindly collaboration in the Appendix, the help of the Editor of the Frshing Gazette (R. B. Marston, Esq.), PREFACE vii and of the Angling Editor of the Field (Red- spinner”), in giving the names of several sea-fishing correspondents; and the assistance of Messrs. Allcock and Bartleet (Redditch), Cummins (Bishop Auckland), Farlow and Hancock (London), Hardy Brothers (Alnwick), and Hearder (Plymouth), in the matter of tackle illustrations. For three of the Eastman Kodak reproductions the author is indebted to Harold Frederic, Esq. F. G. A. H. M. CONTENTS PAGE INTRODUCTORY 240. c)4 4 @ eit ae a eae a CHAPTER I. NATURAL HISTORY NOTES ON THE CHIEF SEA-FISH, AND BAITS. . . dy te SS ee ries cet ahaha. ED CHAPTER II. SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES... . . 42 CHAPTER III. HANDINING 3. a ae ei Rg aN SO OG CHAPTER IV. SHORE-FISHING. . . . Sa eA ae ee aa 63 CHAPTER V. FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. ..... = 102 CHAPTER VI. BOAT-FISHING ..... ds Sea a? ean ac cae SRE APPENDIX. INTRODUCTORY.—ON “MARKS,” WITH ALPHABETICAL LIST OF FISHING STATIONS, WITH NOTES BY VARIOUS: CONTRIBUTORS 20s 2 ge a oe & & & % 203 INDEX . Masewiie 26. oe eae oe 8, soi LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS THE: BASS eae ead ae as Sow a Seta a ee POMS piece » BREAMs 2. «a2 sw new + Mejace page 12 i COD as Se ae Re eS % 20 37 DORY « 2 w 4 epee Byrd. Ay 5 30 op GARBISH, os ego yee eae SG Ow 5 38 » MACKEREL i) ee ee - Bea bey ies Ga 35 60 » GREY MULLET .... e 4 58 ¥§ 66 » RED MUILET ... owt Rea cy Bs 75 gy PRAICE(:, Sle lieee JBle: “doe Pox) Og 5 go gy (POLEACK 2 ge a eae we a 150 Sirs LURBOU go carBe es a we So. oe Se UL Cas » 180 jy WHITING 2 ay 4 Dig) Ree a yy » 196 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE PILCHARDS ON THE PORT BOW! i a Kodak snap by Harold Frederic) . 11 DEATH OF THE BLUE SHARK ‘(Peon a ; Kodak snap by flarold Frederic)... 6 eo e ‘ge AT SHORT ROD) w ca is A cas, OY BAe be ole SO aw HAG WARNE ROD. .(3!62 oie ule) @ laa eke ak a ee AG “WEEGER” FITTINGS . . Se ean eee wey SNAKE RING 4... aoe Ao x sy Mea ee hn ee AS PULLEY END RING ee ee 2 se 49 “ BICKERDYKE” END RING Genre swae tS cape: ee ke AO TOP'RING 2 oan a 44k a iy Wr BAAR Be Fete CAO) BRASS HEAD RING ..... jig cae, 2 Jee, GAG VULCANITE WINCH (OPTIONAL CHECK) Oe RS 51 AUTOMATIC WINCH .... tek eee ee EB FIVE GENERAL HOOKS (ACTUAL SIZE) . ye koe eke “5G REVOLVING BOOM. ....... eGo Salas: 656 SEA-PATERNOSTERS Beier Sak Grae adhe) Sein O57 PATERNOSTER ATTACHMENTS ... «1.2... 58 CHOPSTICK ti: seca Weewsk, See nth fe? Bp aa ce ae 16 “SPIN-BROWN” TACKLE... . 2.4. +6. ee ee OF PLUMMETING LEAD... . elislie dil an ale oe. G2 GEEN'S LEAD 4 40. 8 a 3 & ole bee aOR eS ee we FB PIPE UBAD 2 & a-eck wi @ aw 4 we ew ewe ew 6B SENSITIVE PIPE:LEAD s. 6 8 2 2 @ Ha @ Rew es §663 BOAT-SHAPED: LEAD 2. aie oe Gk ee ry cw (6) JARDINE'S: LEAD ack ge ee Oe ee ee BB BABY) gis by Abst uSslta gh bale it) Qdalg he a eet Me Goted: VGH REL AND BABY Gc ede eo @ SU Rep ewe Bo 6 oe eh ee 6S xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE SPINNER AND BANDS ........... . 65 RUBBER-PEL go g-t) en 2 eles es ledaolaogiehe (65 SOLESKIN AND BABY .... . 5 ae 65 CREEL . 3 cg ine ose e08e @ be = 568 THE “GRESHAM” I BAG. i woe 69 LANDING-NET ... eee, FE GAFF-HOOK (WITH SCREW CAP) § FOR LASHING meee ~ye GAG 4 22 oe RE OE GG, we oe SHB PIKE:SGISSORS ve) 4 Bawls eH ROR OL 53 DISCORGER: aS ee Sod. Snfom re. Eel e eis CRA “PRIEST” 4. 2 hg ee Eee Gh koe Ge 75 FISHERMAN'S KNIFE a ke che a ay ne se OG LINE DRIER (CLOSED) CAB RR ee aan OFF LINE DRIER (OPEN) . . Me 4 a8 weiss AF CORNISH SHEARING-LEAD....... ..... 84 REVOLVING HAND-WINDER ..... ease we “186 POLLACK RBEL 3: 2 os ga eee ma ae BZ AUTOMATIC STRIKER. & 44 a a2 wu 2p ao woe oa 88 INTERCHANGEABLE LEADS Ou dk hw “ei gre 1 8O “MAHTER’ SPROOL sg ie) 2 Ye 4 oY ek pay 506 A-CONGER HOLE 4% 9d. Goa eu Glan Ww Ae! OR COURGE! woh aom hoe BO Re eT aa 119 SPIER WONDER Re aS Aa wee ea oe Ge OST PIER PATERNOSTER. . . ere LAO, Gale) eos AD CLEARING RING .... ee ee) Sa ee TD A BASS-POOL ON THE ARUN (From a photograph by J. White, Littlehampton). . 2... sine MAS PLANO-CONVEX MINNOW ......., ee TBE POLLACK FLY . . Sota ee ey 6 ao TEL RUBBER-EEL AND SPINNER . oo... ISI CANE OUTRIGGER. . meee Os ; 157 ene tire. ee, Bae PATENT ANCHOR... . i BRS, fe Arn oda fo I7O DIVING BELL FOR GROUND BAIT ... . eee 1p7 GONIGAL. LEAD... 04 3 eo bes te ae: Eghassite 1s SESS NEW ADJUSTABLE LEAD... . : mis Ao ae a TOS WHITING TACKLE... 197 WHIFFING FOR MACKEREL (Pais a Ra Jak snap oy ‘fhe Author) .... et ta Tas Po GA a BOL SARCELLIS © MOGADOR” BAIT o geese Ney lig to Ww SEA-FISH. INTRODUCTORY. “Happy England!” exclaims Goldsmith in his Animated Nature, “where the sea furnishes an abundant and luxurious repast, and the fresh waters an innocent and harmless pastime.” Times are changed indeed! Not alone are many of the said inland waters fished out, others become private property, others again depleted by lime and coal-tar; but even the sea, its harvest gathered without restraint by the trawl, has within the last twenty years been invaded by many in search of that same “innocent and harmless pastime,” which is increasingly hard to find inland at a moderate cost, and of which the following pages treat in some of its modern aspects. It is not easy, even for an enthusiast, to say anything new in praise of sea-fishing. Four B.S.A.S. dinners, with their accompanying orations, have exhausted the subject,—the healthfulness of the sport, its cheapness, the variety and excellence of the fish, and the constant charm of uncertairity B 2 SEA-FISH. as to whether the result of an outing may be a blank, a boatload of fish, or a capsize. One aspect of sea-fishing has, however, been curiously overlooked ; and that is its artistic possi- bilities. The river and lake have had their idylls ; and it is hard to write nowadays of the fly-fisher’s birds and beasts, his companions of the waterside, without going over old ground. The haunts of the sea-angler, which are not, by the way, necessarily restricted to draughty piers or evil-smelling har- bours, are, however, still without their bard. Iam not, least of all in the present little handbook, offering myself for the post; I mercly want to raise my voice against the prevalent notion that there is nothing in modern sea-fishing over and above the mere hooking and unhooking of fish ; and that the elements of scenery and bird life, so great a factor in the enjoyment of a quiet day beside the trout-stream, are altogether wanting at the coast. The perpetual motion of the sea, the glare of the sun and the turmoil of passing steamers, are, let us grant, foreign to that feeling of perfect rest so suggestive of the river's bank. The gull is without doubt less beautiful than the dipper or kingfisher, less tuneful than the nightingale or sedge-warbler ; the rolling of the porpoise Jacks the grace of the otters splash; nor are there many who would prefer the sight of some fishy cormorant drying its wings on a slippery rock to that of the lean grey heron motionless in the shallows. It would be foolish to insist that the typical, beauties of river and lake find their match on the sea-shore. Yet there is a grandeur about the open sca which, not more than half realised by those who INTRODUCTORY. 3 traverse it in the security of modern steamships, comes home daily to the sportsman who spends his time miles from land in a mere cockleshell of a boat, with no other company than that of rorquals twice the length of his craft, sharks, seals and unsuspicious sea-fowl, many of which scarcely touch earth from one year to another. At times, the very delight of sea-fishing is in its loneliness, especially down off the rugged Austra- lian coast, where every other fish is snapped from the incoming hook by sharks that could, if so minded, crunch the boat with a flick of their powerful tail as if it were so much matchwood. To the river-side angler, whose most memorable adventure is perchance with an inquisitive cow, or an equally inquisitive keeper, this hankering after the company of sharks may come as a shock; but the presence of danger—not indeed ignored, but mastered—must carry with it a feeling of satis- faction unknown where danger is not. Equally pleasant memories in their way are the skilful handling of the tiller in a sudden squall, the deli- cate rounding of an ugly rock, while yet keeping the trailing hooks clear of the lobster-pots on the other quarter, or the judgment called for in launch- ing and beaching in a heavy ground-swell; and if I say that they have no equivalent on the average river, I shall not, I think, be far wide of the mark. Danger and difficulty in moderation are conditions of sport, and the sea offers plenty of both. Another hitherto neglected point that tells in favour of sea-fishing is its cosmopolitan range. I do not mean to say that it is advisable to hang out a line anywhere in mid-ocean and expect a great catch ; for there is often a strong combination of B2 4 SEA-FISH. depth, currents, and, in the wake of ships at any rate, sharks against the fisherman. On the contrary, it is essential to hit the exact grounds frequented by the fish. The sea- olan: angler soon recognises the fact that, be- range neath the water, as on land, there are con- fe siderable tracts, mostly of sand or mud, uninhabited, the fish crowding to the spots where the conditions of life are easier. This is found to hold equally good of fishing within a mile of the coast or hundreds of miles from land. At the same time, so great is the abundance of fish in the sea and so fierce are their appetites, that a paternoster, or other suitable tackle of the kinds described in the following pages, baited with fresh meat or fish, will usually take fish of some kind in any deep water. I have taken fish in this manner in various parts of the Channel, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, in the Suez Canal, in the Gulf of Aden and in the shallower water off the north coast of Java. It is important at the same time to bear in mind the need of precise acquaintance with the fishing- grounds, concerning which much information will be found in the Appendix. If those who have its interests at heart will only develop it along the right lines, advocating methods not distasteful to the angler who has served his apprenticeship in fresh water, and attrac- tive to those who have never handled rod or line before, there is little doubt that the sport of sea- fishing, of such recent origin that there was until 1893 no society representing it, has a great future, One of the greatest attractions of this sport is perhaps the close acquaintance entailed with the INTRODUCTORY. 5 sea. The very colour of the sea becomes revealed to the angler to an extent not vouchsafed to other landsmen. Instead of talking of the “blue” sea, he knows that, save when very deep or far ogiour from land, it is more often pea-green or of the sandy-brown. He knows that its waters ‘%° are at times deeply suffused with the spores of red or olive weeds, and that then is his best chance of a good haul of mackerel. He knows too the far * less welcome “ broodiness,” so common at certain seasons on the coast of south Devon, when the sea is of a dirty yellow and the fish refuse all manner of bait. He is not unmindful of the significance of the phosphorescent “briming” of warm summer nights when the sea is “on fire.” And he may perchance have fished off Pentewan, or other Cornish clay works, where the water is, especially after rain, of the colour known to thirsty schoolboys as “sky-blue.” So far from injuring the fish, this has the effect of darkening the bed of the sea in that part; the small fry gather in the half darkness for protection; thither they are followed by the large mackerel, and these are in their turn pursued by the fishermen. Not only, then, docs the amateur who properly studies his subject find the actual colour of the water directly affecting the weight of his catch, but its thickness is taken into consideration when deciding on the particular bait for the day’s fishing. Thus, at Deal, it is usual to try the sprat bait for cod when the water is clear, the lugworm when it is thick. The distinction is merely that between those baits that are found by sight and those others that are traced by scent. The tides are a most important factor in the sport of sea-fishing, and the angler should always, 6 SEA-FISH. more particularly when interested in pier-fishing, be in possession of a correct tide-table (N.B. Those sold at seaside libraries are not invafia- bly correct) for each month. A very few piers, Bournemouth among them, are fitted with a tidal gauge and indicator ; and few of the visitors who may have noticed the clock-like arrangement beneath the bandstand on the last-named pier have any idea what a very sensitive recorder it is, with its floats and balances, the line traced by the pen showing at a glance—to those, at any rate, who know the secret—the exact state of the tide for the time being. The rise and fall varies much on different parts of the coast, being as a rule greater at the more exposed ports than in receding bays, as instances of which I may quote Hastings! and Bournemouth. At the former, there is at low spring tides nearly half a mile of uncovered sand and shingle between high and low water mark; whereas at the latter, the rise and fall is a matter of a few feet only. Spring tides are those which occur at the new and full moon, the rise and fall being then considerably greater than at the neap tides, which occur in the moon’s first and third quarters. It is generally accepted that the fishing is best at the former, when the additional speed of the currents sets so much more fish food on the move ; but glancing through a few of the more recent entries in my diaries, I am disposed to give the preference to the quieter conditions obtaining during the slacker neap tides. Indecd, so strong are the spring tides, especially on the third and Tides ? On the west Sussex coast, the fall of tides is still greater, the average difference on the Littlehampton quays at high and low water being not far short of 15 fect, and, at spring tides with strong N.W. wind, as much as 18 feet. INTRODUCTORY. 7 fourth days after new and full moon, that fishing is only possible for an hour or so, just after high and low water, and then only close inshore. During the neap tides, on the other hand, it is possible to fish uninterruptedly during the greater part of the day, so that, even if the fish are not feeding quite so ravenously, the total catch is usually better. The remarkable “second tides” at Bournemouth are referred to on a later page. On a par with tides in the powers that rule the sea-angler’s fortunes are the winds; indeed, they are, if anything, of greater importance. We may at once set aside the east wind as “ im- possible.” A few small pout, or a dog-fish, may, it is true, be caught during a spell from that quarter ; but in the main, the old rhyme has in it all the elements of truth, and I believe the exceptions in favour of easterly wind are even less frequent at sea than on river or lake The ideal breeze—only it must be no more than a dveeze—for south-coast fishing is from the south, just enough to fan the water into the lightest of ripples. It is well to keep an eye on it when abroad in very small craft, as, although the south wind itself has not the habit with us of developing into a “buster,” as it does on parts of the Australian coast, it has, never- theless, an awkward knack of veering suddenly and without warning to the south-west, in which quarter it increases with such amazing velocity that it is possible for a very ugly sea to get up all unnoticed in the course of ten minutes. It is, therefore, a mistake, at all events when out on a strange part of the coast, to make fast any of the sheets, even in the calmest of weather, the smallest mizen Wind 1 Curiously enough, east wind is best for both bass and mackerel under the lee of Chapel Point, Mevagissey. 8 SEA-FISH. only being left up to keep the boat head to the wind. The north wind has, of course, the effect, being then aland breeze, of calming the Channel grounds ; but I do not like it for all that, for it seems to drive the fish out of the bays into deeper water, in addition to which it has the undesirable effect of making the inshore water both clear as crystal and cold as spring water,—a combination fatal to sport. The north-west wind, however, is on the whole about the best that Channel fishermen can wish for, as it brings no rain, and at the same time keeps the sea calm without making the water either cold or too clear. Moreover, it very rarely goes to the south, as the wind shifts as a rule with the sun, not in the opposite direction. The sea breezes have the effect of stirring up the bottom and thickening the water, but this is accom- plished in far less time by a few hours of heavy rain. Of the effect of thunder on sea-fishing, which has been much written about, I regret to have no interesting data to quote. My diaries are absolutely conflicting on the subject, for they show under these conditions almost as many bad days as good; the general opinion among the fishermen—and I give it without comment for what it is worth—is that the fish bite well during “thunder weather,” especially pouts. On the other hand, I have had many blank days when the thunder only threatened without actually rolling. In concluding these few introductory remarks, Table I would say a word on a subject which I fish confess to having somewhat at heart. The sca-angler will soon make acquaintance with a number of excellent table fish, among them the dory and garfish, which, having tried at first out of Thunder INTRODUCTORY, 9 mere curiosity, he will not be long in welcoming as a change from the more hackneyed sole and turbot, the latter too often cooked in the abominable “portion,” in which form it retains about the same amount of nutriment that one would expect to get out of a piece of boiled flannel. The colonials and foreigners who recently visited our capital, and who must from time to time have heard much of the British fishing industry, may have experienced more than one rude shock as regards the poor choice of fish both at the restaurant and on the private table. It is not improbable that the new recruit to the sport of sea-fishing may learn to appreciate the. taste of a large number of fish of the very existence of which he had no previous suspicion. Some, as the pollack, coal-fish, and wrasses, he will not try more than once; but others, as the grotesque couple above mentioned, will, if properly cooked, be to his jaded palate a delight. Nay, he may even hook a red mullet or two—I have not done so in the course of fifteen years of steady sea fishing, but am beginning to regard this as exceptional bad luck—and there is no finer mouthful of animal food in the sea or out of it. At the same time, I cannot seriously include under the heading of “ edible” sea fish the eighty- eight species so described by Professor McIntosh in his recent interesting work on our food-fishes ; or even, for the matter of that, Mr. Cunningham’s seventy. Both these estimates are surely over- generous, and thirty kinds of British sea-fish are in all probability as many as most of us would care to try. One word with reference to the imperative need of eating only the freshest of fish. This is capable of exaggeration. Mackerel and, in summer weather, 7 10 SEA-FISH. silver whiting should, it is true, be eaten as soon as possible after they are caught. Few, however, of Fresh Our other edible sca-fish, be they cod, pout, fish or flat fish, should be cooked until a dozen hours or thereabouts after they are dead, by which time régor mortzs will have set in, and the flesh is far firmer and more fit for the cook. In concluding these introductory remarks, I offer a hint or two on the subject of the best clothing for sea-fishing. The sport is not as exacting as most in this respect. For sea-fishing it is customary to use up all one’s old clothes; and indeed, what with the sea-water, the bait and the fish, this is about as destructive to clothing as any other occupation. It should at the same time be remembered that it involves a great deal of exposure,—to heat in the summer, to cold in autumn, or at nights,—and provision should be made accordingly. The chief danger of the sun, both direct and reflected by the water, is to the eyes and the back of the neck. I usually protect these in hot weather by a pair of tinted glasses and a pugaree respectively ; but one day at the beginning of the present summer I forgot, or had not yet started, my usual precautions, and the result, aggravated no doubt by a long swim as soon as I got back to the beach, was a touch of the sun, that brought back a sickness and dizziness that I had not known since one very hot day in Ceylon. The remedy for this (and it is a uscful one to bear in mind) is to take a weak dose of chloroform and water, lie down for an hour in a cool, dark room, and then dose the liver well. The notion that commonly prevails to the effect that it is necessary to visit the tropics in order to know sun-stroke is both false and dangerous. Clothing INTRODUCTORY. 11 Another contingency that should be borne in mind when choosing one’s “get up” for a day’s sea- fishing far from the coast is the possibility of an upset. The limbs, the feet more particularly, should in no way be hampered, and the boots, or shoes, should be so loosely fastened, if at all, that a very slight effort will rid the feet of them. Personally, I do most of my summer boat-fishing bare- footed. PILcHARDS ON THE Port Bow! [Prom a Kodak snap by Harold Frederic.) CHAPTER I. NATURAL IJISTORY NOTES ON THE CHIEF SEA- FISH, AND BAITS. WITHOUT urging for one moment the necessity of reading deeply of the anatomy of sea-fish—the exact number of their fin-rays or of the scales along the lateral line, the nature of their pyloric appendages and air-bladder, and all the rest of it— I am nevertheless certain that the angler who is at pains to acquaint himself with certain matters in their life-history will reap the rewards of his study. Sport of any form is in a measure inseparable from natural history ; and if this holds true of shooting or hunting, it surely applies with additional force to fishing, which calls for some knowledge of the individual tastes of the fish, of the depth, time of year and hour of the day at which they are most likely to take the natural or artificial bait. In addition to the utility of such knowledge, we must not lose sight of the interest it lends the day’s fishing. There are “sportsmen” of course who cannot be “bored” with the habits of the fish, whose sole enjoyment consists in being conveyed to the grounds and having their hooks baited and their fish unhooked by the boatman. For these SWAN ELECTRIC ENGRAVING CO. SEA BREAM. HPNRY STANNARD, DEL. NATURAL HISTORY. 13 gentlemen the “ natural history ” of a fish is limited to one item, its fitness for the table. They are not, however, in the majority, and their views need no consideration. The fishes named, save incidentally, in the fol- lowing pages number about a score, and include members of both great sub-classes, the bony and the cartilaginous fishes. In a sporting, and not zoological, handbook like the present, there is no objection to separating closely allied forms for the sake of the convenience gained by giving the fish and baits in alphabetic order. As an instance, the flounder and plaice are by this arrangement separated by a number of species not even remotely allied to them. Atherine, see Sand Smelt. This sea-perch is, save for table purposes, the finest fish of our coast, and its pursuit is at one time or other the chief aim, at once the pleasure and pain, of the angler. Ata later stage, he accepts philosophically the truth that there can only be about a thousand of these fish left in the Channel, and that very good sport may be had with pollack, mackerel and cod, of which the numbers are the same as ever. For all its lineage—and it ranks higher far than the so-called “king of fishes’’—the bass is a very foul feeder ; and I take this tardy opportunity of retracting, what eight years ago I believed to be perfectly true, that the baits for bass should be absolutely fresh. On the contrary, it has since been demon- strated to me, both by the lobster-pot and the hook, that, in the absence of /ve bait, a stale or “high” bait is as a rule more tempting to Bass 14 SEA-FISH. the bass. Generally preferring the neighbourhood of estuaries, and even wandering some miles up rivers, this is among the fish that perform regular journeys to and from the deep water, hugging the coast from the middle of June until the end of August, on some parts of the coast rather later. Through the greater part of its sojourn in the shallow water, the bass feeds, especially on fine mornings and evenings, close to the surface, where it may often be found by following the move- ments of the gulls that co-operate in the destruction of “mackerel midge” and sand-eels. After a spell of rough weather, however, bass are found just behind the broken water, routing up the sand, and are therefore taken in such spots with a bait pitched into the surf. The feature in the bass that most concerns the angler is the presence of eight or nine sharp spines in the first dorsal fin, which he should carefully avoid ; indeed, the bass is altogether one of the most prickly of fish, and it is advisable to stun it, and hold it in a cloth, before attempting to remove the hook. To these few particulars of the fish that bear directly on its capture the present remarks may be restricted. It is commonly thought, by those who have no special reason to think at all about the matter, that Blue Sharks belong exclusively to tropical climes ; shark and the assurance that there are many species of shark in the English Channel, examples of many hundreds of pounds being netted on the south-west coast, would be, covertly at any rate, classed with the memoirs of Mandeville and 1 Bass are caught with rod and line fully a mile above Arundel on high spring tides. As long as the water tastes salt (a simple test), they will take the bait, a live dace or roach, NATURAL HISTORY. 15 Munchausen. Such is, however, the fact ; and my own rod has accounted for a good many small blue sharks down in Cornwall, pigmies of twenty and thirty pounds, but quite enough to demoralise your top joint. The boldness of these small sharks is amazing. On one occasion this summer, a couple of blue sharks were swimming around my boat only a foot or two beneath the surface, and we persuaded the smaller to seize a pilchard on a conger hook. An attempt to gaff it failed, the gaff striking the shark, but coming away. The brute seized the bait again, however, and was then gaffed and killed. Mr. Frederic’s kodak snap of its capture is reproduced on a later page. Of its kind, and viewed apart from the foolish pre- judice that attaches to these useful scavengers, the blue shark is a handsome fish, its form tapering gracefully, and the contrast between the steely blue of the back and the silvery white of the belly giving it astriking appearance both in and out of the water. Its most objectionable feature from the angler’s point of view, apart from its untiring raids on the lines, is the sickly smell of its blood, an odour as of bilge-water, which it shares with many others of its family. Care should therefore be taken not to spill any of the blood on the boards of the boat; for the odour clings to the wood for days, and is very trying to any one inclined to resent such influences when on the water. The shark is killed, if possible, over the side, a blow on the shovel-shaped snout being effective if properly delivered, and is then slung over the stern, a bight of line being passed over its tail. It makes excellent bait for the crab-pots, and should always be kept for the crabbers ashore, who often have the good taste to remember such 16 SEA-FISH. trifling services. Many a time, after giving one or two sharks to Cornishmen, I have found an unexpected crab or lobster on my breakfast plate. I am not sure whether one would find such delicacy nearer town; but I hope so. Few would think of fishing specially for sharks, though I do recollect one sportsman with whom they were a perfect hobby—he would kill a score or so a week—but they often fasten themselves unasked on the pollack-lines, and then the angler soon learns a curious habit of all the tribe,—that of swimming to the surface and endeavouring to shake the hook out, a habit also noticed in the garfish. It is important to bear this in mind, especially when playing a shark on the rod, as the slackening of the line would lead any one ignorant of their ways to suppose that the fish had broken away, whereas this is just the moment to be in readiness for a sudden rush. In the sea-bream we have a very different type of fish from the bream and bream-flat of our inland waters, a perch-like form with sharp dorsal fin, a lover of clear deep water, found, not in the mud, but among the rocks. Sea-bream are gregarious and frequent certain grounds, the whereabouts of which can only, save by chance, be learnt with local help. They feed freely as a rule, and within a few feet of the rocks in which they live. These often lie in deep water several miles from the coast, necessitating the use of the hand-line. It is necessary to strike at once, and care should be taken, as with the bass, not to handle the sharp spines on the back. The red and black sea-breams, the former known when full Bream NATURAL HISTORY. 17 grown as “schnapper,” furnish between them most of the sport obtained in Australian waters ; but, our own bream are not by any means so highly thought of, either for sport or the table. The young of the red bream, known as chad, differs in so many points from the adult that it might be another species. It is mentioned here rather on account of the excellent pollack- bait that can be made from a strip of its very tough skin. So far as its capture goes, it is one of those fish that need no invitation, but comes round the boat in certain weathers in its hundreds, nibbling to rags the pilchard bait meant for pollack. Then is the time to put out a smaller hook, baited with a strip of pilchard ; secure a chad or two, and bait the pollack-hooks with a slab from the side (the entire length of a small chad being none too much for the purpose). The other chads are unable to spoil so tough a bait, and the pollack relish it as much as they do the more oily, but less showy, pilchard. In the intermediate stage, weighing about #lb., this fish is known in Cornish dialect as a ballard. Chad In this member of the cod family, which in habits bears strong resemblance tothe pollack, we ea). find a small barbule present on the lower fish jaw, and a more abrupt division between the dark green of the back and the white of the belly. This is the “saithe” of the Scotch fishermen, and is caught, like the pollack, on surface-lines. 1 I caught a 2 lb. example of the Spanish bream this August at Mevagissey (whence Day obtained his example), a beautiful and rare visitor to our coasts. Cc 18 SEA-FISH. A bait in favour with many, but one with which I am bound to admit I have not had wonderful results, the cockle, is too well known to need many words. What is less generally known perhaps is that cockles are able to leap on the wet sand, and that, if placed on the sand near the water’s edge, they will at once make straight for the sea. Small as is our species, it has American relatives, specimens of which have been dredged weighing as much as three-quarters of a ton, their scientific name denoting that it would take three bites to finish them ! Cockle Type of a large and important family, that also includes such sporting fish as the pollack and whiting, the cod is for the most part a fish of deep water, though a number approach the coasts in winter, usually between October and Christmas, and are then angled for, especially at Deal. This fish is found more particularly, though not exclusively, in cold seas, and has the family beard, the young, or “codlings,” being spotted. It is caught on our shores weighing 50 lbs.; but the amateur will not in all pro- bability meet with any of more than half that weight. Though found indifferently on the sand or among the rocks, the edge of a reef is found to be the best ground for inshore cod. Cod Conger-fishing is not every man’s pastime, for it entails a good deal of roughing it, night- fishing among the rest. The conger, the female of which grows toa length of 8 ft., commonly 5 ft., and a weight of near 100 lbs., is a scaleless cel, distinguished from the river-eel by the con- Conger NATURAL HISTORY. 19 tinuous black-edged dorsal fin and the projecting lower jaw. Its colour varies according to the depth of water and the nature of the ground from which it is taken, fishermen even distinguishing two “kinds,” black and white conger. The belly is invariably white. Essentially a rock-fish, the conger is rarely taken on the sand, save at the edge of a reef. It feeds chiefly at night, and has a prefer- ence for fresh baits, indeed in many parts the angler who has only yesterday’s mackerel or her- ring might as well take a book. Squid, however, an excellent bait for this fish, may be used on the second day, even on the third in moderately cool weather. The conger is particularly fond of small rockling, a bait less known than it deserves, though I put on half a 3-bearded rockling that I had just caught one evening this summer on the Durley Rocks, Bournemouth, and the conger, of which there were plenty on the feed, would not touch it. There are many kinds of crab (see also Hermit Crab), but the one with which the sea-fisher- man is most concerned is the common green crab at the particular season when it is casting its shell, a periodical moulting which these crustaceans undergo in common with reptiles. It is when in the soft condition involved in this change that the crab hides instinctively in the crannies of rocks out of reach of the fish, bass and rays among them, against which its shell no longer protects it, and it therefore makes a good bait. Crab Of the three or four worms used by the sea- fisherman, none is perhaps finer, as none is certainly C2 20 SEA-FISH. less known, than that nereid which conceals itself in the convoluted end of the whelk-shell occu- Crab- pied by a hermit crab, and which, for worm want of a better English name, I have called “crab-worm,” just as the fisherman know the hermit as the “ crab-whelk.” There is usually an implied mutual advantage in these natural partnerships, or commensalisms ; but, although it is easy to understand that the worm gains at least shelter and probably some scraps of food, it is by no means obvious what profit accrues tothe crab. It is surprising how long a worm will coil itself in the extreme corner of the shell; it is a fragile creature, and must be removed very carefully and without any rupture, else it is useless as bait. It is almost impossible to keep these worms alive for any time once they are removed from their natural asylum, damp weed, darkness and a cool temperature being essential ; therefore it is best to take craband all in the boat, breaking each shell as the worm is re- quired. There is not, of course, a worm in every shell, but there are on the average perhaps a score to fifty crabs. This curious creature, which carries its eight feet on its head, is, together with that other octopod the squid, much used in conger- fishing. It must first be cleaned of the ink-like fluid with which it thickens the water when evading its enemies or stalking its prey. Curiosity is fatal to both these cephalopods ; they may be speared by the light of a torch, or, a more usual way of taking them, caught on bare hooks jigged bencath a piece of china. I have caught them on three cod-hooks lashed in a triangle, when, off the Cornish coast, Cuttle ‘dood °09 SNIAWHONI 91YLII73 Tad ‘oueNNWLS NATURAL HISTORY. 21 they sucked every bait off the hooks intended for pollack. The curious backward jerk, caused by the expulsion of water from the mouth, is unmis- takable ; but these animals never by any chance get hooked, unless on a triangle. The best way of get- ting cuttle is usually from the trawlers ; it is nearly always possible, for instance, to pick up a couple from the boats anchored each morning in summer off the Hastings fish-market. There are at least two kinds of dab ; one, the long rough dab, related to the great halibut, the other of the same genus as the plaice. It is this latter, the sand-dab, that the angler is most likely to catch; indeed, it is one of our commonest resident fish, The popular idea that a dab is only a young plaice is of course quite incorrect, the plaice being always easy of distinction by reason of its red spots. Always, like most of the flat-fish, a dweller in the sand, the dab usually feeds on or near the ground, though I have known of isolated cases in which it took a spinner near the surface. Both this and the larger dab have very rough skin, and the sand-dab is also found in brackish water. Dab The dog-fish of the Channel are five or six in number, but it will suffice for the purpose of the present notes to distinguish the spur- dog and rowhound (or rough hound), the nurse being mentioned below. The spur-dog is a black and white fish, which, growing to a length of over 3 feet, is particularly objectionable on account of the sharp spike—hence its name of piked, or picked, dog—in front of each back fin. Like all Dog-fish oo SEA-FISH. the shark tribe, this fish heads straight for the surface on feeling the hook. The rowhound, the wet skin of which has the extraordinary property of bleaching other fish in the same basket, is also taken to a length of 3 or 4 feet, and is covered with numerous reddish spots. It is less savage in its behaviour than the last, but so common as to be a serious trouble at times. The dory, more familiarly “John Dory,” is one of the most delicious eating, and also one of the ugliest, fish in our waters. It lies in ambush in the shadow of rocks and piles, rushing out at intervals to gorge itself with sand-eels or other small fish, and the best way to catch it is on a drift-line baited with a whole smelt or launce. The action of a dory in the water—I know of no pier where there is a better chance of watching them than that at Bournemouth—is more graceful than the appearance of this fish on the table would lead one to suppose, the long filaments on the dorsal fin waving like fronds of weed, and possibly help- ing to deceive the fish. Dory The eel of our rivers may seem out of place in a work on the sport of sea-fishing ; and I do not know indeed that I should have mentioned it at all but for the fact that the common ecl—we have but one freshwater species in these islands, the so-called speczes being only the fish of different sex and age—goes down to the sea to breed, the young eels, or “elvers,” re-ascending the river, their parents dying, so far as is known, after the first spawning. Not only then do cels begin and end their exist- ence in the sea, but they may also be taken there Eel NATURAL HISTORY. 23 by those who have any fancy for so sordid a game; and I have seen hundreds hooked off the eastmost breakwater at Hastings,—eels that had descended the little river at Rye, and worked westward along the rocky gullies that fringe that portion of the Sussex foreshore. In the flounder, too, we have a fish that, in the light of modern angling perhaps, belongs more strictly to the fresh-water fish, but it is mentioned here for the sake of giving the points in which it differs from the other flat-fish taken in salt water,—the presence of rough tubercles along the base of the fin-rays. It is occasionally taken with tumours on the back, which, according to Cunningham, the fishermen believe to be its eggs. It breeds in salt water only. Mr. Wheeley gave some useful hints on catching flounders in the preceding volume of the Angler's Library. Flounder In the “greenbone,” as it is often called from the colour of its bones, we have a type in many respects unique among our fish, with its snipe-like bill, and the hardest roof to its mouth that ever living creature had. The singular habit of this fish, leaping to the surface when hooked, and endeavouring in such manner to shake out the hook, has been alluded to above. The angler who has the fortune to hook a garfish on his mackerel-gear, the most frequent way of taking them, will further notice that it has an unmis- takable and not wholly pleasant smell. In spite of which, however, as well as of the colour of its bones that has prejudiced so many against it, the garfish is better eating than most fish caught Garfish 24 SEA-FISH. in our seas, and why it should never find its way to the restaurant is a marvel. The gurnard is cited by many as another instance of an unprepossessing fish with much to recommend it for the table; but I must confess to a decided dislike of its flesh, which I have always found so woolly as to defy even the most cunning stuffing. The gurnards, which in our seas amount to half a dozen species, are characterised by brilliant colouring for the most part, and have appendages resembling barbules, or feelers, in reality the free rays of the pectoral fins, on which they crawl, as it were, over the rocks. They are slow swimmers, generally taking a sta- tionary bait, but occasionally seizing a spinner that moves sufficiently slowly and at considerable depth. Gurnards [The Haddock is not a very usual catch with the amateur; but I have taken a few in the Baltic, where, perhaps owing to the low percentage of salt, they run small, like the herrings. It is closely allied to the cod, from which it may be distinguished by the black marks on either side beneath the first dorsal fin, popularly regarded as the finger-mark of the apostle who took the tribute- money. | [The Hake, another ally of the cod, is also a fish rarely taken by theamateur, though he may probably have an opportunity of seeing more than one should he spend a night aboard a pilchard-driver, as these powerful and voracious fish pursue the pilchards right into the net, where they occasion much damage. | NATURAL HISTORY. 25 Already mentioned incidentally in connection with the worm with which it shares its permit stolen shell, the “soldier crab” is afamiliar crab object in every rock pool, where the sight of a whelk- shell crawling over the ground occasions for the first time as much wonderment as the sight of the first caddis, which many take for an inanimate stick. This crustacean secretes so poor an armour that it is compelled to seek shelter in a whelk-shell, not, as many have asserted, ejecting the whelk, which would be an impossibility, but looking about for an empty shell. This dwelling it is compelled to change when it grows too bulky, usually after casting the small shell that keeps some of its soft parts within _ bounds, and then combats frequently ensue with other hermits in possession of the coveted quarters. In addition to the useful worm, one species of hermit at any rate has a mutual understanding with an anemone, which fastens on the shell, hiding the orifice from passing fishes, which prob- ably take its pedestal for a stone, and getting in return free rides and possibly board as well. The larger hermits are usually found in the shells of whelk or winkle, but I have taken smaller examples from nearly a dozen kinds. The herring is here mentioned as a bait, although numbers are occasionally taken by the amateur, especially in Scotch waters, and it is even said to rise freely to a fly. This fish, the type of what is probably our most important family of food fish, is silvery, soft-finned, and lacking the curved lateral line characteristic of the majority of fishes. It is gregarious, and the immense shoals perform seasonal migrations, formerly considered Herring 26 SEA-FISH. of immense length, but nowadays regarded rather in the light of short journeys to and from the shallow to the deep water. The attractiveness of herring as a bait lies in two qualities,—the silver sheen of the skin, and the oily nature of the flesh. Launce, see Sana-cel. Less used than the mussel, the limpet is at times a good bait for the smaller fish, though by no means easy to remove from the rocks, to which it clings with a glutinous secretion evidently insoluble in water. To remove a limpet from the little pit in which it rests, a performance rendered still more difficult by the shape of the smooth shell, requires a force equivalent to about 60 Ibs.! Though to all appearance a fixture, the limpet is able to move very slowly over the submerged rock. It is an extraordinary creature in many ways, for its “foot” is its stomach, and on its tongue are a couple of thousand teeth. Its mode of feeding on the weed over which it moves has been happily compared with browsing. Limpet [The Zzvg is another of our fish that lie in the ordinary course without the scope of the amateur, though I recollect one case of a large but ill-con- ditioned example being caught off the Dover Admiralty Pier. It is “bearded” like most of the cod family, to which it belongs, its nearest ally being the burbot of some of our rivers.] If asked to name the best all-round sca-bait, I Lug- Should be sorely puzzled to choose between worm the mussel and the lugworm, though I think the mussel would take first place. Yet there are few fish that refuse lugworm, which NATURAL HISTORY. 27 makes it the greater pity that it is not more agree- able to handle, the fact being that there is no bait more disgusting. It is not necessary to be fastidious in order to recoil from this pulpy worm, with its inside of yellow seeds and the deep red blood that leaves a lasting stain on everything with which it comes in contact. The lug is a swift burrower, diving head-first in the wet sand between high and low water mark with amazing rapidity, so that some practice is requisite before one can dig it out with a fork, particularly as the water at once rushes into the gap and hides all that is going forward. Even when the disappearing yellow tail of the worm is in full view, great care must be exercised in seizing it gently but firmly, between the second and first finger of the right hand, and above the tail, which is full of sand, and easily breaks away. Both this and the ruptured body are useless as bait. Viewed anatomically, this shore worm, with its gill-tufts and the curious digging proboscis, is rather an interesting creature. Mr. R. B. Marston recently showed me some dried salted lugworms which he had received from a Yarmouth sea-angler, and they were agreeably tough and free from smell of any kind.1 One of the most sporting of fish for its size, one of the best for the table when grilled fresh, ibackexel and one of the most deadly of baits for other fish, both large and small, this familiar species is as important as any with which we have to deal. The worst feature about it is the rapidity with which it loses its freshness, a fault of all the fast 1 Watson and Hancock of Holborn sell jars of preserved lug. When fresh bait is unobtainable, these preserved worms take a few fish. 28 SEA-FISH. surface-swimmers, the larger relatives of the present species. Nothing, we are told, can be perfect on this earth, but I have always thought that the mackerel would take some beating. Its shape is elegant, its colouring (of judged from the fishmonger’s slab) superb, and its action in the water as gallant as that of any fish, as it will sheer to right and left as long as it has breath. The fact of its life history that most concerns the angler is its periodic inshoring, when, from May until early in August, it is caught on whiffing-lines near the surface, and often within a stone’s throw of the beach ; later, or earlier, in the year, it must be sought further out on ground-lines. The so-called ‘“ mackerel- midge” are not, as some have stated, the young of mackerel, but the fry of the rocklings, our smallest gadoids ; and they are named after the mackerel for much the same reason as that which rules the specific name (fiscatorum) of the lugworm, to denote an affection that recalls that of the Sand- wich islanders who love their European friends, especially when roasted. Bournemouth Bay is usually visited by hundreds of thousands of small and flabby mackerel late in June. They are caught by the leisurely seaners from Poole, and generally attract a number of thresher sharks into those quiet waters. There seems to be some doubt as to the precise Mullet, Number of species of grey mullet found on Grey our coasts; indeed Mr. Cunningham hints in his latest work at the possibility of only one. I am of opinion, however, that thereare at any rate two, the thick-lipped and thin-lipped, and I know them both well from the Mediterranean, where they are common. These fish have no teeth, but their diges- NATURAL HISTORY. 29 tion is assisted by a compensating arrangement in the stomach, which need not be particularised in this place. The importance of this fact to the angler however, is that baits for these mullet must be soft. Some anglers bait with macaroni. Further, the grey mullet is a very timid fish, taking alarm on the least disturbance. It also cnters fresh-water, the Sussex Arun being one of its favourite south- coast rivers, the Kentish Stour another. Cooked with the trail, the “woodcock of the sea” has, I suppose I may say without fear wutet, of contradiction, no rival among table fish, Red Nor has it anything in common with the last fish from which it is systematically separated by many families. It is a familiar enough fish in the shops, with its bright red colour, largely due to the trick of scaling it immediately on its removal from the water, and the two sensitive barbules beneath the lower jaw. There are two races, a large and a small, of this fish, both of which are taken for the market in a fixed,net known asatrammel. Buta few instances, perhaps a dozen in all, are on record of the capture of this fish with hook and line, but this would appear to be less rare than is commonly supposed. The last instance that came to my notice was at Bournemouth on July 22nd of the present year, when a large red mullet was caught on a line (mussel bait) on the “outfall” (see Bourne- mouth, Appendix). Mr. Wilcocks writes to me that, though he has only personally caught one, Mr. Maple of Shoreham took on one occasion no fewer than five; onlugworm. Mr. Maple himself tells me that the red mullet have of late been very scarce in the neighbourhood of Shoreham, but that, when 30 SEA-FISH. they are feeding, he finds no bait to come up to the lugworm. Mr. Wilcocks also says that one morning, an old bandsman took five on the north pier at St. Peter’s Port, Guernsey. A gen- tleman signing himself “ Oyster,” recently wrote in the Fishing Gazetée, in reply to a statement of my own concerning the rarity of the hooking of red mullet, that he had caught a number, one of them weighing a couple of pounds, on the French coast with leger-tackle ; and Mr. Leonard Hare, who also noticed my statement, writes to me that he once took one when wiffing off the Cornish coast. One of the earliest records, says Mr. Wilcocks in his letter, of the capture of red mullet on the hook is to be found in Salter’s Guide (1830) on p. 170. This is of all sea-baits perhaps the most reliable, especially in strange waters. It is too familiar a mollusc to need description, though mention must be made of the fibrous “beard,” which it secretes, and with which it can on occasion pull itself from point to point, eventually making it fast to some post in company with others. The pearl-bearing mussels once common in the Conway and other rivers, have no “beard,” and may therefore lead a roaming existence. The worst thing about the mussel is the enormous damage it does among the oyster: beds. It is more difficult to open properly than any other bivalve, and a note will be found on the subject in a subsequent chapter. The white, yellow and red mussels are races only ofa common species, the colour probably varying with the food in a manner that has not up to the present been satis- factorily explained. A red and a white mussel are Mussel SWAN ELECTRIC ENGRAVING CO. JOHN DORY. HENAY STANNARD, DEL. NATURAL HISTORY. 31 often a very killing combination for pollack or mackerel. This is one of the commonest and most trouble- some of our small sharks, but it is at any Nurse. rate prized more than the rest by the fisher- hound men, who eat it in many parts where they would not touch any of the rest. It is, judged without the prejudice that attaches to all its tribe, a hand- some fish, growing to alength of 4 or § feet., and not unlike the smaller rowhound aforementioned, only its spots are larger, fewer and more blurred. This fish is particularly common in Bournemouth Bay, where I catch a number every summer ; indeed, it is essentially a shallow-water fish. One of the commonest of our flat-fish, the plaice, gives good sport in the late summer and autumn, when it has attained to a weight of 3 or 4lbs., and will take the lug or mussel bait freely. “Like the dab aforementioned, from which it may be distinguished by the red spots that cover the body and fins, as well as by the bony ridge on the head, this fish spends its life in the sand. The mouth is small and situate at the end of the snout, and the teeth will be found to be more strongly developed on the left, or blind, side. Plaice One of the amateur’s favourite fish, so far as sport is concerned, though of little or no use for the table and quick to lose its freshness, the pollack, may be distinguished from the rest of the cod family by the combined absence of barbule, projecting lower jaw and dark colouring. It is a handsome fish, being taken of a weight of over 2olks., Pollack 32 SEA-FISH. though the angler has come nowadays to regard a pollack of 10 Ibs. as a good fish. It is found asa rule only among the rocks, the depth at which it feeds varying with the temperature, light and time of day. Cold and excess of sunlight drive it to the bottom, while it usually seeks its food, chiefly sand-eels and fry, close to the surface during the long early summer evenings, when it may be taken on surface-tackle from five in the afternoon until nine or even later. The pollack is a roving fish, a spell of cold weather sufficing to drive it into the outer water several miles from land, indeed it does not as a rule remain inshore for more than six months in the year. When feeling the hook, the pollack invariably heads straight for the ground, and this is the fact in its life-history that it most behoves the angler to bear in mind, for unless prepared to negotiate very warily, the finger being pressed on the rim of the reel to check the run, a smash will almost inevitably ensue. The rapidity with which the pollack decomposes has been alluded to; no fish is less fitted to bear transport inland, a fact to remember when sending presents of fish, The iniquities of the blue shark and of more Por. than one dog-fish have already been men- beagle tioned ; and it remains to add a few words shatk about the heaviest and most evil-smelling species of shark with which the amateur is likely to be troubled in English waters. A far deeper fish for its length than the more graccful blue shark, this specimen is netted in Cornish bays to a length of over Io feet, the weight of which may be approximately estimated when it is considered NATURAL HISTORY. 33 that a porbeagle of little over 4 feet will turn the beam at 50 lbs: When hooked, this shark shows less fight than the blue, but I have always found it perform the usual shark tactics of swimming to the surface and slacking the line, In colour, it is between a green and grey along the back and sides, lighter on the belly. This species, too well known to need either figure or description, ¢#e fish of pier- and pout or boat-fishing alike, prefers the rocks, over pouting which indecd it is imperative to bring up for really good pout-fishing, but is also taken from piers some distance from any reef. It has the beard of the cod family, to which it belongs, and its deep body is marked with vertical bands. Few of our fish take the hook at so early a stage, with the result that, although the pout grows to a length of a foot, and I have hooked many between the Foreland and the Land’s End weighing close on 3 lbs., it is much more familiar at a length of 3 or 4 inches and a weight of as many ounces. The pout is particularly fond of frequenting the neighbourhood of wrecks, which furnish shelter to successive generations of the fish and sport to successive generations of those who catch them. It is known in Cornwall as “bib,” and is almost invariably found there in the company of small “ power-cods.” In that favourite crustacean, the prawn, we have a sea-bait that has not up to the present attracted all the notice that it merits, which may in part be due to the somewhat high price of these animals. In the live prawn, however, there is, for those who do not mind the expense of buying D Prawn 34 SEA-FISH. or the trouble of netting it, a pollack-bait second only to the living sand-eel. Though not more delicate than other crustaceans, prawns do not thrive in the narrow confines of a bait-can, the courge (p.119) being the only satisfactory receptacle for the purpose ; and indeed the best way is, I have always found, to arrange with the owner of prawn-pots at so much a head for his catch (usually 2d. apiece), also hire himself and boat, let him row you out to the grounds where the pots are set (which are also the pollack-grounds), and remove each prawn from the pots as you place it on the hook. Of the anatomy of the prawn, on which something should be said in this place, it will suffice to mention the distinguishing toothed beak and the long and sensitive antenna, the small pincers and the fan-shaped tail that enables the prawn to leap backwards a distance exceeding his own length, which is not more than 4 inches. The prawn is essentially carnivorous, and, by tacit understanding, no questions are asked as to the fattening of those excellent prawns of Indian and other Eastern rivers that make such unrivalled curries. Our own species feed on any flesh they can get hold of, and are even known to dispossess anemones of half-devoured meals. Two sea-worms of great value to the angler have Rag- been mentioned above, and a third, less worm useful yet killing at times for pollack, is dug from the black ooze of harbours and estuaries, known as the rag-worm, or, at Dover and some other places, as the mud-worm. In colour, it varies from pink to yellow, with the iridiscence charac- teristic of sea-worms, and the body is furnished NATURAL HISTORY. 35 with many feet with gill-tufts, the head bearing a pair of hooked nippers. The rag-worm is very fragile and perishable, in consequence of which great care is necessary, both when digging it and placing it on the hook, in order to avoid a break- age at one of the joints. It can only be kept in damp weed away from the light, and it is advisable ‘to remove the dead worms (which assume a livid’ tint) as soon as possible. Of rays and skates, depressed members of the shatk sub-class, our seas have a number ; nor will it be necessary to consider the characters of the homelyn, thornback, mavis and the rest. AJl that concerns the amateur is that moderately large specimens of these cartilagenous fishes are from time to time hooked close in shore, when care should be taken to avoid a blow from the tail, which in some species is armed with curved spines that inflict a most painful wound. These rays, which hover like birds of prey over the flat fish lurking in the sand, have the curved mouth, like the allied sharks, beneath the head, though they are not observed to turn on their side in the same manner when seizing prey. The more usual method for them is to dig up the sand with their shovel-like snout, and snap up the flat-fish and crustaceans as they are forced from cover. It is noticeable that, like the flat-fish, rays and skate are very deceptive in the matter of weight, and a comparatively small fish will, owing to the resistance of the water, put an immense strain on the rod. The liver of the rays is, especially when a trifle decayed, much valued as bait for bass. Rays D2 36 SEA-FISH. As bait for conger, these small members of the Rock- cod family are, as a rule, not to be beaten, lings though I have alluded to one occasion on which they failed to attract. There are three ; one species having three beards, while in the others the number of these appendages is respectively four and five. The fry, silvery and lacking spots, are the “mackerel-midge,” so greedily devoured by surface-fish. Any of these rocklings, about seven inches long, make first-rate conger-bait ; and one of the best ways of taking these slippery fish at low water from the isolated rock-pools they in- habit is to draw off the water with a small garden- syringe. The cost of such a syringe is trifling, and the saving of time and trouble incalculable, as these fish are most difficult even to net. The water should be drawn off quickly, as the rock- lings will otherwise take the alarm and disappear into various holes and crannies, from which it is impossible to dislodge them. After the lug-worm and mussel, the sand-eel, or launce, must take precedence as an all- round bait ; indeed, for such fish (as bass and pollack) as will take live bait, the launce stands first. ‘There are at least two species on our sandy coasts—the larger, which grows to a length of 12 in., being distinguished from the smaller (maximum length, 7 in.) by the two horny teeth in the upper jaw. They have much the same habits, burrowing in the wet sand just above low- water mark, or swimming at the surface, often in the company of sand-smelts, fighting over all float- ing food, taking any small hook freely, and falling a prey to the pollack beneath and the gulls over- Sand-eel NATURAL HISTORY. 37 head. These fish are taken in the sean-net, or are raked out of the sand by moonlight with a peculiar weapon, not unlike a sickle. Sand-Smelt, see Syze/t. When mackerel-railing, still more frequently when fishing for mackerel with the drift-line, the amateur may catch a fish that at first puzzles him, its general outline re- sembling that of the commoner fish. The colour- ing is more sober, a bluish-grey along the back and sides without any of the silvery bands, and there are also bony plates along the lateral line. This is a scad, or horse-mackerel. It is useless as food ; and is said, though I have not noticed it, to grunt on being removed from the water. This August, in Cornwall, my boatman caught one of over 3 lbs, Shark, see Blue and Porbeagle. The shrimp is a smaller crustacean than the prawn ; indeed they cannot easily be confused, as the shrimp lacks the nippers and serrated Shrimp beak of the other. In habits, too, it is different, and instead of springing backwards when disturbed, it prefers subsiding in the sand, throwing up a cloud with its long swimming-feet, and burrowing with incredible rapidity. The shrimp may be taken in the ordinary shove-net. It should, if possible, be used alive, but I have known pout, when in the humour, take the firmer inside of boiled shrimp in preference to any other bait. Skate, see Rays. There is a small relative of the salmon, known in Scotland as the “sparling,” and with us as the smelt, which is excellent eating, and which, on our east coast at any rate, affords some Scad Smelt 38 SEA-FISH. sport with a light rod and fine tackle. This fish is replaced, however, on our south coast by the so- called “sand-smelt,” really the atherine, a small silvery fish lacking the adipose fin of the other. The atherine, which affects sandy bays, is caught in thousands every summer from Bournemouth pier. This summer (1897) the atherines came inshore early, so that the first were observed on the same day as the first swifts overhead; but for some reason or other, probably the cold, they disap- peared again for nearly a month, after which the supply was inexhaustible throughout the summer. Besides giving some sport for their size and being excellent on the table, these fish are among the best baits for turbot and other ground-fish. The amateur is not likely, unless he do a deal of night-fishing, to catch many soles ; but if minded to attempt their capture, he should bear in mind that they feed in the mud, and that the mouth is exceedingly small, the sole sucking in all manner of soft food. A lug-worm is as good a bait as any. The so-called “lemon sole” is more properly speaking a dab, in shape resembling the plaice group, to which it belongs. It is commonly caught, along with plaice and sand-dabs, from our south-coast piers in the autumn months. Sole This remarkable “ shell-fish,” pipe-shaped, as its name denotes, burrows in the wet sand just above Solen low-water mark, and, although my opinion of it as bait is not high, it is so interesting on 1 The sand-smelis do not as a rule enter the mouth of the Arum at Littlehampton before the end of August or beginning of September, “HSISaVO 09 ONIAPYONS QWLIaTa Newry, : 730 ‘auyNAYLS 4UNJH ASS NATURAL HISTORY. 39 other counts that brief mention must be made of its chief peculiarities. The most curious feature about this bivalve, which is also, from the sharp edges of its shells, known as the razor-fish, is its “ foot,” which it can use as a borer, anon inflating it to form a bulb with which it obtains a foothold in the wet sand, and draws itself up or down as the case may be. One of the best ways of procuring a solen is to put a little salt in the keyhole-shaped aperture of its shaft, when up comes the tenant to see what has irritated it. It must then be trans- fixed promptly with a barbed spear—a conger hook flattened out and lashed to a stick answers the purpose—for if missed, it will vanish at lightning speed, and all hope of getting that particular solen goes with it. Its burrows are easily found, if the observer has only the courage to walk backwards as near as possible to the edge of the receding water and keep a sharp look out for the two little jets of water that spring from the orifice when pressed by his foot. Superior in flavour to all other flat-fish except the sole, the turbot is as a rule only caught by the amateur in its juvenile stage, the allied and inferior brill being a still rarer catch. This fish, which is taken weighing as much as 20 lbs., has tubercles covering the body in place of scales. Its food consists chiefly of crustaceans, but it also feeds on small fish, and, as already mentioned, a sand-smelt is one of the best baits, and may, if not more than four inches long, be used whole. Turbot More often caught than desired, the fish of this genus require careful handling in order to avoid 4o SEA-FISH. the sharp spines behind the gill-covers, as, in a lesser degree, those on the dorsal fin, on account of their poisonous properties. These fishes lie in the sand, the eyes only exposed, and readily take any bait that lingers in reach. They are unusually prevalent after a spell of easterly wind, and are commonly called “sting- fish,” a name which is, however, indiscriminately applied to the equally abundant sea-scorpion. Weevers This, one of the most familiar of the cod family, is generally known by the sobriquet of “silver whiting,” to distinguish it, no doubt, © from the pout and pollack, to both of which the name of whiting is locally attached. The distinguishing features of the whiting are the absence of the family beard, the black lateral line, the black spot on the pectoral fin, and the more elongated form than that of the majority of its con- geners. The whiting is, unlike the pout and pollack, a sand-fish, though I have occasionally made good catches right on the rocks, more usually, however, on the hard sand at the edge of a reef. It feeds as a rule about a fathom from the ground in deep water, not more than a foot from the bottom if in a depth of less than ten fathoms. (This, of course, with the local exceptions permitted to every rule.) Whiting are taken weighing over 4 lbs., but a 3 lb. fish is a “specimen.” Whitin In the wrasses, characterised by their thick mobile lips, and strong crushing teeth, most of them brightly coloured, we have a large group of fish practically useless for the table, but continually invading the hook, especi- Wrasses NATURAL HISTORY. 41 ally in the neighbourhood of rocks covered with long, waving green weed. These fishes can scize a bait of larger size than the apparent stretch of their jaws would lead one to suppose. In most, the scales are of large size, but in some they are imbedded, so that the fish are very smooth to the touch. Owing to the nature of the air-bladder, two of the species cannot regain their proper position when thrown back in the water, and con- sequently float, a prey to gulls and other fowl. A live wrasse (locally, “rock fish”) is the favourite bait at Littlehampton for large bass, and is hooked through the tail. DEATH OF THE BLUE SHARK. [From a Kodak snap by HaroLD FREDERIC.] COAPLER. Ii. SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. SEA-FISHING with rod and line has in our seas come in fashion almost within the last ten years, while the float and groundbait have, for general use, arrived from inland waters at a date still more recent. By degrees, and almost imperceptibly, the term “sea-angler” has come to indicate one who uses the rod in salt water, though many still use it in the broader sense of any amateur sea-fisherman, whether he seek his sport with rod or hand-line. The sug- “4 gestion made last winter by “Red Spinner,” Shinneva® that the committee of the British Sea ee et nglers’ Society should pass a law pledging members of the society to use the rod, has not, I believe, been acted upon, but has much to commend it, provided some loophole be left for the use of the more primitive hand-line whenever con- ditions render the rod less effective. For it is certain, though in our new enthusiasm Case for for the rod we are in danger of forgetting oe the fact, that there ave conditions under line which the hand-line is not only as good, but indeed better. The rod may, it is true, be SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 43 preferable in nine cases out of ten, but there is a denth case for the discarded hand-line. It was, I think, during my fishing experiences in Australia that the few but insuperable limitations of the rod were brought home to me ina Seas way that admitted of no further doubt. fishing The Pacific Ocean does not always act upto in the ‘ ‘ Pacific its name, and the ground swell is frequently appalling. In pursuit of that handsome red bream, the schnapper, a grand fish that should find a place in the arms of the colonies, we used to drift three or four knots an hour over the roughest of ground, a four or five pound lead on the line, and the gunwale of the little steam-tug dipping now and again to the very edge of the green water that hid huge sharks, ever ready to wrench a good fish from the hook. Amid such surroundings, the rod would have been no more than a farce. Insular prejudice is a hardy weed, and I took my rod out on the first occasion, but had not the folly to put it together, preferring to accustom myself to the use of the hand-line which I had unreservedly condemned in the old country. Sharks, however, and other southern eccentricities apart, there are cases even here on our own coasts in which a great depth of water, or a spell of extra and breezy weather—the necessity, in short, for using heavy leads of four or five pounds—may render the rod, if not a useless, at least a very tiring and unmanageable weapon. This was well expressed by “ President,” in the Frshing Gazette (April roth, 1897). Those who prefer adapting themselves to the requirements of the moment, instead of adhering blindly, like the most rabid among the dry-fly or wet-fly trout fishermen, to one principle under 44 SEA-FISH. opposite conditions, will find a few particulars on the subject of modern hand-lining in the next chapter. The first consideration is the rod itself. The main requirements of the sea-rod are strength and lightness ; and the great diffi- culty that must present itself to the tyro about to purchase his rod is the matter of length. In this particular, sea-rods have undergone some strange changes. A very little travel on the coasts of continental countries shows us that the rod had its origin in sea-fishing on rocky coasts. Near Gibraltar and near Naples, you may see the natives Long using enormous bamboos, 20 ft. in one piece. rods The reason for this is obvious. Although the water is usually of a depth sufficient for pur- poses of fishing right up to the foot of the cliffs, just as it is round a large part of the 8,000 miles of Australian coast, there are generally small out- lying rocks to clear ; and it is with this object that the long rod is used. A case is found in the Channel in the Admiralty Pier at Dover, on the western parapet of which, owing to the position of the angler, it is impossible to fish with com- fort with anything under 15 ft, 20 not being amiss. When the rod came into general use among amateurs in salt water, say about 1887, it was also the fashion, whether fishing from boat or picr, to use a long bamboo rod, often wholly out Short Of proportion to the needs of the case, rods From that, opinion veered round, as it so often does, to the opposite extreme, and it became the correct thing to fish with those short rods of 6 or 7 ft, of which there are a variety ot patterns still in vogue. For boat-fishing, especi- SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 45 ally where the company numbers three or more, and space is a consideration, there can be no doubt that these dwarfed rods are extremely convenient ; a = a sae as =H ee Tha Steak = ti al Ake ee fms a: lz i ere Suort Rov. “Farne” Rop. but there can also, I think, be no doubt’ that, being as stiff as golf-clubs, they give far less sport than something a trifle more springy. For general purposes, then, where it is not necessary to use 46 SEA-FISH. leads of over a pound at the outside, the ideal rod lies in my opinion somewhere between the tarpon- and salmon-rod, and I have long found a three-joint rod of Io ft., made for me by Little, a very sporting article. The butt and first joint, of bamboo, measure respectively 41 and 40 ins. ; the top, of lancewood, measures an inch short Acom- Of the last, and there is a spare top of promise only 25 ins. making an excellent stiff rod of 8 ft. 10 in. for pollack, or, when attainable, bass. If a little additional expense is not objected to, it is advisable to buy two rods at, say, a guinea apiece, one like the above—or the ro ft. “ Farne” rod sold by Hardy—for boat- and ordinary pier- fishing ; the second, of 16 or even 18 ft. for ex- ceptional cases. Do not pin your faith to what is known asa “general” rod. A jack-of-all-trades of this kind is an abomination, so far at least as sea- fishing goes, and I understand that it is equally objected to in fresh water; it is a makeshift under all conditions, and never exactly the right thing. Having decided on the length of the rod, one or Rubber tWO points remain which are of great im- knob on portance in ‘sea-angling. The simplest of the butt these, which may be dismissed with a few words, is the additional comfort derived, especially when standing up in a boat, from the addition of a soft rubber knob to the extremity of the butt, which can be rested in the hollow of the thigh when playing a heavy fish, a practice that would not be comfortable with the usual wooden or metal ex- tremity. If added when the rod is purchased, the ‘cost of this improvement should at most be nominal ; indeed, many sea-rods are supplied with it ready, SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 47 o The winch-fittings ar I 7 ih another important winch. | | oe ae a sea-rod, for it is often found i i | FI | necessary, especially when a shark has run out and de- parted with thirty or forty / yards of line, to substitute another winch of different size. It is therefore advisable to have the butt fitted with one of the new patent a ——— that take any size of reel. More, as the support of the winch is very liable to a twist from a blow or other cause, I would strongly advise the angler never being without a few of those stout rubber rings, sold for umbrellas at a cost of one penny in the streets or at any rubber-warehouse. || These are strong- enough to Hi keep even the largest winch in position, two being used before and two behind. The most important items of the rod, however, are unquestionably the rings, the top ring above all. To keep the line from overrunning or fouling, and at the same time to allow of its passing freely through them, these rings should be large | ul | i | HI | ! iN Rings “ WEEGER” FITTINGS. 48 SEA-FISH. and not too few, one to each foot of rod being a good average. The so-called “snake” pattern is unquestionably the best, for want at any rate of a better ; it is in the form,-not of a snake, but of the position adopted by caterpillars when moving over smooth surfaces, and half an inch is not too high for it. It cannot, : however, be insisted that SwakE RING. this ring is so infallible as was at first claimed for it. At the same time, if far from the ideal, it is the best on the market. The stouter the wire of which it is made, the less likelihood is there of the line catching round it, and the easier it will be found to shake the line in place should such a hitch occur. It is to the top ring, however, upon which fall the strain and friction, that the attention of practical anglers has been devoted, and some highly ingenious devices have been the result, pre-eminent among which stand Jones’s pulley-block, of which I have unfortunately no drawing, and Bickerdyke’s moving ring that adapts itself to any angle. Either of these con- trivances must in reason minimise the wear and tear; and I have given them, and many more, a trial with the best results. At the same time, I think it honest to confess that I have for some years past used an ordinary top ring, such as might be found on any modern pike-rod, without having once suffered accident, This may, however, have been luck; and the modern recruit to the rank of salt-water fishermen will doubtless feel a strong preference for the very latest contrivances. Top ring SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 49 Two qualities are essential in this top ring ; it must be large and smooth, half an inch in diameter and preferably of some material like bone or ivory. An inner ring, revolving loosely, so that it is possible Brass Heap kina. to present new surface to the friction of the line, is another excellent patent. Messrs. Hardy are shortly bringing out an improved top ring, which will sheer to right or left with the pull of tide or fish, E 50 SEA-FISH. Next in importance, if not indeed first, comes the reel, or winch. Some one writing of tarpon-fishing, Mr. Harmsworth, I believe, tells us that the reel costs four or five times as much as the rod; and, in a smaller ratio, the same holds good of sea-fishing. A sea-rod may be pur- chased for half-a-guinea; but an efficient reel, able not only to hold a hundred yards of strong line, but also to reel it up in the shortest time and with the least possible number of revolutions, as well as to resist the rotting effects of sea-water, is not to be had much under twice that sum. I have used a variety of sea-reels, in ebonite, wood, aluminium, gun-metal and the rest, and ranging from ten shillings to forty; and my favourite is the latest acquisition, a 54-inch combination of wood, bound with metal and aluminium, and furnished with the excellent “Bickerdyke” line guard. If I remember rightly, the price of this reel was eighteen shillings ; but it is easily recognised by the circular perforations in the barrel, which both lighten the whole and serve in a measure to dry the line by admitting the air. Itis to all intents and purposes a star- backed “Nottingham” winch, free-running with optional check ; and the mechanism of the latter is simplicity itself, all the parts being of gun-metal. The barrel can be removed in a moment by a few turns of a screw, a preferable method to the spring catch by which this was accomplished in another reel of mine, a 43-inch vulcanite, furnished with a brake acted on by the forefinger, with which I did all my fishing for eight years, and with which, for the matter of that, I fish still whenever the other wants a rest. Yet another winch that I used with good results for a time was a composite metal Reel SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. oa affair that I purchased of Hardy, of Alnwick, but the sea-water played the mischief with it. The writer of the “ Badminton ” volume cautions us against these optional check winches with a steel spring inside; but, wholly as I agree with him as to the desirability of excluding steel generally from the sea-fishing outfit, I cannot forget that the above-men- Vurcanite Wincn tioned vulcanite reel, which Peer saw service not only on our own coasts, but also in the Baltic, Mediterranean, Suez Canal, Red Sea and Indian and Pacific Oceans, a fair all round test with waters of various saltness, never to my know- ledge admitted the water ; and a touch with emery paper, followed bya drop or two of oil, was all that was required at the close of cach of its cight seasons to renew it for the next. We cannot, however, afford to lose sight of the deadly antipathy between steel and salt water ; and any and every contrivance for keeping them apart is welcome, I shall not include any account of the “Multiplying” winch ; for, in the first place, it is not a desirable weapon in the hands of the tyro; and secondly, I am persuaded that an optional check Nottingham winch is, with certain slight modifica- tions, all that is required. At the same time, I think it fair to mention, for the sake of those who are disposed to give that New World con- outa trivance, the “Automatic” winch, a trial, that matic” Alderman Newlyn, of Bournemouth, a sea- wanED fisherman of long experience, has the greatest E 2 52 SEA-FISH. faith in it for mackerel-fishing from a boat; and he has often told me that, but for such a reel, he would have lost many a mackerel and _ pollack when, as often happens with those fish, they career wildly under the keel, and, making for the surface after the manner of sharks, get a slack on the line and shake the steel out. The “ Automatic” reel, when it will condescend to work, allows of no such pranks, as it keeps the line taut. But, as I said above, these Automatic WINCH. fancy reels are worse than useless in the hands of a man who does not understand their peculiarities. Having disposed of the rod and reel, I come to the question of the line, one of those matters of opinion on which it seems sheer im- possibility for any two writers to agree. Let me say at the outset that I have no very pronounced opinion on the subject, and that the durability of a sea-line lies, so far as I can make out, in its treatment rather than in its material. The actual quality of line will always be a matter of individual taste and extravagance. Highly dressed pike-lines, costing from 14d. to 3@. the yard, are very good for the work ; but you can catch just as Line SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 53 many fish on a fine tanned line at 8s. the hundred ; indeed, my Cornish boatman takes all his fish on a line costing 1Iod. the hundred! One maxim I would insist on, and that is the more line you carry on your reel, provided, of course, that the free running of the latter be not impeded, the better. Accidents happen at least as frequently in sea-fishing as elsewhere ; and it is very annoying to lose a good fish for want of another ten yards of line, or, if a bad break occurs early in the day, in which perhaps 30 or 40 yards are carried away, to have to stop fishing, and weigh anchor from sheer inability to reach the bottom. Therefore, always carry a good 80 or I00 yards of line—a 44-inch reel will take this with ease if properly wound— and it is a good principle to retain a “ backing” of the better moiety of the last year’s line followed by 40 or 50 of new. I hope thisis clear. The half of the line nearest the barrel lasts far longer than the lower half, for the simple reason that it is less in the water ; and instead of fitting up entirely new lines throughout each season, it answers every purpose to renew the last half only, being careful of course to make the splicing very strong and of such a nature as to run freely through the rings. It is necessary to bear in mind that the effect of sea-water on most lines is little less deleterious than on steel, and that those who would rely on their line in the hour of need should not think it too much “fag” to soak it for an hour after poo each day’s fishing in soft water, after which ment of it should be dried, wound round and round S¢#Hines a chair or towel-horse, the surplus water being first squeezed out by drawing the line through a towel held tightly between the thumb and forefinger. A line treated with this consideration will never 54 SEA-FISH. break under a little additional strain, and should bear all that is likely to be put upon it for at least six months of continuous fishing ; a line on which the sea-water is allowed to dry day after day may snap under a Io Ib. pollack within a fortnight of its first outing. It is quite useless to complain to the dealer from whom it was bought; for the mishap would be no fault of his. Some friction might, however, be saved if the dealers would only re- member to warn their customers of the necessity of the daily washing and drying ; indeed, the cost of printing a label with a few words to that effect would be so trifling that sea-lines might well be stamped with some such legend when sold. The materials recommended for sea-lines are excelled in number only by the dressings. I propose leaving both to the taste of the purchaser, the only essential con- ditions being that the line shall be strong, fine, and not given to kinking, that abomination of nine lines out of every ten. It is, of course, possible to use a much finer line with a rod than when hand-lining ; for in the latter method, as practised at least in this country, a very fine line would cut the finger-joints. Moreover, unless an expert, the hand-liner is very likely to get too fine a line snapped by the sudden rush of a pollack or large mackerel, which is, to a great extent, counterbalanced by the elasticity of the top joint of the rod. The hooks figured on the opposite page are the average sizes in use for the chief fish. Having rigged up the rod, reel (the handles of Bottom. Which should face the angler’s /:/7, as the tackle reel is to be used beneath the rod), and line, the next consideration is the particular fine tackle, or combination of gimp or gut, hooks and leads ; and the remarks which follow may be applied with Hooks *(@ZIS IVALOV) SNOOP] ‘IVYANAD FALT ‘taDuoD pur sseg °¢ “WeaIg Pue yEOg *h ‘paraxpepy pue Suny “€ -ymog pue Ys eq “e youtg 7 y 56 SEA-FISH. equal force to the hand-line, on the management of which some special hints are given in the next chapter. There are three typical rigs of bottom-tackle, —the paternoster, leger, and chopstick. The multi- plication of patterns and fads based on these three types is infinite; and if I explain the standard principle of each, the rest may very well be left to the angler’s own ingenuity, for it is then merely a question of adapting one or the other to some unforeseen condition of things,—a swift current maybe, a dockhead, or an overhanging rock. The history of these names, of the first more particularly, having been discussed by every fore- going writer and being of no practical interest, I will merely refer to the accompanying figures for 0 Revotvinc Boom. all the explanation necessary. It will at once be Pater- seen that the object of the paternoster is noster_ to scarch more than one depth; of the chop- stick, to keep the hooks at the same depth, usually just clear of the ground ; while the leger has to SzA-PATERNOSTERS. 58 SEA-FISH. fish on the ground, which bears the whole weight of the pierced lead, through which runs the line. As I said above, the variations on these simple models are infinite. The paternoster, the crude form of which was used by the monks of old to catch their pike and perch, has been invested in its new surroundings with arms of brass, cane, or even whalebone, all with the object of keeping the hooks clear of the mainline, as well as with patent swivels, interchangeable leads and a number of other dignities unknown in less pretentious days. The leger (which in the vocabulary of the Thames barbel-fisher means little more than a split bullet, Leger PATERNOSTER ATTACHMENTS, or coffin-shaped lead, through which the line can pass freely from the angler, its progress in the opposite direction being checked by a large split -SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 59 shot nipped on just above the hook) has also been modified for use in salt water, a second hook being generally attached above the lead, in which form the tackle becomes, strictly speaking, a combined leger and paternoster. In boat-fishing, where the angler is directly over the lead, an ordinary plummet is found more sensitive than the regu- lation leger-lead. The chop-stick, the favourite tackle of the pro- fessional hand-liners, has also been made up Chop- in a number of “ rigs,” not, however, for the stick modern amateur, but for the native fishermen of each county. These rigs differ chiefly in the length of the arms and in the position of the lead. For light inshore fishing, the pattern overleaf figured will be found most sensitive, but for deeper water something heavier will be preferred. It has often troubled sea-anglers, when confronted with a strong tide, that each rod will not bear without undesirable strain more than a_ given amount of lead, and this difficulty has at last been .got over by Mr. T. Y. Bramwell. My atten- tion was first drawn to it in the /zshing Gazette, and it is so simple as to explain itself. The secret lies in the use of an independent hand-line for the lead, of the entire weight of which the rod is thus relieved, the rod line being merely caught in the clip, from which it is freed by the striking of a fish. Like the majority of excellent innovations, this device is so simple that the wonder is that it Should not have been thought of sooner. Un- fortunately, too, it is a tackle that does not present sufficient difficulties in construction to enable its inventor to patent it and reap the material benefit which he so fully deserves; but he will at any 60 SEA-FISH. Cuopstick. “WHYANOVW "09 ONIAFHONS 91419319 Ne AS S AUNaM SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 61 rate enjoy the thanks of all whose eyes he has opened. This “Spin-Brown” tackle, as it is called, can be applied to bottom-fishing or drift-lining, as well as to railing, for which its inventor originally designed it. It will now be necessary to mention one or two other tackles in general use for certain methods of fishing ; but the three foregoing, the pater- noster, chopstick and leger, are the chief. A style of fishing, the practical details of which will be more fully dealt with in the chapter on boat-fishing, and known as raving, whiffing —in Cornwall as plummetting, not unlike the plumb-lining of the Windermere charr-fishers— or reeling, often requires a pecu- liarly leaded trace at the end of the main line. The material of which this trace is made de- pends largely on the size and strength of the fish in the neigh- bourhood, twisted or plaited, gut being a favourite, though I have managed good pollack and mackerel, the former up to 5 lbs., on single gut. For the beginner —and this is a general rule in Railing SINKHER “Spin-BRown” TACKLE. Swivéee the choice of gear—the stronger trace will be found safer, as the playing of anything over 2 lbs. on single gut is so much a matter of practice that it becomes a question no longer of the fish, but purely 62 SEA-FISH. of the fisher. Having served a useful apprenticeship with gimp or treble gut,the angler will enjoy at a later stage landing fish of 5 Ibs. or more on single tackle. Railing is practised (see Chap. VI) with either the natural or the artificial bait, but in either case the trace is made to taper somewhat as it approaches the hook, which is generally fastened by a short snoodofa single gut. In “plummeting” for mackerel, the Cornish method, the hook lies about a couple of fathoms (12 ft.) beyond the plummet,! and the 3-in. snood is of single gut, the line itself being very fine, save the upper few feet, where it is held in the PLumMeETING LEAD, hand. This last is thicker, and those whose hands are particularly sensitive can still further lessen the chance of a cut by the use of a wooden “ togele.” A good deal of ingenuity has from time to time been spent on the designing of leads for these rail- ing-lines, the great aim being to make them as sensitive as possible, that is to say as little as possible in the way of the angler’s hand at once feeling the slightest nibble at the hook that he is towing astern ; and opinions differ much as to the best form. Personally, I do most of my railing, let me hasten to admit, without lead at all, this plan 1 To be more precise, the hook on the light stern-line (lead, about 1 lb.) is 34 fathoms from the lead ; on the medium after-lines (lead, 2 lbs.) the distance between lead and hook is 24 fathoms ; while on the heavy for’ard-lines (lead, 3 Ibs.) it is only 14 fathoms, \ SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 63 having the unquestionable advantage of enabling a lazy man to row at the slowest possible pace. For, obviously, with a heavy lead it is necessary to move at a speed of two or three knots an hour in order to keep the lead from sinking to the rocks ; whereas with no lead at all, it is only needful to keep the craft just moving. I only fish in this way, I should add, just before and after sunset, when the pollack are playing close to the surface ; but those who pursue this method earlier in the day, when the sun is high, will have to use some, often much, lead to sink the bait to the greater depth at which the fish then feed. The choice then lies between some kind of pipe- lead, or the more usual boat-shaped arrangement, Geen’s LEAD. ) Pire Leap. SENSITIVE PirE LEAD. Boat-sHAPED LEap. JaRDINE’S LEAD. and I must say I prefer the former, and several at intervals, in preference to one of several ounces The clip arrangement, alluded to above, would meet the difficulty admirably. Jardine’s spirally- 64 SEA-FISH. grooved lead is also very convenient for easy adjustment or removal. The artificial baits, which rarely beat the sand- eel, and which will only occasionally kill at Bourne- mouth against the all-powerful local mussel, are legion, the chief being the rubber-eel, with or with- out a “ baby spinner,” and either white, red, or drab. Hearder, of Plymouth, supplies these baits in great variety, and they can also be found in most of the London shops. The “baby” can be used with or without a strip of mackerel, a sand-eel, mussel, or other natural bait. The caprice of the fish on any given day must be discovered; it cannot be guessed beforehand. Sometimes they prefer the spinner by itself ; at others, it is necessary further to rouse their appetite by the addition of a frag- ment of fish or mussel. The rubber-eels and band baits sold by most makers are often found in prac- tice to hang too far below the hook: if it is found that fish after fish seize the bait without being hooked, cut off, an inch at a time, the rubber beneath the hook, and results will usually improve now that the pollack can no longer nibble at the extremity with impunity. I confine myself, however, in the present chapter to the bare mention of such tackle as is referred to in the following pages ; its manipu- lation will be dealt with in the chapters on pier and boat-fishing. The soleskin bait is, in combination with a “baby,” very killing at times. Many, “John Bickerdyke” among them, trail their sand-eel on some kind of spinning flight, the “Chapman” spinner being a favourite, as they might in fresh water. I have tried these arrangements in salt water times out of number, but have found nothing beat the far simpler device AGVG GN¥ NINSAIOS “laq-NaqdaAy “SGNVQ GNV UANNIdS Agvg GNV 199) “AVG, 66 SEA-FISH. of merely passing the hook of a “baby” through the launce’s upper lip. I have even taken very fair pollack on a dead launce hanging in this way at the end of an unleaded drift-line. Sea-fish are, at any rate up to the present, less discriminating than those of river and lake, and “ deadly spins,” attractive matter though they make for description, are in most cases superfluous. Another killing method of using the rod, espe- Float. cially off pier-heads, is in conjunction with fishing 4 float, a stout adaptation of the tackle used in bottom-fishing in rivers. The sea-float, however, must be a portly article, capable of carrying several ounces of lead in the tideway, conspicuous too at a distance of forty or fifty yards. The best float I have yet come across was given to me by Mr. Jardine, the well-known pike- fisher, who has also a fondness for sea-fishing. It allows the line to pass freely from hook to rod, but, as in the leger aforementioned, its passage in the opposite direction is effectually checked by a small bristle or india-rubber band of such a size that, while passing through the top ring, it stops at the float. The advantage of this stop is obvious; the angler can fish a depth of twenty or thirty feet, and when he comes to reel in a fish, the float glides down the line to the hook, whereas with the usual fixed float it would be impossible to fish such a depth save with a rod of the same length! One of the best features in Mr. Jardine’s float was a spare red top for use in flecked water where the ordinary white top, which cannot be beaten in still water, would so harmonise with the foam around as to escape notice, or at any rate severely try the eye. The spiral wire at either end of the float involycs the SWAN ELECTRIC EMORAVING Co. Dew. HENRY STANNARD, MULLET. GREY SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 67 same principle of easy adjustment as in the spiral lead aforementioned designed by the same angler. The exact form of lead for use in float-fishing is largely a matter of taste. The split shot in vogue on the river are not of much use in the tideway, where something more solid is required. Small pierced bullets are as good as anything, though I usually have in my basket either a small coil of soft lead wire, or else of the thin sheeting which is sold in penny rolls, for plumbing the depth. Either of these can be added to the line, a fraction of an ounce at a time, until the float rides just as re- quired, and each has the further advantage of taking up little room when bound round the gut being far less likely to disturb the fish than would a number of additional bullets of the same weight. In the foregoing pages, mention has been made of all the typical tackles on which are based every combination which the angler is likely to devise. Thus, the drift-line is merely a float-line without cither float or lead; the trot, or long line, is to all intents and purposes a number of paternosters tied together and used horizontally instead of vertically, between two weights that lie on the bottom, the floating trot being, as its name implies, the same, with buoys in conjunction with the leads. There remain, however,a number of implements, which, coming under the convenient and accommo- dating head of sundries, need a few words before we quit the tackle department. On some of these, my advice will, I fear, appear revolutionary, con- flicting not only with the verdict of other writers on the subject, but even with what I have said on previous occasions, On this I prefer being frank : F 2 68 SEA-FISH. it is my object to give the best counsel at my disposal in the light of recent experiences, and I have no intention of sparing my own previous errors where I think it to the reader’s benefit that I should recant. First, the basket, or creel, a most useful and important receptacle. A deal has been written on this subject, much has been said for and against open or closed creels, still more in preference of a bag to any basket yet designed. Basket HEE (i cy Now, the orthodox creel, of the pattern figured, is undoubtedly an excellent article ; but to be of any use for holding one’s lines and reels it must be of the largest size procurable—my own is over 2 ft. long, and I picked it up, as one picks up so many useful things at low prices, as a “misfit” that had been ordered but not paid for—and being as it is somewhat unwieldy, I cannot help thinking that its SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 69 permanent place is at home or aboard a yacht. For ordinary everyday purposes of taking one’s tackle, and bringing back the fish, I find a couple of the straw bags used by fishmongers and poulterers answer every purpose. These ‘cost only a shilling the dozen, and can consequently be renewed once or twice in the week, more particu- larly the one used for the carriage of fish. There are, it is true, a number of bags and baskets with Tue “GresHam” Bac. separate compartments for the latter ; but these do not answer the purpose, in my opinion, with sea fish, many of which, whiting, conger and mullet among them, impart an odour that is not to be got rid of by the usual method of scrubbing with soda and hot water. Perhaps the best bag sold for the purpose is that named after the “Gresham” Angling Society, to a member of which we owe the pattern. While on the subject of the carriage of fish, I may as well say a word, not knowing where I shall find better occasion, on the practice of sending presents of sea-fish to friends inland. As a matter of plain truth, it is, unless done with 70 SEA-FISH. discrimination and common sense, a very silly cus- tom indeed. Whiting, for instance, and pollack are often despatched in this way in the height of summer from watering-places a hundred miles or more from the metropolis ; the recipients have perhaps to pay considerable carriage on them, even if they have been nominally freighted to the door, and they arrive in a condition that even offends the cat. In point of fact, it would have been difficult to select two fish less likely to bear the journey, though mackerel and sole would have been nearly as hope- less. If fish must be sent in this manner, let them at any rate be such as have a chance of reaching their destination in an eatable state—plaice, floun- der, codling or dab. Let them be cleaned and rubbed with salt, and each fish done up in dry weed in a separate straw bag of the kind mentioned above ; and, above all, let them be despatched with due regard for the time of arrival, so that they may not pass the night in the station. Flat fish are able to survive removal from the water by some hours if kept moist and cool ; and it has been found possible to get them alive from Southend to Fenchurch Street by keeping them in wet seaweed, the hamper lying in the shade under the seat. The next article that occurs to me is the gaff, which, as their function is identical, we may Gaffana COMsider together with the landing-net. landing- Here, again, the patterns are various, net being indeed of less significance than the length of the handle, which should vary according to circumstances. Tor boat-fishing, for example, I prefer a handle of not more than 3 ft. in length, whereas for mackerel or mullet from piers and SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 71 jetties, a handle of 5 or 6 ft. will often be found indispensable. Of the variety of patterns that are designed for the trout stream or salmon river, and which are doubtless well enough in the right place, I would counsel dis- trust: they are not adapted to the rough wear and tear of sea-fishing; and even if the salt water does not tell sooner or later on the all too unprotected screws, the fragile parts are certain to come to grief, most often when beach- ing the boat, a very trying time when the seas run heavy for everything on board. The simplest thing is in sea-fishing, as in much beside, the best. My own gaff for boat work —I bought it in Australia for about a shilling—is a 3 ft. ash pole, into one end of which is wedged a hake-hook, the barb of which has been re- [ moved. The flattened end f of the shank was obviously Bz beaten back in a curve, driven i 3 into the hollow end of the Wes ash handle, and kept in its place by a number of small wedges. I have brought a number of fish to the boat with it in both hemispheres, and never want a better. The gaff is,asa rule, used for large fish, the net for small, an indefinite division that leaves room for the exercise of individual eccentricity. As a matter of fact, it is a mistake to leave the beach Lanpinc-Net. NY ‘ ) iy AX ‘? § %) ' y A () x » () i ) ) ’ i vS \) i \ \ ‘ 72 SEA-FISH. without having both aboard; for it is always impossible to say what will be the size of the largest fish, and the net alone would come off badly with any of the spinous dog-fish that one hooks so often when fishing for mackerel or whiting. A great deal has been written in learned vein on the subject of gaffing. The tail is usually aimed at, as the specimen is less likely to be damaged ; moreover, the strength of the fish lies in its tail, therefore that extremity should get the angler’s best attention. There is also, I believe, some idea of its being possibly found desirable to return the fish, in which case the gaff is less likely to injure it if inserted in the tail. These reflections are very charming on the edge of the salmon-pool; but at sea, I fear, we gaff bass, pollack, or dog-fish very much where we can, most often in the gill-covers. The confession is a humiliating one, but better made. Fish of less than a pound .can usually be “hauled” without either net or gaff, though the hook-gut is not improved by the strain of these deadweights. My boatman in Cornwall] rarely used either gaff or net, lifting pollack up to 10 lbs. weight into the boat with his left arm. Where, however, as in the case of the grey mullet and smelt, the lip of the fish is very delicate and likely to break, it is much safer to use a net for even quite small fish. If a second person is holding the net, let him keep it perfectly steady, with one SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 73 edge dipping under the surface, leaving the angler to guide the fish into it. Any attempt on the part of the assistant to scoop up the fish will almost certainly end in disaster. In landing fish from a pier, a large net is preferable to a gaff, as the effec- tive use of a long-handled gaff is exceedingly difficult, even for an expert+ Pike Scissors. But the fight is not quite over when a large fish is brought safely to the boat or landing- Gav aad stage, for the hook has yet to be recovered dis- from its often well-armed jaws; and, if the ®°™8°* angler has no spare hook, time may be a great con- sideration. It is found necessary (a) to make the fish open its mouth, often no easy matter ; (b) to keep the mouth open without bringing the fingers in contact with its teeth ; (c) to push out the hook often from far down in the throat. To aid in these 1 The neatest manipulation of landing-net and rod I ever saw was at Littlehampton, where the mullet-fishers keep a stone or two in the net, the weight of which holds the latter in position. DisGoRGER. SEA-FISH. various operations, a number of weapons have been designed under the name of gags, Z.¢.,those employed in opening and fixing the jaws, and disgorgers, z.2., those used in push- ing out the hook. Of gags, there are various patterns, and the sca-angler should never attempt to unhook a Jarge pollack, conger, or dog-fish, without one. A fairly good form is shown in the left-hand cut on the previous page, its hooks being made to diverge by a few turns of the handle, on the principle of the Archimedean screw, the knob being first used to give the fish a quieting tap as a preventive of any sudden playfulness ; but a better pattern has been designed, the use of which is as simple as that of the scissors which it resembles. This gag has an arrangement by which the jaws can be distended to their full width, and it is somewhat less likely to get out of order than the last, which, I well remember, played me a sad trick with a conger at Ramsgate ten years ago, when I had a narrow shave with the forefinger of my right hand. The old form of disgorger, shown in the figure, has also been improved upon for sea-fishing ; and there is a pattern that cnables the angler to get a good grip of the line, when, as is often the case with large flat-fish, the hook is taken so far down as to be out of sight. In few of the implements of his craft does the fisherman’s individual taste find expression in greater variety than in the form of knife which he produces when wanted, cither for cutting up the Knife RED MULLET. SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 75 bait, killing the larger fish, or trimming the knots on his line. Yet nowhere perhaps is there Icss room for variety. In the first place, two out of the three operations just enumerated should not on any account be performed with a knife at all; ‘« PRIEST.” the fish should be killed with a blow from a be- laying pin or the gaff handle, better still with a leaded hammer or “priest,” of some pattern like that figured, which is made by Farlow; and the line should be trimmed with scissors, which enables one to clip the ends much closer without repeatedly scoring the gunwale or one’s thumb, as so often happens when using a large knife for the purpose FISHERMANS \ KNIFE. of trimming knots in a heavy sea. For the cutting of bait, two knives should be used ; a small knife with rounded (ot pointed) blade for opening mussels,! a larger weapon for cutting up mackerel, herring, or squid. On no account use a folding 1 The blade should be inserted in the small orifice found on scraping off the ‘‘beard,” and should then be worked completely round either shell to sever the mussel from its armour, 76 SEA-FISH. pocket-knife for cither, or accidents will be frequent. Failing one of the excellent Norwegian pattern, which are far and away the best for most outdoor work, it is best to take an old table knife, in doing which be careful to select one with a stiff blade. Those in which, through long use, the blade has been worn thin, bending easily to left or right, slip into one’s fingers at the least provocation, and are far better overboard. This chapter may perhaps be brought to a close with a word more, in addition to what has been said above, as to the care of tackle,—a most im- portant subject in all fishing, in sea-fishing more than the rest. The maxim of the French engineer, that no fortress is stronger than its weakest part, has been so often quoted in connection with tackle that I am afraid to take it as the text of the following remarks; but it should at any rate be borne in mind that every inch of the line, every strand of the gut, every part of the hook must be kept perfect, and that there is no co-operative principle whereby extra strength in one part atones at the critical pass for weal:ness in another. The great enemy, one ever at work against the owner of tackle, is damp. Paradox as this may seem in the case of tackle manufactured to endure long exposure to water, it is a fact that damp is almost as fatal to tackle as it is to guns and powder. It is customary to keep tackle in out- houses without regard to their dryness or tempcra- ture ; but this is a most absurd practice. If there is a harness-room handy, as when putting up at an hotcl, it is a good plan to earn—otherwise buy— the friendship of the ostler and secure a corner for your gear, for such places are usually kept at a dry and equable temperature. Otherwise, I generally SEA-RODS, REELS, AND VARIOUS TACKLES. 77 keep my rods in the living-room, a habit that does not always meet with the enthusiastic approval which it undoubtedly deserves. It is important to remember, though the remark scems trite, that objects impregnated with so greedy an absorbent of moisture as salt can never be properly dry for long together. Yachting men know this well; but it might perhaps be news to others that a coat that has been dashed with salt spray in the summer will still be damp during the rainy days of November, Line Drier (CLOsED). Line Drier (oren). serving, in fact, as a rough barometer, or rather as an indication of the degree of moisture in the atmosphere. The object of which discourse is to bring home to the sea-fisher the great advantage, if not absolute necessity, of thoroughly soaking the lines each evening after the day’s fishing to get rid of the salt, then allowing them to dry (over the back of a chair or towel-horse in the absence of a proper line-drier) before winding them back on the reels. ‘The rod should be kept as much as possible out 78 SEA-FISH. of water; but occasionally the sudden downward rush of a pollack will prove too much for the angler, and the top joint will dip, his best efforts notwithstanding. After an experience of this sort, it is as well to rub the top joint with a damp cloth on reaching home, drying it with another cloth. In like manner the reels, the rod-ferrules, the joints of gaff and landing-net, anything, in fact, in the construction of which metal is employed, may with advantage be overhauled and touched with a drop of fine machine oil, at any rate once a week. A little care for one’s tackle, though many may vote it a bore, takes up but a few minutes each evening ; and the trouble expended will be repaid a hundredfold, if only in the comfortable sensation when at sea that the gear may be trusted to hold its own against any fish likely to interfere with it. As may, indeed, all good gear properly cared for and handled. The rod and line, above all, need constant care, for it is on them that the strain falls hardest. A word may here be said against the practice, prevalent at Littlehampton and some other ports, of not taking the rod to pieces after each day’s fishing. Apart from the inconvenience of carrying the rod in this form, the habit is a bad one, tending to breakage, especially when again taking it to pieces after the season is over. An inexpensive mullet-rod, by which the owner sets no store, may perhaps be used thus, but it is not fair treatment for any good weapon that has to kill heavy fish. CHAPTER III. HAND-LINING. IT has been said above that there are conditions under which, even in our seas, the fisherman of quite the most advanced views will do well to leave his rod at home and put his faith in the older hand-line. In the majority of cases, it is true, the rod not only answers every purpose, but, admitting as it does the use of lighter gear, beats the hand- line fishing alongside. I cannot, however, agree with the plea that the rod saves time in hauling ; for, unless in combination with a cumbersome reel of, say, a foot in diameter, its performance in this respect must obviously compare badly with that of the hand-liner hauling, hand over hand, a fathom at a time. Its advantage tells, however, in the fact that the elasticity of the top joint enables the rod-fisher to score on clear bright days with a three-yard trace of szugle gut for pollack and mackerel; whereas with the hand-line he would, unless very skilled in its manipulation, be com- pelled to top his line with a shorter trace of twisted gut, a decided cissojyanttage with the water low and clear, 80 SEA-FISH. A very pleasant day or night may, however, be spent on the outer grounds, ten or more miles from the coast, where, as a change from the more delicate fishing inshore, the angler—the word is used in its broadest sense—may pit his strength against heavy skate and conger, fish reckoned in stone, not pounds. For work of this description, the rod is quite out of place. I do not assert that it would, with a few hours to spare, be impossible to kill a skate of 100 lbs. on a short stiff rod of the kind used for tarpon. It is injudicious in these days to pronounce any feat of skill an impossibility. But I may say, at any rate, that, so far as my own taste goes, it would be an intensely wearisome pro- ceeding—a nuisance to every one in the boat and a strain of the severest kind on the tackle. With the hand-line, on the other hand, such prizes are brought to book in a few moments ; and, apart from the novelty of tackling very powerful fish, they give, whether on rod or hand-line, the poorest of sport in the ordinary acceptation of the term, so that he who soonest gets his skate or conger into the boat may fairly be reckoned best man. There are occasions, indecd, on which, out of regard for the probable arrival of sharks and their kind, it is not advisable to leave shore without at least one stout line aboard. A case in point occurred on the occasion of my first outing this spring, the 27th of April, and, so far as fishing went, the first fine day at Bournemouth since the previous September. We immediately struck a patch of small spring silver whiting, which bit greedily at mackerel-bait. Of a sudden, and after each of us had caught a number, there came a lull in the proceedings, and the fish had evidently gone off. HAND-LINING. 81 The next development was for my light rod to bend in most uncomfortable fashion, the tug, tug, and heavy pull unmistakably denoting a dog-fish. For fully five minutes I managed to play the vermin, getting it in full view at the surface—it was a “nurse,” about four fect Case of a in length—at the end of which space it got “nurse” its teeth in action, and the single gut went. It was a matter for congratulation, indeed, that I did not lose the whole trace or damage the rod. Had there only been a conger-line in the boat, such as there had always been before and has always been since, half a mackerel would soon have settled the question ; but having foolishly left the despised hand- lines ashore, we were powerless, and, after I had killed a smaller “nurse” of two or three pounds, we had to weigh anchor, as the old fish was still prowling round and keeping all else away. Other cases in which the hand-line is all but in- dispensable occur to memory. That of deep water has already been quoted; but for those who do not shirk the labour of reeling in ten fathoms on a four-inch reel every few moments, there are cer- tainly modern rods and rod tops that enable them to disregard any depth likely to be encountered within ten miles of the coast. Then there is mackerel-railing from sailing-boats, when you get over the water four or five , Pi . um- knots to the hour, and draw the bait across meting” a stiff tide, eight or ten (in clear water, even ae twelve) fathoms of line streaming out be- hind the boat. Where would the rod be then? The line used in this “ plummeting” (the Cornish term, derived from the plummet-lead used) tapers somewhat from the thick cord held in the hand to G 82 SEA-FISH. the fine brown snooding, a fathom in length, to which is attached the hook by its link of single gut. The plummet, the weight of which varies according to circumstances, from 1 lb. to 3 lbs., is furnished with two loops of stiffened cord, to one of which is fastened the mainline, to the other the fine hook-snood. The hook is then baited with a “Jast’”’—a name well merited by its powers of en- durance, as one bait often suffices for a score of fish—cut neatly from the side of the mackerel’s tail, and allowed to hang from the bend of the hook without any attempt at concealing the point, and the whole is cast astern. As the strain is very considerable in anything of a breeze, those with tender fingers will do well to ease the tension by the use of a toggle of wood, nothing more than a tapered plug fastened crosswise, which should be held between the first and second fingers of the closed hand. The lines are kept in motion with a give-and-take action of the arm ; and the fish, as a rule, hook themselves. As the dip of the gun- wale, especially off a broken coast, is often sudden, the amateur will find that he has quite enough to do in managing one such line and maintaining his balance; but the Cornishman will go out in a spanking breeze single-handed, manage three lines, and, pressing his bare feet into the service, handle his lugger with a skill that would take some beating. I have heard a good many complaints against the simple plummet-tackle described above, and have tricd a number of “sensitive” leads and what not, designed to improve the fisherman’s chances ; but, truth to tell, these are not as a rule in need of betterment ; and we only catch mackerel in this way down in Cornwall on our way out to HAND-LINING. 83 the pollack- and whiting-grounds for bait, so little sport is there in it. Luck varies, of course, as in all fishing ; a couple of hundred fish (the Cornish “hundred” of fish is equivalent to 126) may.-be recorded as a good two hours’ catch for three lines. I have also, more for the sake of experiment than in any doubt as to the result, been persuaded to try a number of patent and other baits against the local “last,” or “snade,” but the latter cannot be beaten. It is, I think, plain that the strain on the rod would, in such fishing, entail a deal of extra work ; and when, as not seldom happens, a clump of floating weed or a huge jelly-fish (locally known as “machiowler”) drifts by and strikes the line full, doubling the already heavy strain, the top joint would almost certainly go. It does not, however, follow that the use of the professional hand-line need involve the ac- _. companying clumsiness of their lower gear.” with The bottom fathom near the hook should, and- : : lines on the contrary, be as fine as is compatible with safety, always having regard to the fact that the less skilled and patient the fisherman in playing his fish, the stronger need be the gear from hand to hook. It is more particularly in the two opera: tions of casting out the lead and striking the fish that the expert with the hand-line is recognised. The most efficient all-round lead I know of is the boat-shaped lead of the Cornish fishermen, Casting which can be attached to any part of the the leac line by a hitch round its stiffened arms of cord, its usual distance above the hook being a couple of fathoms, or 12 ft. There are withoug:.doubt many ways of throwing out such a lead, but there is only G2 84 SEA-FISH. one correct one that makes fouling next to an im- possibility. The hooks, being baited, are put over- board first, the lead being retained in the right hand until the tide has carricd out the fathom of CorNISH SHEARING-LEAD. slack snood below it. Then, and not before, the lead is pitched a good two fathoms against the tide, the line being allowed to run slowly out over the gunwale until the lead touches the bottom, when three fathoms are hauled and the whole made fast round a cleat. Thus, if the tide runs aft, the lead is thrown for’ard, and vice versa. Unless there is a mizen up to kcep the boat head to wind, she will swing to the tide; where, however, the latter is streaming out broadside, the hooks are thrown out first as before, and the lead is dropped alongside as soon as the slack is all out. Above all, it is essen- tial to Iet the line run out slowly while the lead is going down. Any attempt to gain time by letting it fly out unchecked, or, worse still, paying it out in coils, will only result in a foul; and the worst of it is that, although no fish of any consequence will take the bait with the line in a tangle, there is nothing to warn the fisherman that all is not right below, and he may fish on in a fool’s paradise for some minutes before the absence of bites suggests something at fault. It is as well to bear in mind, when withdrawing the lead from the bottom, that a fathom may be roughly measured hy the full stretch of both arms. HAND-LINING, 85 I trust I have made the matter quite clear, as, strange to say, the proper method of throwing out the boat-shaped sinker has not been described in any previous work on sca-fishing. The other matter, striking, is simpler, but there is also a right way and a wrong. Striking with a hand-line in any considerable depth of water must be no finicking turn of the wrist, such as would doubtless serve in emptying a shallow pond of small roach ; but what is needed to drive the steel well home is a good, smart hauling back of quite a yard of line over the gunwale, which, as subsequently in hauling the fish, should be made to bear the chief brunt. In short, the hands should be kept zzszde the boat from the moment of hooking the fish ; and it is in this that the old hand is at once recognised. The exact amount of law to give each fish must depend much on its weight and, if known, its probable behaviour, as an instance of which may be cited the downward boring of the pollack as contrasted with the upward spring of the sharks. As a general rule, and always supposing the gear can be trusted, the main object is to get the fish into the boat, the finer cat-and- mouse play of the rod being unquestionably lost with the hand-line, though I have seen some skill exhibited in playing large fish. I recall the capture in 1894 of a 26 lbs. porbeagle shark on a hook on single gut by my Cornish boatman, George Marshall, of Mevagissey; but George is by nature a very clever fisherman, and a great advocate of the artistic playing of large fish over the gunwale. Several contrivances have been devised, mostly, I think, by Hearder, of Plymouth, for use in con- Striking 86 SEA-FISH. nection with hand-lining, of which brief mention may here be made. In winders, there has not, it must be confessed, been any startling innovation ; and the old pattern, nothing more than four pieces of wood joined in the form of a square, is still in general use. The only improvement has been the addition of a fixed handle on which the rest revolves, a con- venience ift recling in. A still better arrangement, how- ever, though also more expensive, is the pollack - reel, fitted with an up- right piece of cane with a notch i through which the Revotvinc Hanp Winper. line passes from the reel. The fish striking the line causes the cane to bend and release the line, which is then handled in the ordinary way. The chief function of this recl is in cases where more than one line is in use. Sports- men of the hypercritical school may object to the use of more than one line, as an approach to pot- hunting, but Iam unable to agree with this view. The sea is a large stew, and there is nothing to object to in the use of as many lines as one fisherman can manage properly’, for there is no fear of exhausting the supply. Two will as a matter of fact be found ample ; but even then the second should, especially where there are large pollack about, be hitched round something springy, be it only an inch or two of cane stuck upright in the Winders HAND-LINING. 87 gunwale. This is the hand-liner’s substitute for the top joint of the rod. Yet another of the Plymouth contrivances—and it should only be used where there are more than one line out—is the automatic striker. This sounds almost as bad as the winch from the further side of the Atlantic that strikes and recls up the fish, leaving the angler nothing to pee. Potrack REtL. do; but it is not quite so offensive, though there is more than a smack of “poaching” about it. All it does is to hook two fish out of three, while the fisherman is busy with another line. Personally, I do not as a rule make use of more than one line at a time, but there are many who do, and for them there can be nothing objectionable in the use of this striker. Its action is sufficiently explained by the annexed cut, the bell acting in much the same 88 SEA-FISH. way as the similar arrangement on the bamboo — tackles rigged up for catching albicore and barra- couta in mid-ocean. Another matter to which some attention has been given during the past two or three years is some pattern of lead that will facilitate rapid AUTOMATIC STRIKER. changing, so desirable in the tideway, where the angler may start fishing with half an ounce at low water and require to add weight gradually until, when the tide is running very strong, 2 or 3 Ibs. will, on the hand-line, be none too much. I have several of these new patent leads before me, two of which are figured here ; while a third, the device, I belicve, of Macpherson of Southampton, is shown HAND-LINING. 89 onalater page. The conical figured pattern below explains itself, while the other, generally used in connection with the “ Mahteb” sprool, is equally simple. This sprool, by the way, is excellent in deep, thick water; but I am unable to recommend it, portable though it be, for inshore fishing, as it is undoubtedly very conspicuous. The common fault Medium. Heavy. INTERCHANGEABLE Leavs. of all these leads is that they do not admit of addition or diminution of weight in sufficiently small quantities. When fishing in the tideway it is often desirable, more particularly when the fish are biting shyly and at some distance from the boat, to alter the weight by perhaps } oz. at a time. This may seem fastidious, but those who have not tried it can have no idea of the success attending very nice adjustment of the lead, which should be 90 SEA-FISH. just enough to hold the bottom and not too much for the angler to feel the slightest nibble. It is not only in river-fishing that the largest fish give the most finicking bites. All the patent leads that I have yet come across necessitate altering the weight by 2 ozs. or more at a time, and the effect is bad. Some day, one is tempted to think, the difficulty will be got over by the use of small quantities of quicksilver, than which there is no better medium for the purpose. Meanwhile, I manage pretty well with a coil of pliant lead wire Open for use. Closed for pocket. “ ManTEB” SpROOL. —the ordinary plummet-foil answers the purpose as well, but the wire is easier to fix on stout line— which enables me to add weight by the merest fraction of an ounce and ina shape not calculated to alarm the fish. All leads, by the way, should be attached to gut traces by an intervening loop of silk, as the metal—whether the lead be perforated or provided with a brass loop—frays the gut at once, To the cases in which the hand-line is preferable to the more civilised rod may be added that of autumn beach-fishing from a sloping shore. Here, Hi i SWAN ELECTRIC ENGRAVING CO. PLAICE, HENAY STANHANC, CEL HAND-LINING. 91 the rod may be a positive nuisance, the hand-line, on the other hand, being easy to manipulate at the edge of the surf and to lay dcwn in the intervals of fishing. There are several methods of swinging the lead into position ; one much in vogue among beach-fishers being the use of a forked stick, which takes firm hold of a button on the line close to the hooks. With heavy leads, however, and a little practice, it is not difficult to pitch the hooks to a considerable distance without any such aid, though some care is often necessary on pierheads to avoid accidents with others in the neighbourhood. I once saw an old lady’s ear caught in this way by a hook that was hurtling through the air after a 4-lb lead. She was obviously one of a large excursion, the members of which were that day gladdening the place with their laughter; yet in her few hours by the sea she managed to enjoy an experience such as falls to the lot of few. I remember with regret that, as the landing-stage was very crowded at the moment with youthful anglers, there was some slight difficulty in fixing upon the owner of that hook. A plan that has much to commend it from such pierheads in the tideway as lend themselves to its use is to fasten a wine bottle, half filled with water to keep it upright, to the further end of the line, and let the ebbing tide carry it out, line and all. When the hooks have gone far enough, a smart jerk causes the bottle to fill and sink. The obvious objections to this plan are the time taken by the bottle in travelling out with its burden, and the impossibility of fishing when the water is coming in, the best time asarule. On the other hand, it is possible in this manner to get the hooks much 92 SEA-FISH. further than you could throw a lead. As the shape of the ordinary bottle is, however, peculiarly adapted to getting foul of the rocks, it is advisable—and this applies more or less to all fishing over rocks— to make it fast to the line with a weaker thread, as the hooks can then at any rate be recovered should the bottle, or lead, get hopelessly “hung up.” Large conger—I have killed them up to 23 Ibs.—are caught at night on the Cornish coast within stone’s throw of the rocks. As there are, however, no ledges that even a chamois would care to essay in the dark, a boat is absolutely necessary. The hand- line also takes the place of the rod, and indeed, though I once killed a conger of over 20 Ibs. on a stout rod, the confusion in the darkness was such that I shall not readily try it again. A Concer Hote CHAPTER IV. SHORE- FISHING. AS stated in the Preface, it is my intention to describe the different methods of sea-fishing for sport on topographical lines. This is, indeed, the most convenient standpoint from which to discuss the capture of the species under notice. In describing sport in a river, as Mr. Wheeley did in the preceding volume, there was no objection to taking the fish in order and repeating the styles peculiarly adapted to each. A bream is angled for with much the same tackle whether from punt or bank. In sea-fishing, it is different, and the pollack or bass will be sought in totally different fashion, according to whether the fisherman goes afloat after them or prefers the inexpensive security of the foreshore or pier. Three kinds of sea-fishing may therefore be distinguished—from shore, pier or boat. Shore-fishing is less practised in these islands perhaps than abroad. In Australia, more In particularly (see Appendix), there are a Australia great number of keen anglers from both sand and rock, the two categories under which this sport naturally falls. The rock-fishers face the most 94 SEA-FISH. appalling climbs, scrambling to their favourite grounds over all but perpendicular faces of slippery rock, creeping along ledges a few inches broad, from which a single false step would plunge them among the sharks a hundred feet below. The baskets which they bring back from these perilous spots certainly include some magnificent fish, among them gropers of fifty pounds, schnappers of ten, and large traglin and leather-jackets. In our own country the dangers are fortunately at very much less, if only by the sharks, an home appreciable item in the more southern waters. At the same time, rock-climbing always calls for a steady eye and foot, as well as some attention to local tides and vagaries in the way of currents; else many ridiculous situations, if nothing graver, are sure to result. In fishing from sandy beaches, the whole pro- cedure is of course very much simpler, the danger is practically absent, and the sport is, as a rule,inferior. The localities on the British coasts that offer Locali- facilities for rock-fishing are somewhat ties limited, as, though many of our counties are more or less rock-bound, there are not every- where positions easily reached and giving the angler command over water of sufficient depth to harbour desirable fish. The most advanced school of rock-fishers at home are the Aberdeen men, who have for many years been formed into an associa- tion ; indeed, I am told there are at the present time as many as three such clubs of local anglers. Be this as it may, the Amateur Rock-Fishers’ Association was, the subsequent birth and growth of the British Sea-Anglers’ Socicty notwithstanding, SHORE-FISHING. 95 the first salt-water angling club in these parts, and as such is deserving of more attention than previous chroniclers have given it. I am indebted for the following particulars to Mr. George Mackay, a frequent contributor to the Fishing Gazette. There are two associations, he says, at Aberdeen, the “Amateur Rock- Fishers” and the ,, 7 erdeen “Bon Accord Fishers,” the former, and _ rock- senior, club numbering about 150 members, fishers while to the latter, only recently organised, belong about half that number. There is yet a third association at Stonehaven, with a membership of something over 30. All these clubs have dis- tinctive badges and regular rendezvous ; their sub- scriptions range from 2d. to 3d. per quarter, in addition to a light entrance fee. These associations have, one and all, done good work in regulating their competitions and collecting information ; but their chief influence has been in the direction of elevating the szora/e of the rock-fisher and bringing any objectionable pot-hunter to his bearings. Mr. Mackay further gives an account of the tackle and baits used in this rock-fishing in Tackte the north, and they serve admirably as an used example of the right gear for rock-fishing generally. The best rock-rod, he says, is a bamboo in three or four joints, 18 or 20 feet in all,a formidable though inexpensive weapon. For bait-fishing in the deeper pools for large fish, such a rod cannot be beaten ; but the comparatively few rock-fishers who angle with fly or other artificial bait use a lighter rod of about 12 feet in length. Silk lines, apart from their expense, are not found so good as those of barked or unbarked cord ; and as for reel, although it adds to the angler’s comfort when obliged to give law to 96 SEA-FISH. a heavy fish, many of the rock-fishers dispense with it altogether. The rod is eminently suited for rock-fishing, just Rodana 28 hand-lining is the better style on a sandy hand- beach. It stands to reason that the use of line the rod enables the angler to keep his hooks clear of the side, while, on the other hand, it is often awkward to lay a rod down on a sloping beach, even with the supports used in bank-fishing inland. There is, however, no hard and fast rule; and I have seen the line used with success from the rocks, as I have used the rod myself from the beach. The fish chicfly caught in this shore-fishing is the cod. On the east coast, beach-fishers also make fair hauls of whiting ; and in Scotch waters, there is,as we have seen, the coal-fish, or saithe, as an uneatable t yet sport-giving alternative. The size of the hook depends of course on that of the fish expected, and rock-fishers usually keep several sizes by them. For the average run, 2 lbs. to 4 lbs., a o round bend with a long shank and whipped on to double gut is most in vogue. Two hooks are very commonly used, one above, the other beneath the lead, the latter being so arranged as to be capable of change with minimum loss of time, its usual weight ranging from 4 to 12 oz. according to the strength of tide for the time being. But the cod is the shore-fisher’s first string, both north and south of the border, and there are few better baits for it than two or three medium-sized mussels whipped on the hook with a Baits 1T am assured that the coal-fish is, when propery cooked, delicious. While in no way changing my own opinion of so insipid a mess, I gladly insert this piece of information for the encouragement of tourists fond of novel dishes. SHORE-FISHING. 97 turn of yellow wool or silk, wool for preference, as the silk (or, in a still greater degree, cotton) is apt to cut through the bait. Soft crab, or rather the soft interior of the common shore-crah—curiously enough it is Zhe bait for groper in Australian rock-fishing — is another favourite bait ; and Mr. Mackay even tells of a rock-fisher, who was hard up for bait, making an excellent catch of coal-fish with a fish of that species cut in strips. They use the black crab for preference, as it has not the market value of the red. The latter, it is noticed, has to be sought in the rocky crevices, whereas the former may be found among the weed and in the pools left at low water. The inside only is used for bait, that of a large crab being sufficient for two baits at least. It is, like the mussel, tied on the hook, and is perhaps still more killing. Other baits, less in favour, are herring, lugworm and sand-eel. There is then nothing peculiar in the tackle used in this fishing, a stout rod, with running line and twisted gut paternoster, answering every purpose. Some anglers, with plenty of time at their disposal and a weakness for trying experiments, catch their rock-fish with fly or spinner; but I cannot, save under very exceptionable circumstances, recommend cither of these practices, sporting though they be, to those who want to make a good basket. Sports- manlike methods should, it is unnecessary to say, be followed in salt as in fresh water, but there is no need to choose out of a number of legitimate ways of taking fish the one least likely to meet with success. Therefore, the majority of rock-fishers will elect to use natural bait. It is usually handy at low water, and the angler can then often UG 98 SEA-FISH. get a supply so as to fish the whole of the flood. Tloat-tackle is also first rate in those localities in which the ground is too rough for the lead to be dragged with safety. Unless, however, the rod is considerably longer than the depth fished, a con- dition that rarely obtains, the float must run freely and be stopped on the “ slider” principle explained on a subsequent page. In the ordinary course, the best fishing from rocks is obtained in tolerably slack water ; but occasionally sport is to be found close to a headland, round which the tide runs with some force, and in such spots the float may be allowed to travel, Nottingham style. In Australia, the methods were rough and ready. A heavily leaded line, on which were strung two or three large hooks, mounted on twisted flax and baited with soft crab, was swung into the deep water, often under the very snout of a wobbegong shark, and in a few moments there was generally something substantial at the lower end, which was hauled up to the ledge without more ado. I have seen fish of ten pounds and more hauled in this way through a hundred fect in the calmest way possible. Excitable as he is in election time, the Sydney loafer is imperturbable when rock-fishing ; and the daring with which he will spend his life lean- ing over the giddy “ Gap,” the last land touched by the ill-fated Dunbar, just outside the Heads of Port Jackson, and drawing up huge gropers and other fish, hanging on the while with his toes, is worthy of better objects. Sca-fishing is, I am ready to grant, an excellent and harmless pastime, but as a mats sole occupation in life it falls rather short of the mark. SHORE-FISHING. 99 On sandy beaches, the procedure is, as will be readily imagined, far more tranquil, the fish being. usually cod and whiting. The hooks, baited with mussel as before, are, with the aid of a heavy lead, and sometimes of a forked ash-pole, swung out behind the breakers, and the fish very often hook themselves, though the angler, as distinguished from him who fishes only for the pot, will usually prefer holding the line and striking at cach bite. I have long thought, though it must be admitted that I can quote no successes in support of the notion, that the true secret of successful bass-fishing will be solved from a sloping beach, so often have I scen large bass after an August gale feeding just bchind the rollers in the surf, where it was im- possible to get at them from cither boat or pier. Unfortunately, at the very season when the bass come so close in shore, the beach is crowded with holiday folk, whose immediate neighbourhood the peaceful angler shuns at any cost, even that of an empty creel. I do not, however, despair of finding one of these days in the early morning, the right combination of bass feeding close in shore, and a beach with plenty of clbow-room. So far, it is a dream. This fishing from sandy beaches is nowhere more practised than on our east coast during the autumn months ; and I am indebted to Mr. C. H. Wheeley, who contributed the opening volume of this Library (“ Coarse Fish”), for the following practical account of autumn beach-fishing for cod near Great Yar- mouth. A flat lead, pierced with a short wooden peg to prevent rolling or dragging, is attached to a stout H 2 100 SEA-FISH. line by a leather snood, and above it, a foot or more apart, are fastened two cod-hooks. The Coa best bait is lugworm, which is not easy fishing to procure at Yarmouth, but may be ob- re tained from Winterton, or, by rail, from mouth Heacham, where William Chapman supplies it, or did when I was there last. The next best bait is the mussel, which should be tied on the hook with a strand of Manila fibre, else it is apt to be thrown off in casting out. Anglers should bear in mind that the action of salt water on zinc is ina very short time fatal to lug and ragworms, both of which should be kept in qooden pails. Several lines are usually employed by each fisherman, each being made fast to a cane or stick driven into the sand, the pull on which shows when a cod is hooked. Getting out the lines is the most important feature of this beach-fishing. Swinging the lead round the head is not to be recommended, as the impetus it imparts to a cod-hook enables the latter to inflict a serious wound. A stick or cane is therefore used, having a short spike in the top, a brass ring being attached to the line two feet, or a little more, from the lead. The ring is placed on the spike, and it is not difficult, with a little practice, to send .the lead out with such force as to carry out all the line, which should lie coiled on the sand. Should the sea be too rough at Yarmouth, there is sport in the river; and, when the tide does not run too strong, there is good cod-fishing from the pier-head at Gorleston. Some more hints on beach-fishing for cod, for which I am indebted to Mr. Gerald Geoghegan, will be found in the Appendix, under Aldeburgh. SHORE-FISHING. Io In short, for those who cannot endure the motion of boats, this shore-fishing provides many attrac- tions ; while to the lazy, whose sole idea of comfort. rudely broken by the trouble of looking after a boat, is to fall asleep over a pipe, it comes, even if not the ideal of sport, at least very near the ideal of enjoyment. It is, moreover, practicable in many excellent spots where neither pier nor boats are available, and in weather that would not permit of going afloat. So many anglers are precluded from sca- fishing by their fear of the sea itself, that I am persuaded that there is a great future for two as yet little favoured methods, the above-mentioned shore-fishing and the live-baiting for bass in rivers, to which allusion is made in the next chapter. CHAPTER V. FISHING FROM PIEKS AND HARLOURS. ON the whole, it must be admitted that the majority of our piers offer so little in the way of sport as to make it scarce worth the trouble of putting a rod together ; though in some few cases— that, for instance, of Deal pier in the fall of the year—really good sport may be obtained in this way, which is sure for the rest to commend itself to those who suffer in small boats, or who object to the constant expense of their hire. The poverty of pier-fishing lies less in the absence of fish than in the great number of pleasure steamers and boys that between them spoil the angler’s chances. This is proved by the excellent bags made from a few Government piers, closed to pleasure craft and the outside public. The best time for picr-fishing is, for those who have the energy, between dawn and break fast-time. In former years—the fishing has gone off sadly of late—I had some good mornings on Bournemouth pier with the pollack and mackerel and dory, fish- ing from four in the morning, and with no other company than that of the guillemots, busy a few FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. 103 yards off filling their crops with sand-eels and smelts. The early bathers, arriving on the scene at half-past six, would put an end to the sport, but by that time I had generally caught sufficient. It was often tantalising, it is true, to leave just as the fish were fecding mightily. The pier-fishing at Leghorn was never disturbed in this way ! In the course of the following pages, allusion will be made to a number of our piers; but, although it would be easy to name a dozen better and half-a- dozen worse, it will be as well, as an example of the average, to say something in detail of that at Bournemouth. Having visited it on many po. ne. occasions during the past seventeen years, mouth I know something of the fishing to be P'* obtained there. Ten years ago, it was still remark- ably good, and we used to get turbot of several pounds in weight during the months of July and August, fishing up to nine o’clock in the evening. Now, things are sadly changed indeed ; and, as the town has increased, so, as is usually the case, the fishing has gone from bad to worse. I have seen no turbot there this summer of a pound in weight ; the only bass would have gone six or eight to the pound, and, beside these, the flat fish were dwarfs. Yet the variety remains considerable, and among the score or more of fish that I have seen taken from that pier are bass, pollack, whiting, codling, pout, grey and red mullet (very rare), conger, mackerel, scad, dory, plaice, sand-dab, “lemon- sole,” sole, turbot, brill, gurnard, sand-eel, athcrine, wrasse, and skate—no bad choice! There are reasons why, if it were not for the steam traffic in the summer months, the fishing. from this pier should be excellent. It lies in a kind of back- 104 SEA-FISH. water, such as the fish love to foregather in after coming inshore in spring. On the one side is the joint estuary of those grand salmon and pike waters, the Avon and Stour; on the other, lics Poole harbour, an excellent shelter for all manner of sea-fish in hard weather. There are several patches of rock in the immediate vicinity, and the town sewers attract great hordes of flat fish and whiting to within five hundred yards of the cnd. Yet the fishing is, as I have said, ruined by the steamers that ply between this place and the Isle of Wight, Swanage, Lulworth Cove and elsewhere ; and too many avail themselves of the cheap day- tickets to fish without pause throughout the spring and summer months, retaining every fish, even though it would not turn the beam at an ounce. One great attraction of this pier is the inex- haustible supply of mussels that cover the piles. Ever since I have fished from it, when it was shorter than now by half its present length, it has been the custom to scrape bushels of mussels from the piles week in week out, daily bait for half a hundred anglers. Not only are these mussels drawn upon by those fishing from the pier itself, but they also furnish bait to all who fish in boats. I must myself have used quite 2,000 mussels this summer, counting, that is, all that were wasted. Yet there is no end to them, and there would be no difficulty in scraping enough for a hundred anglers any day of the week. Like other molluscs, the mussel reproduces its species very rapidly, a provision particularly interesting to the Bournemouth amatcur, since these pier mussels are, as a rule, his one resource, the only alternative being an exceedingly wearisome journey to Poole Mussels FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. 105 Harbour after lugworm (though, in these days of bicycles, lug finds its way to Bournemouth far more frequently than it did five or ten ycars ago), an occasional squid from the diver’s net, or some half stale, and wholly exorbitant, mackerel from the fishmonger. The mussel, however, meets every requirement, as not only is it to be had for nothing, or at most a small payment to one of the pier attendants for scraping the piles with a rake, but, fortunately, the fish of that bay seem to prefer it to anything else, living or dead. When I say that I have more than once known local pollack to take it in preference to the living sand-cel, and that it will beat the Jugworm on three days out of every four, the esteem in which it is held will no longer be doubted. It is remarkable, when one comes to think of it, that so many fish take mussel as if it were their natural food, al- though their teeth are not by any means adapted to breaking the shell. Possibly, the very novelty of the thing may appeal. I have mentioned a score of species that have, to my own knowledge, been taken from this pier, but it must not therefore be imagined that the half of them are to be found in its neighbourhood throughout the year. Indeed, the only resident kinds are the flat fish, plaice, and lemon-soles for the most part, and even these keep in the sand during the colder months, and refuse bait of any sort. The sand-smelts and sand-eels come along the coast in May and remain till October, their stay coinciding with that of our later migrant birds; the bass are only irregular August visitors, being far commoner some years than others; while the dory and pollack are at- tracted mainly by the smaller visitors, and time their stay accordingly. I know of no pier on our 106 SEA-FISH. coasts where the curious lazy action of a dory . gorging itself on sand-eels can be witnessed to- greater perfection on a calm summer’s day than at Bournemouth. The silver launce are sporting merrily in their John thousands, one getting hooked every now Dory and then, but usually managing to wriggle its way off the hook ere the landing-net is under it (it is absolutely necessary to employ a landing-net when catching these slippery customers for bait) ; when of a sudden there is a commotion, a flat, solid looking fish comes slowly into view with a peculiar. rolling, undulating motion, not so slow, however, but it is able to seize several of the launce in its mouth and crunch them in full view, after which it sinks, equally slowly, out of sight, doubtless to take up its position behind the brown fronds of weed until confidence is once more restored and another raid is possible. These dories are caught mostly by chance. Sometimes a week elapses without one taking the hook, sometimes half-a-dozen, averaging halfa pound in weight, are taken during the morning. The pollack come out to feed too, but their manner is different ; all dash from the first. I have never secn a pollack near the pier of over a poundin weight, though I have in former years caught many of five and even seven on the rough ground about two miles to the south-west. The bass are, as elsewhere, exceedingly capri- cious in their coming and going ; the only time they are fished for is during a heavy gale from the south-west towards the end of August, just when summer visitors talk about the weather breaking up, forgetting that September is, nine years out of ten, the finest fishing month of thetwelve. The place for bass-fishing on this pier is Bass FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. 107 as limited as the time, for it is only from the sloping ' ledge facing the East Cliff, enough to accommodate with any degree of comfort not more than four fisher- men, that the Bournemouth bass are ever taken. The mullet is a rare catch indeed, still rarer the red mullet, of which two only have to my knowledge ever been hooked on this pier. This is, however, quite up to the average in red mullet records, as not more than fifty have ever been recorded in this country as having taken the hook, the trammel being the sole means of supplying the demand for this most delicious of fish (sce p. 29). Conger of very small size are taken from time to time, though there are plenty to be had on the Outer Durley rocks. The best pier I know for conger is at Hastings (the old pier), where any breezy day in August it is possible with a strip of fresh squid to catch a dozen, running to a weight of 7 or 8 lbs. down to 3 lbs. These small pier conger can, of course, be managed on a rod, the more so as, unlike pollack, they rarely strike for the piles, but move off in stately fashion for the open sca, which greatly facilitates matters. For congering, however, on a proper scale, stout hand-lines and a boat are necessary, and the best sport is to be had at night. Of which more will be said in another chapter. One of the most important factors in deciding the kind of tackle to use from any picr is the state of the tide. We will keep to Bournemouth as an example! No practical fisher- Mullet Conger Tide 1 The remarkable phenomenon of ‘‘ double tides” is, owing in all probability to the action of cross currents in Poole harbour and the Solent, felt at Bournemouth. There are, that is to say, both second ebb and flood after the low and high water marks have been apparently reached. 108 SEA-FISH. man should be without a tide-table; they are to be bought at any stationer’s, the usual cost being a penny a month. Let us suppose that you con- sult such a table at breakfast one morning in August, and find that it was high tide at three, when you were still in bed. That means that it will not be high again until nearly half-past three in the afternoon, so that there will be fairly slack water from nine to twelve. Obviously, then, it is of no use taking down your float-tackle, as there will be no tide to carry it clear of the piles; and the object of this method in salt water is, as already shown, to cover more ground than the stationary line can be expected to do. The leger-tackle will therefore be the best ; and as a very slight ac- quaintance with Bournemouth shows you that the flowing tide moves along-shore, as at every place on our south coast, from west to east, you will place yourself so as to get what little advantage you can out of the slowly rising water, at the south-east corner facing the Needles; that is, of course, if you find the corner unoccupied. If, on the other hand, you had found from the tide-table that ic was high water at eight, take down your float-tackle by all means, and the long-handled landing-net, for never was there better chance of a mackerel or two, fishing from the very end of the pier, and allowing the falling tide to carry the float, which should be stopped (page 123) about twelve fect above the bait, out in the direction of Swanage. Smelt-fishing from this pier, as from any other where these little sham smelts abound, may be practised at any time, as can also that equally harmless sport with tiny flat fish and pout. These bite cagerly throughout the summer; and FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. 109 there were few days in August when I could not secure a hundred pout from Hastings pier, averaging six to the pound, with a few consolation half- pounders thrown in. But in serious picr-fishing, the importance of tides must always be the paramount consideration, especially where the water is too shallow at low tide to admit of any fishing at all, which by no means indicates that the sport at high water may not be excellent. The one pier on which, I think, the state of the tide means little or nothing gouth- is that interminable structure at Southend, ¢"4 pier where autumn anglers make large bags of whiting and flounders and dabs the whole day through. The worst of it is that the October day is so short, that, as the tram is no longer working, the double walk of a mile and a quarter cach way makes a good deal of work for the short time available. Near town, however, and reached by two lines that believe in cheap fares, Southend is sure to enjoy a long reign with a certain number of sea-anglers residing in the metropolis. Other- wise, the further you get from “the great smoke” the better the sport. Cornwall, Scotland, and Ireland, the Channel Islands, the fjords of Norway, —these are some of the localities in which sea-fishing meets with wonderful success. For all that, if, as the gentleman who is reintroducing the long bow for sporting purposes thinks, difficulty is the cream of true sport, there should be some conso- lation in the reflection that it wants more skill to deceive a single bass or grey mullet in the dis- turbed, over-fished waters in the home countics than to bag a hundred lythe further north. I have caught in little over an hour forty large perch 1IO SEA-FISH. and bream, few weighing less than three-quarters Baltic Of a pound, in a river running into the fish Baltic, and not a hundred yards above its juncture with that exceedingly brackish sea. To the Germans, with their coarse tackle and care- lessly fixed baits, this was a wonderful feat ; and I fear I entered no protest when they explained to me that I was a very skilful perch-fisher. Yet I knew well that in our own Thames at home I should not make such a bag in a weck, and that any of the thousand and one bank anglers who spend the seventh day in those parts would beat me left-handed. I merely quote this, though apart from the subject, to show the small merit of making a good bag in teeming waters fished only in the most unsophisticated fashion. On our own coasts, however, matters are very different; and although the tyro will sometimes catch the fish of the week the first time he wets a hook—for luck rules here as in most other pur- suits—it is the angler who shapes his actions, not so much perhaps by book instruction as by that common scnse which grasps the special require- ments of certain combinations of wind, weather, and tide, who will in the long run make the best bag. For pier-fishing, rods should always be used by Advan. those who are strong enough to manage tages of them, though very small boys will doubt- the rod Jess have to be content with hand. lines, if only on account of their low cost. But with rods, improbable as it may at first seem, just double the number of anglers can conduct their operations from a stage of limited accommodation, for the simple reason that the rod enables the angler to FISHING FROM PIERS ANID) HARBOURS. 111 pitch his lead in any given place—a sheer impos- sibility, even in the most practised hands, with the swinging hand-line, the lead of which may when released pitch in the right spot, but may equaliy well land in the ironwork, if not indeed in the hat of some lady overhead. With the rod, too, it is far easier to direct the movements of a large fish, whether the object be to keep it clear of the piles or of the next man’s gear. In the case of one angler hooking a really large bass or conger, etiquette and personal comfort alike suggest that those on either side shall reel in their lines and give him every chance. Where, however, greed rules in place of good fellowship, and the lines are allowed to hamper fair play, it not infrequently happens, more especially when the hook is fast in a conger with the strength and manners of a run- away cabhorse, that there is a general foul, in the midst of which the ecl usually breathes once more the air of liberty, leaving the disappointed one to disentangle his hooks from those of his neighbours, whose notions of politeness were on a level with their judgment. The necessity of leaving the field for a few moments to the rod that has hooked a fish is stronger than ever in the case of float- fishing, where there is no lead of any weight to check the sidelong struggles of the desperate fish. Given, however, this common-sense give-and-take policy, there is no reason why float-fishing should not be carried on at very close quarters ; all that is necessary being that no one shall fling his float and line wildly to right or left, but that the floats shall, one and all, be dropped quietly into the water immediately beneath the angler’s feet, leaving it to the tide to carry them out. Thus will the lines 112 SEA-FISH. keep parallel, and a foul be next to an impos- sibility. It is possible with the rod to use chopstick- tackle from the pier; with hand-lines, this form of gear should be used only from boats. The reason for this should be obvious: the object of the chop- stick is to hang just clear of the bottom, and not to lie on the ground like the leger. There is, how- ever, so much hidden ironwork beneath most of our larger piers, that this up-and-down fishing is, save for very small fry, exceedingly risky ; so that, without the rod to keep the line well clear of the piles, some form of throw-out tackle, either leger or paternoster, is wanted. Yet for the last fifteen summers, at least, I have seen boys and men alike throwing out chopstick-tackle, never stopping to think that it is not in the least adapted in such a position for that degree of sensitiveness which is essential if the angler is to fish artistically by touch, instead of merely leaving his line to fish for the pot, while he walks round the band-stand upstairs. I must now enumerate one or two of the chicf fish taken from our piers, with some methods par- ticularly applicable to the several piers most in vogue. This excellent fish is a true perch, and, consc- quently, of high rank; but so rare is the capture of bass of any size that a very few pages will suffice on the subject, though many amateurs spend most of their time in its generally fruitless pursuit. Fly-fishing, a very artistic and very unprofitable method of approaching bass, is not, so far as I am aware, practicable from piers, the ironwork being in the way of a cast. Nor, save at Bognor and Littlehampton, have I ever Bass FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. 113 seen bass taken from a pier by spinning, though, at the two places named, the ebbing tide runs so swiftly to the westward that sport may occasionally be had by allowing it to carry a spoon or Devon minnow for fifty or eighty yards, then reeling slowly in, the tide imparting a brilliant spin, and so on da capo, until a fish is struck, which is usually managed in the course of a fortnight. The best plan at Bognor is to coax it up to the sand, A . Bognor this being, at any rate when I was last there, one of the only piers on which, in the absence of projecting alcoves or lamps, such a course would be possible. At Littlchamp- Littte- ton, where the only available position for hampton such fishing is at the end of the high, narrow west pier, or on the Beacon opposite, the walk to shore, though possible in the former place, would be a long one indced; and the only thing is to chance it, and haul the bass, when thoroughly tired of life, to the longest landing-net handy. Perhaps, on the whole, it is as well that catches of this de- scription are very few and far between. Further up the opposite side of the swift Arun, however, close to the railway quay, I have seen some brave bass taken, and have even made some fair baskets myself; and a fish of good weight is occasionally taken at spring floods as far up as Arundel, the bait being a live roach. The only bass I saw caught on the west pier this year were about 3 ozs. in weight, and of these pigmies an angler caught over a score one afternoon. But this brings me to the subject of fishing for bass with natural baits, the most usual, and, save perhaps in certain remoter and less fished waters, the most likely to meet with success. The methods in vogue are three in L 114 SEA-FISH. number, and are—drift-lining with live or dead bait ; float-fishing ; and what may by contrast be termed still-fishing, in which the position of the bait, whether on a paternoster or other throw-out tackle, is fixed by a heavy lead. The first and second of these methods are unquestionably the most plea- sant, but can only be practised in smooth weather. The third, on the other hand, as I shall have occasion to show, is often most successful when there is half a gale blowing from the south-west. In any case, I would recommend a rod. So sporting a fish as the bass deserves at least to meet his fate in sporting manner; besides which the enjoyment of killing one large bass on the rod is equivalent, in my opinion at least, to that of haul- ing in half-a-dozen on a stout hand-line. But the tackle, though fine, must be very strong through- out, for in the bass the angler has a fish which, without perhaps the first violence of the pollack, will often make a second and even third run when almost within reach of the net or gaff; and this holds more truly of the medium-sized bass of, say, six or eight pounds, than of the rare specimens that top twelve or fifteen, which I have occasionally seen show less fight than the smaller. Except in the case of estuaries, as that of the Arun at Littlehampton, or that of the Exe at Exmouth, bass are rarely caught from piers, unless there is a good sea on, so that live-baiting and float-fishing are chiefly successful where cither a river is running in from the sea, or, in the case of harbours, where there is a constant supply of offal and refuse to attract these foul feeders inshore. And further, I would counsel the float-tackle for the estuary and the drift-line for the harbour. FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. 115 Let us, as an example of the former, take a morning’s fishing at Littlehampton. We have brought a good supply of soft green crab, which we had to get by train from Macpherson of Southampton, knowing it to be the correct bait hereabouts; and our tackle consists of a short (9 ft.) rod, Nottingham reel carrying a hundred yards of fine, strong line, and a couple of traces of twisted gut, three yards each, a pike-float and some hooks, also on twisted gut, (for size, sce p. 55). This, with the long-handled landing-net, so often alluded to in these pages, completes our equip- ment. We have timed our arrival just after low water, and we put our tackle together against the railway quay. There is no need for the float to slide in this case, for the bass are generally to be found feeding, if at all, not more than five or six feet from the top, so that it is possible to fix the float at the proper depth without interfering with the due netting of any bass that may get hooked. The hook—one is all sufficient—is next passed through the body of the crab, from shoulder to shoulder, the legs and claws being removed. It is kinder to the crab, as well as more attractive to the bass, to kill it first and slightly crush it with the foot. This float-fishing at Littlehampton railway quay involves some little exercise, for which reason it used to be in great favour with a quaint old gentleman of the neighbourhood, who was so good as to assure me on one occasion that he had only caught two bass that season, the season being then nearly over, but that he would not miss his daily walk all the summer on any account; for, in truth, you walk here while angling for these fish. The reason for this is obvious. The tide runs I2 116 SEA-FISH. smartly up towards Arundcl, so that, starting at the lower, or sea, end, your float moves along close in under the wooden piles, and you have no option but to follow it, for much slack line between it and the rod-top would certainly give the fish a very considerable chance of escape. When the other end of the stage is reached, all you have to do is to return to the starting point and go through the performance again. Remember, there is nothing to be gained, as at so many places, by getting your bait out into mid-stream, for the bass come along —I have seen them on clear days (N.B. No use fishing when the water is very clear)—routing among the weed-covered piles for shrimps and the like. It is also of the greatest importance to put no drag on the float, as it causes the bait to bob in a manner that would suffice to rouse the suspicion of a less wary fish than the bass. This is of course avoided by always keeping two or three fect of slack line between the float and top ring, neither more nor less. If more, the line will get water- logged and not respond the moment you strike ; if Iess, there is the risk of the bait being disturbed in the way mentioned. As soon as a fish is hooked, keep a tight hold of it ; there are no rocks or sharp piles in the Arun estuary against which it can cut your line; and altogether, I know of few spots where, with ordinary patience, there is less excuse for losing a fish that is once properly hooked. Float-fishing for bass is also practised in a some- what different manner from the east break- water at Ilastings. Eight or nine years ago we used to sce some fine bass caught on that groync, but I belicve the sport has gone off sadly Hastings FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. 117 of late years. The last time I fished at Hastings was in midwinter, only five days before I sailed for Australia ; but I do not remember catching any- thing at all on that occasion, and it was so cold that we could hardly row home. Off the break- water, however, it used to be the fashion to angle for bass in August on the rising tide, and preferably after a three days’ spell of wind from the south- west, the rougher the better. For under the lea of this breakwater the water is always smooth enough for float-fishing, save during a south-east wind. The bait was placed about six feet below the float if within an hour after low water, three or four feet lower during the next hour, and gradually lower as the depth momentarily increased, until, towards high water, when the angler would be driven step by step to the higher end inshore, the bait would often do best at a depth of fifteen or cightcen feet. The pig’s bristle arrangement (p. 123) was therefore necessary. The ground at that place is very rough, ledge on ledge of weedy rock, with deep gullies running betwecn ; and it is of the utmost import- ance to keep the hook clear of the ground, else a foul would inevitably ensue. I used to find the best way to land any fish from this none too secure place was to coax it over the lower end of the groyne, which is soon under water, when it could easily be dragged up on the shingle on the western side. I have not been near the place for nearly three years, so that the conditions which rendered this practicable may possibly have altered. An eighteen-foot rod did not come amiss on this break- watcr, more especially in getting the fish over the end. The best bait was a good-sized strip of fresh herring, failing which a piece of mackerel, bloater, 118 SEA-FISH. or squid would often account for something, even if it were only a five or six pound conger. Another class of sportsmen used to fish at the bottom with many small hooks baited with lobworms and catch good baskets of fresh-water eels that come working west along the coast from Rye Harbour, visiting the salt water to spawn and then dic, after which their offspring make their way up the nearest river. Drift-line fishing with either live or dead bait is fully discussed in the next chapter. As it is far more often practised for pollack from a boat, I have not thought fit to anticipate the subject in the pre- sent chapter. The difficulties, so far as pier- or harbour-fishing is concerned, are getting the current to take the hook and line clear of the ironwork or masonry, and striking quickly enough with some fifty yards of line out, for somehow or other this method rarely meets with any response until the bait has travelled some distance. No float is used, the single hook, at the end of a three-yard trace of salmon-gut, being allowed to drift with the current, unchecked but for a half-ounce pipe lead. Bass may be taken in this manner with the green crab uscd as above; but the bait of baits, if only pro- Sand- curable, is the living sand-eel. I was al- eel bait ways at a loss for this wonderful bait until the present year, which was the more annoying since millions of these fish are, as I have had occa: sion to mention on a previous page, to be seen and caught throughout the summer from Bournemouth pier, close to which I have spent the last two summers. Last year I tried a number of devices, not for hooking the slippery little launce, for that was always casy, but for keeping them among the living until such time, later in the day, as they FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. 119 should be required. At all times very delicate creatures, the ordeal of being hooked, played and unhooked was not calcu- lated to act as a tonic; and I found to my chagrin that not one out of the dozens I sometimes caught. in the course of a couple of hours could be kept alive for even an hour or so. I tried a bait can with wet sand. But nature refused to be re- produced on so mean a scale, and the eels were all dead within ten minutes of their capture. Next I tried a floating creel, but some escaped, the rest were soon float- ing belly upwards. Then, thinking to lessen the shock of hooking and un- hooking, I reduced the barb of the roach-hooks on which these little fish are to be caught, the bait being a morsel.of mussel, but even this availed not. I finally invested in a “courge,” an invaluable basket cage, pointed at either end like a torpedo, Counce. which enables it to move through the water swiftly 120 SEA-FISH. and smoothly when in tow, its chief function. This courge comes in excecdingly handy, not alone for keeping live bait, but also for keeping alive the fish one catches ; nor, for all the wonderful tales I have read to the contrary, have I once found the one devour the other. It is also advisable to remove the dead from time to time, as, although a current of water is continually running through the courge, death seems in such form to be infectious. The living sand-eel, then, hooked through the tail, the lip, or the back of the neck, one being about as good a$ another, is the most killing bait for drift- line fishing, whether from harbour or boat, and for bass and pollack. The orthodox way of catching the sand-cel is of course with the sean, and I have even heard that it will take a fly, but I never saw this. The method I have described, however, will be found useful at places where, as at Bournemouth, there are plenty of launce and no sean; and if itis desired to make their capture as sporting as possible, without regard to keeping them alive, they may be caught on avery light trout-rod and single-gut cast, and the bait may be worked through the water like a submerged fly. And truly, few fish give more play for their size than a sand-cel about six inches in Iength. What I have called still-fishing for bass from Sull. piers is a simpler affair, practised for the fishing most part with hand-lines, and consists mercly in getting the baited hook or hooks on the sand just behind the breaking rollers, for it is in the surf that bass are most likely to feed at the bottom. FT? 6 th <= 6 i I 1 I I ! kK iJ & PieR PATERNOSTER. 142 SEA-FISH. to be preferred to those of iron, the more so as they attract to themselves in a very short time that coating of limpets and seaweeds that prove so alluring to fish, as cover both for themselves and for the smaller creatures on which they prey. One of the most constant annoyances of pier- Clearing fishing is the fouling of the hooks and lead ting in the piles, sometimes through carelessness on the part of the angler, more often through the a < o =f iy a 9 2 CLEARING Rina. unexpected rush of a pollack, or the wash of a passing steamer. In any case the difficulty of freeing the hook is aggravated by the presence of dense bunches of mussels, from which it cannot possibly be recovered, as the gut will not stand the FISHING FROM PIERS AND HARBOURS. 143 strain. I have for years used when in a dilemma of this kind a very effective clearing ring, or “messenger,” patented by Watson and Hancock of Holborn, the claws of which can with a little practice be made to hold the mussels and drag away the whole bunch. This serviceable ring will screw on the long handle of your landing-net, or can be used from a boat with a cord. The former is, however, preferable when the distance is not too great. A Bass-pooL ON THE ARun. (From a photograph by J. White, Littlehampton.) CHAPTER VI. BOAT-FISHING. OF the management of large and small boats Manabe it is not proposed to treat in this place. ment of Some useful hints were given in Wilcocks’s boats Svea Fisherman, and so serious a subject would need far greater space than I have at my disposal. The two most difficult operations in breezy weather are launching and beaching, the former being the most trying. One rule may be given, which is, I think, without exception, and that is, when launching a small boat in broken water put all the weight in the stern and of course head her seawards. If there are two fishermen going out, one should be seated in the stern, quickly getting amidships with the oars as soon as there is water enough to float her, the other jumping in as lightly as possible when she is in about two feet, but never on the top of a wave. In smooth weather, more than half these precautions can be neglected, and both may get away dry- footed. In beaching a boat, it is safer, unless the sea is calm, to back in stern first on the top of cach wave, backing water into cach sca as it comes by BOAT-FISHING. 145 the bow, which should be kept head on to the waves. It is always best to signal for assistance if available, lying off in the slack water for the purpose, as a ready hand to guide the boat out of danger will save at any rate a wetting. After a correct knowledge of the actual handling of boats, perhaps the most important qualification for comfort is to refrain. from standing up too suddenly or jumping about. The man who jumps about in a small boat is best over the side, and there he will in all probability soon be. What no one should be without is a knowledge of swimming; not merely how to swim : i : Import- for a short spell in a swimming-bath, where ance of there is as a rule a premium on all manner Swim- of fancy strokes, but how to reserve one’s ce strength, keep one’s wind, and ward off cramp. No one who fishes in small boats in any kind of weather should neglect to practise /oxg swimming, speed being no object, on every possible opportunity. He may never have to use it—I never have in some fifteen years of boating in all weathers—but the consciousness of being able to swim two or three miles if necessary is a wonderful factor in one’s pleasure, especially when a squall comes up sud- denly. Mercifully, those who cannot swim, including a large percentage of the able-bodied sailors in our merchant-service, if not indeed in the navy, rarely, I am assured, feel any fear of drowning. I have been out with Cornish fishermen who could not swim a stroke ; and only once, when we were with- in a fraction of an inch of an upset in a boiling sea, did I see one quail. And on that occasion, it was not my boatman who was the more anxious of the two, for I realised how very small a chance L 146 SEA-FISH. there would have been for me to have brought the two of us out alive. The spill never came, as it happencd ; but it was a tight squeeze, and made me vow at the time never again to go out with a non-swimmer—an undertaking I have since for- gotten. I have already mentioned the objectionable Presence Practice of standing up suddenly in a small ofmind boat. It is highly desirable to acquire, if it be not inborn, that presence of mind which shall never fail in an emergency, such as the sudden appearance in a fog of a steamer coming hull on—an experience that befell me in the present summer about a mile south of Bourne- mouth pier. These pleasure-steamers have now and again odd ideas about the propriety of answering the helm, and when we first sighted each other there was certainly not much more than 200 yards distance between us. My small mouth-syren was soon going vigorously. It is always advisable to have one of these aboard—they can be purchased at several shops near Charing Cross—for sudden fogs, though, as I afterwards learnt, it did not matter in this case, as the captain saw me at once. There was no question of reversing his engines, for a boat of that size and build would have passed over me long before she stopped; so that all he could do was to get his wheel over sharp, and the result was that he passed on my right by Icss than twenty yards, his wash swamping everything. Now, had there been a lady on board, she would inevitably have stood up and screamed. Next, both she and myself would have been in the water; and even had nothing worse happencd, we should have looked ridiculous in the eyes of BOAT-FISHING. 147 those on the steamer. If there had been another man in the boat, I should have got him to stand by with a knife and cut the anchor-rope, while I handled the oars and got out of the way of the steamer. But I was aft at the time and alone, and before I could have cut the rope and got back to the oars, it would have been too late, The very best thing, therefore, under the circum- stances was to leave the responsibility entirely with the steamer, sit tight, and be ready to jump overboard in case of accidents. I do not quote this as a very thrilling adventure, but rather as a sample of the almost everyday annoyance to which one may be put wherever there is a combination of fogs and steamers. The mention of fogs, to which the Channel is probably more subject than any other sea in the same latitude, reminds me of another very necessary adjunct to comfort, if not indeed, -safety, in boat-fishing, and that is a reliable pocket- compass. When, as often happens even in summer, a dense fog springs up in the course of a few minutes, before the fisherman, intent on his sport, has any suspicion of its approach, not only may the beach, though not a quarter of a mile off, be entirely shut out from view, but the effect on the atmosphere is so remarkable, that the direction of sounds is perverted, and without a compass aboard the very best thing to be done is to remain where you are until the fog lifts. Should you have no compass and no fcod, the situation may become serious in an hour or two, and then you must en- deavour—no easy matter, I admit, even for the old hand—to steer by the current. By this I mean that you must bethink yourself of the state of the tide ; L2 ogs 148 SEA-FISH. then, knowing that, on the south coast, the rising tide flows eastward, the falling tide ebbing west- ward, you must constantly pause in your rowing to see that you are going straight for the shore, which is accomplished by getting the boat quite steady and seeing which way a line streams out. If there is not any tide whatever, better wait till it starts. In any. case, steering in a fog without a compass is such difficult and fearsome work, that the compass should rank first among one’s baggage, far more important than lunch. Yet, I would wager, not one sea-angler in a score ever dreams of keeping one in his basket: well, experience, we are told, keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other. Let your basket, then, include a compass, a mouth-syren, failing which a strong whistle will do, and a tide-table; the lunch and bait will be every one’s care. Have presence of mind, above all; it can be acquired by practice, as I have often observed. Remember that you have two hands and two feet and a brain to direct them; and such a combination should be enough to get you out of any scrape; but they must act together and with as much deliberation as the urgency of the moment will permit. No hasty cutting of ropes or leaping overboard ; but a cool summing up of the chances for and against, and then swift action. The methods of fishing from boats are many. sane Besides the use of the paternoster, leger, of fishing and chopstick, as described in the chapter a on rod-fishing, there are two methods confined to boats, whiffing (otherwise rail- ing or plummeting) and drift-lining. One principle pervades these methods in common, and that is the BOAT-FISHING. 149 covering of as much ground as possible, the only difference being that in whiffing, the boat is rowed or sailed over the ground, while in fishing with the drift-line, she is moored or anchored, the line being paid out with the tide. A tide is therefore more or less essential for the proper working of the drift-line, though I have occasionally had sport in quite slack water. It is unnecessary to go very deeply into the various tackles employed in railing or whif- Railing fing. Already, in the remarks on hand- or lining, I had occasion to give some account Whiffing of the practice of “ plummeting” for mackerel, as followed in Cornwall and elsewhere ; and all rail- ing is carried on in similar manner, save that, from rowing boats, at any rate, the rod may profitably be substituted for the hand-line. A short, stiff rod is the best ; and the reel should hold not less than 100 yards of line, as not only is it often necessary on bright days to let out quite 50 yards before the fish will look at a bait, but it sometimes happens that the hook catches in the rope of a lobster-pot, low down by the hoop, in which case, unless there are a good 109 yards on the recl, a smash may be confidently expected. Unfortunately, too, where there are the most pollack, there also are the most pots. At the end of the main-line there is usually a 3-yard trace of either stout single, or, as I would venture to recommend for the beginner of in- different skill, of treble twisted, gut. The bait, or baited hook, is kept at the proper depth—it is well to bear in mind that railing is not necessarily surface-fishing, and that pollack may feed anywhere within a couple of fect of the bottom during the 1§0 SEA-FISH. brighter hours of the day, cruising at the top only on the approach of dusk—by lead in some form or other on the main-line, preferably in pipe form ; several small leads of } oz. each being better than one of some ounces, as the smaller leads can be threaded at intervals, and keep the line sunk more uniformly. It is a good plan to have in your basket, in that compartment which should always be reserved for “sundries,” a penny coil of fine sheet lead, such as is sold for plummets, as an inch of this bound on the line not far above the hook is inconspicuous, and may just make the required difference, when the depth has to be adjusted with great accuracy, as is the case when the fish are biting shyly on very sunny days. The bait may be a plano-convex minnow, a “fly,” or a rubber eel, the last-named alone or in combination with a tinned spinner—it is largely a matter of fancy—or a natural bait; best of all, a live sand-eel, next best, a couple of rag-worms. Large mussels are also used with success ; in fact it may safely be said that, once you have ascertained the hour and depth at which the pollack are feeding, any, or almost any, bait drawn not too rapidly across their line of vision will in all probability provoke a rise. Such are the broad principles of railing, whiffing, or whatever it may be called, and individual taste or experience will suggest a number of modifications to suit special conditions, the employment of a shorter or longer trace, of swivels between the trace and main-line to lessen friction, and of fancy patterns of lead, boat-shaped, coffin-shaped or pear- shaped. A good deal has been written for and against “MOV 110d J4VHNYLS ABN3H BOAT-FISHING. 151 each and all of these, and I fancy that I shall do best in leaving such unimportant details to the reader, cautioning him only against the use of more than one hook, with the rod at any rate, on each line, Prano-Convex Minnow. om Potvack Fty. I will rather offer a few hints on the general method of finding and catching the fish when the tackle is rigged up to your satisfaction. The very best time for this fishing is from about four or five on a summer’s afternoon until eight or nine in the 152 SEA-FISH. evening. Whiffing for pollack in the cooler months, or in the bright light of summer days, is very chance amusement. By sinking the bait to within a foot of the rocks, thereby endangering both line and rod in frequent smashes in the long weed, and letting out a great deal of line, putting in conse- quence a tremendous strain on all gear, it is often possible—I have done it scores of times—to make a good basket of pollack on the brightest of August days between eleven and two. But I cannot think this either so pleasurable or so artistic as the capture of larger fish when the sun is sinking in the west, and when pollack of 6 and 8 Ibs. are as often happens, to be seen leaping at the surface like trout in a pool. At such times you may get within a dozen yards before interrupting the frolic, and it is possible to row backwards and forwards over the spot for a couple of hours or more, picking up a good fish at every turn. It is noticeable, as every pollack-fisher of experience knows, that the best fish are usually hooked as the boat is turning at either end of the reef, and if one’s senses should ever be allowed to wander for a moment from the work in hand, this turning-point is the very worst moment to choose. The boat should be rowed (or sailed under a mere rag of a mizcn) slowly over the rocks, a zig-zag course being preferred as covering more ground, though there may be cases in which the formation of the reef renders a straight course to and fro better than that known to seamen as “ dogs’ legs.” A know- ledge of the topography of the hidden bed of the sea is among the most important qualifications of the sea-fisherman, even if it be limited to the details that figure in the charts of the Admiralty BOAT-FISHING. 153 survey. A good deal indeed that does not find a place in that work is of great use to the amateur, but can only be acquired in the course of residence at each particular place, and even then only by the most careful plumbing and entering up of note- books. The best way is to try whether the fish are feeding about mid-water, increasing the lead by day, decreasing it towards evening. It is not, of course, easy to hit off mid-water at once, but, if there is no strong tide running, 30 yards of line with 2 ozs. of lead should, if the boat is only just kept under way, keep the bait somewhere about 30 feet deep. There are three ways of increasing the depth at which the bait moves: by adding lead, Aataar by letting out more line, and by decreasing ing the the speed of the boat. Conversely, there 4¢P*® are three ways of bringing the bait nearer to the surface, by establishing the reverse of these conditions. The tide makes, of course, a considerable difference one way or the other, and it is therefore usual to minimise this by rowing across, instead of with or against it. This has the additional advantage of spinning the bait across the fish, which feed with their head to the tide. Here, then, is the best way of whiffing in strange waters: start with thirty yards of line out, two ounces of lead, and the pace of a snail; then add lead, } oz. at a time, let five or ten yards more out, and continue adding lead and letting out line until the hook occasionally catches the weed. As soon as this is experienced, tie a fragment of white cotton firmly round the line, just above the reel, which will serve as a warning when the hook is going too deep. Should no fish be caught between 154 SEA-FISH. mid-water and the bottom, reverse the proceedings, diminish the lead and take in line until the bait can occasionally be seen astern. Should both these extremes be reached without any recognition from the fish, run ashore and stay there, for the fish are evidently in no biting humour. Should the change of depth, however, prove beneficial, and a bite be felt, strike firmly, not by catching hold of the line and pulling it back through the rings—a man who knows how to use his rod and winch need rarely, if ever, touch the line—but by a decided backward lift of the rod-top. If the fish happen to be a small one, it may be reeled up to the net without more ado. Should it, how- ever, be of some size, there are two courses to pursue, between which there is, I think, little to choose. You may either let your boatman stop rowing, and coax the fish to the side for him to Playing gaff, or he may back water and bring you the fish alongside the fish, you reeling in the while as hard as you dare. At all costs, keep the fish from the rocks, especially if there are lobster-pots in the neighbourhood. The cunning with which a pollack of large size will wind your line round the ropes and break away may be discredited by critics of animal instinct, but the fisherman’s belief is not to be shaken. The grand principle on which to fight this fish is the refusal to yield one inch of ground. Should you have reason to suspect a faulty knot in your gut- cast, you had far better chance it and bluff the fish by mastery from the first, for the pollack is no brook-fish to tire lightly at the end of a slack line. In mid-water, he is nowhere ; but let him once get sight of his native pools, his effort is supreme, and Striking Pollack BOAT-FISHING. 155 more often wins the day than not. Provided you are able to keep the fish from the ground, you can play him, cat-and-mouse fashion, to your fancy ; but, if he once get his head down and tail up, the odds are against the fisherman. With a bass it is different, and for this reason, if not indeed for his more salmon-like appearance, the great sea-perch will better please the recruit from inland waters. He may be played like any sporting fish; run after run he will give if in the humour; at other times, be it admitted, he will come to the gaff like any porbeagle. In railing with a hand-line, the heavy fish should he hauled gently over the gunwale, inch by inch, the hands kept zzszde the boat, as described in the remarks on hand-lining above. It is also customary to impart to the line, or lines (the fisherman in the stern sheets uses one in either hand), a swinging motion, backwards and forwards, by drawing the hand towards the body and alternately extending it the full length of the arm. Some anglers prac- tise a like movement with the rod, alternately lowering and raising the tip to prevent the often uneven rowing jerking the bait and rousing the suspicion of the fish; but I have found that the springiness of the rod docs all that is necessary. Some men go out railing alone, but the practice is not one to be recommended, as the solitary angler necessarily pricks about three fish for every one caught ; and the effect on the neighbourhood may, even in sea-fishing, be demoralising. On a stream, it might mean the ruin of the fishing. For those, however, who from choice or necessity go out railing alone, I would counsel the hand- line in preference to the rod, as it is more easily 156 SEA-FISH. picked up and got under control at a moment’s notice. Also, strange as it may appear, I would advise the use of two hand-lines rather than one. Should the angler have the ill luck to hook two good fish simultaneously, the very best plan is to give two or three furious strokes, by which the boat spurts ahead, and the additional resistance may, though the odds are against it, keep the second fish on the hook whilc the first is being hauled. Inany case, however, the second bait trailing astern will keep the pollack or mackerel in pursuit while one line is aboard. ‘Two items of importance must not be lost sight of in this railing solo: the oars must be tied to the rowlock, and the lines must be made fast in such manner as, while checking the first run of the fish, they shall indicate its presence to the fisherman. Unless the first precaution, that of making fast the sculls, be observed, there is con- siderable risk, under the excitement of hooking a large fish, of Ictting go the sculls all too suddenly and losing one or both, when it would have been far cheaper to lose the fish. Where the boat has considerable way on, it is of course safe to let the sculls swing to the side, the resistance of the water keeping them in place; but when she is merely creeping through the water, as is often necessary in this work, they casily slip into the water, as any who doubt may try for themselves. Therefore, it behoves the careful man to tie them witha hitch of waxed cord. In Italy, where I have at one time or other done a good deal of boat-fishing, the oars are never fixed in any other way. As regards the making fast of the line, there are several ways of attaining the desired combination, one of the most convenient devices being Hearder’s cane spreader, BOAT-FISHING. 157 Cane OuTRIGGER 158 SEA-FISH. or outrigger, which is simply wedged on the gun- wale, the line being passed round the outer end. Some fasten a little bell on this outrigger, similar to the arrangement used on the bamboo rod for catching albicore and barracouta at sea; but this appears to me quite superfluous in this case, as it is easy to keep an eye on the bending of the cane. In the absence of some such device, I have found it a good plan to hitch the line round a cork buoy, or even round the foot-rest, wedging the latter lightly under the thwart, so that, while retaining its place as the boat moves through the water, the hooking of a fish is sufficient to : pull it overboard, and eRe Disy, its buoyancy is just enough to play the pollack until it is hauled back in the boat. The size of the hook and bait is always a puzzling choice to the beginner, if not often indeed to those of experience. One rule may, however, in railing as in other fishing, be kept in mind, and that is the advisability of using as large a hook as the fish will take, for the smaller the hook, the more time it takes to get it out of the fish. When the fish are shy, a small bait will often carry the day, and it isnot a bad plan in that case to have a detachable swivel above each hook, so that the latter can be rapidly BOAT-FISHING. 159 detached and left with the fish, a new hook being substituted without much loss of time. This plan, which is more commonly used with the long line, or boulter, should, it is unnecessary to say, be em- ployed only with the more troublesome fish, and will for instance be found a great save-time in legering for large flat fish and whiting, which have an awkward habit of gorging the bait. One last hint with regard to railing, and I have done. It has been remarked above that a fish is often hooked as the boat turns. Should this be found to be the case, it is often a killing plan to change her course every 20 yards or so, and ifa fish is often missed at the turn, matters are some- times improved by letting out a couple of yards of slack line just as she leaves the old course, striking sharply as the line tightens again. In this way I have brought to bag many a good pollack that, I fancy, would otherwise not have been mine. A few words should, without anticipating the Appendix, be added on the topography of railing on.our coasts. It is an unfortunate fact that much of the best railing-ground is also the best lobster- ground, in consequence of which, as at Mevagissey and Bognor, for instance, this method is practicable only on Saturday, when, as there is no market next day, the pots are brought ashore. On the other days, any attempt at railing would involve much loss of gear, time, and temper, as the surface of the sea is a perfect forest of corks, each with its slack line ready to catch the passing hook. In certain years, Bournemouth Bay is as good a place as any I know near London for this Bourne- method of taking pollack, for there is but mouth one man with pots, and these he sets in fixed 160 SEA-FISH. spots on the Durley and pier rocks. There remain a number of reefs, in all of which lurk pollack, though, oddly enough, they are not to be taken every year by railing. In 1894,1 took a number of good fish in this way in the month of May. Two years later, I tried in vain with every possible bait, living and dead, morning and evening, and on every likely spot, but never a fish I took all May and June. Yet the pollack were there, for as soon as I brought up and put out the drift-lines I took them, though not of great size. So, too, in Cornwall no method is more killing for the pollack in some years, while in others you may row to and fro in the shadow of the Deadman by the week and never pick up a fish worth having. Railing is essentially an inshore method ; five or ten miles from land, the drift-line will invariably give better results. That, at least, has been my experience. Thus, at Dover, there are occasionally, though decreasingly as the years go by, some heavy bags made in the long, light summer even- ings within a few yards of the beach, every boat: in the place, seaworthy or otherwise, being hastily called into requisition, and the pollack grcedily scizing anything, living or dead, that is trailed along-shore. Lulworth, in Dorset, is one of the places where I have observed the fishermen rail in preference to any other method ; and I have picked up a good pollack or two just without the beautiful little cove, though I was Icss lucky there than some. The local bait (and an excellent one it is) was the crab-worm, the pots, which are Lulworth’s staple industry, usually providing a sufficiency of hermit-crabs. Otherwise, bait there was none, there being no shop in the Cornwall Lulworth BOAT-FISHING. 161 place, and one had recourse to the artificial bait, the rubber-eel, and the rest, of which, truth to tell, Lulworth pollack have, or had, no great opinion. But for this continual lack of bait, as well as the absence of any other than boat-fishing, I should place Lulworth, with its hilly, unlighted streets, its simple lobster-catchers, and its solitary idle police- man, high among the desirable spots for a fisher- man’s holiday. As it is, many a good day is spoilt by insufficiency of bait and the uncertainty of the somewhat costly supplies from Weymouth. It is undoubtedly, however, on the coasts of Scotland and Ireland—possibly due, as gootoy “John Bickerdyke” says, to the fact that and Irish pollack and coal-fish are not in much [sts demand for the market—that railing is certain to give the best sport ; and the catches, more particu- larly of the latter fish, the sillock or saithe of northern waters, are sometimes phenomenal. For mackerel-whiffing, the choice is. somewhat wider, but results are a little uncertain east of the Wight. From the Needles to the Land’s End, on the other hand, there are so many bays where this sport may be followed with the success that soon palls, that I hesitate to make any selection. Weymouth Bay is perhaps as good as any, though I have taken hundreds of mackerel in this way off Exmouth, Dawlish, and in Torbay ; mouth, while west of Plymouth, this “plummet- *° ing,” which I have already had occasion to describe, is regarded as a means of picking up fresh bait on the way out to the fishing-grounds, rather than in the nature of sport. In railing for mackerel, it is well to remember rocks are not essential as in pollack-fishing, and a sandy bay will produce just : M 162 SEA-FISH. as many mackerel of a bright summer’s day as the most rocky coast. I have just mentioned once again the Cornish fishing. Let me take this oppor- tunity of reminding the reader that Sunday Pe fishing is still looked askance at in those in parts. J am not presuming for one moment Cornwall : So cans to consider the question in its moral aspect, my business in this place being to talk fish and fishing ; but I do recommend respect of this primi- tive observance of the day of rest ; and if the more advanced thinker from town wants to lay consola- tion to his soul for this barbarous superstition, let him regard this Sunday abstinence as a wholesome weekly close time, enforced by the chapels, instead of, as in the salmon-fishing, by the conservators. I do not say that it is not possible to bribe the younger generation into piloting you to the fishing- grounds on Sundays ; nor is it to be denied that the spectacle of a calm Sunday may be, to the man of limited leisure, tantalising. I mercly deprecate interference with a local prejudice, the effects of which are wholly good. , Another very characteristic method of fishing Drift- from boats is the use of the drift-line. As lining J have already mentioned, its principle, that of covering as much ground as possible, is not far removed from that of railing, only instead of the boat covering the ground and dragging the bait after it, the anchor is dropped in the present instance, and the tide does the work of carrying out the line. This drift-lining is in my opinion, whether prac- tised with or without the rod, one of the most killing, and at the same time most enjoyable, of all methods, BOAT-FISHING. 163 and Ihave employed it to catch not only the orthodox bass, mackerel and pollack, but also large flat fish and cod. Unless indeed the tide or current is so strong as to render it impossible, or, as less often happens, there is not even the little tide or current necessary to take the line out, I prefer this method to bottom-fishing under almost any conceivable conditions. In addition to the extent of ground searched, it has always seemed to me the most natural way of presenting the bait to the fish. The ease with which they are often deluded by three large baits depending motionless from a paternoster or float does not say much for their sagacity, but no blame attaches to their being taken in by a morsel of bait floating naturally on the current. As they invariably feed head to the tide, the bait approaches them with the line behind, and there- fore not suspected until the hook is where it should be. There is, moreover, no lead worth speaking of on the line ; and altogether, considering how incon- spicuous is the tackle and how natural the present- ment of the bait, it is not surprising that three good fish should be taken by this method, when practised scientifically, to one taken by any other. In the first place, all the tackle should be as fine as is safe, a single gut trace being enough above the hook where the fish do not run heavier than 5 lbs. I am addressing the beginner ; when he has graduated, he may find little difficulty in bringing to net on a single trace fish of twice that weight. When something stronger than single gut is fancied, plaited gut will be found less con- spicuous in the water than the commoner twisted, and better still is a wire trace, though its career, as that of gimp, in salt water is likely to be brief. I M 2 Gut 164 SEA-FISH. am told that more than one gimp impervious to the attacks of sea-water has already been put on the ‘ market, but it is my misfortune never to GimP have come across sO priceless an invention, so that, save for a day’s work and then to limbo, my faith in gimp for sea-fishing remains shaken. The patent “* Hercules” gimp is not a bad material for short service in the sea, and I have recently had traces of a still softer and equally power- ful twisted wire from Little, of the Haymarket. Swivels on drift-lines are a matter of taste ; personally, [ never use them, having a notion that they are more likely to interfere with the natural movement of the line than anything else. In railing, they are of course indispensable, but for the drift line I think them superfluous, if no worse. As to lead, the amount used, if any, should be very slight. The exact depth at which, not alone the fish are feeding but the bait is working, must, as in railing, be ascertained by actual experiment on the spot. The best form in which to add lead in case of need is, I have always found, the foil or wire already mentioned, as it is inconspicuous and interferes little with the straight- ness of the line, which should cant away from the boat to the hook as rigid as a wire. It will easily be understood that this condition is impossible of attainment if a single heavy pipe-lead or bullet be used, as the lighter gut below the lead will inevitably sheer away at an angle with the main line above; but with three or four fragments of foil bound at intervals along the line, the whole is taken to the necessary depth without any abrupt change of direction along its course. A single hook only should be used in connection with each Swivels Lead BOAT-FISHING. 165 line, as more would certainly mar the natutal appearance of the whole, besides leading to com- plications should two good pollack get hooked together and differ as to the most promising course to pursue, while their agreement might be just as disastrous. The reason for the line lying straight between the fisherman and the hook is that success in this method often, more often than not indeed, depends on striking at the exact second, and any curve or angle in the line naturally impedes the communication of any movement from fish to fisherman and wice versa. As for baits, there are a number, all excellent, but the living sand-cel is probably best, although there are times and places where I have known it come off second to the mussel. Mr. Wilcocks gives in his world-famed Sea Fisherman three methods of baiting with the living sand-eel; in the tide-way, he aa passes the hook in at the mouth and out ¢ocks’s 3 7 methods at the gills; and in slack water, he fixes of paiting the hook either in the throat, beneath the ee pectoral fin, or in the nape above it. Now the author of the above-mentioned work was my first philosopher and guide in the sport of which we are both so fond, and it is therefore not without hesitation that I advocate any method opposed to his practice; but I am bound to say that I have for years found the simpler plan of hooking the launce through either upper or lower lip equally effective and far easier to perform without injury to these exceedingly fragile creatures. As the bait obviously turns tail on the approach of pollack, this method places the line out of sight just as thoroughly as those advocated 166 SEA-FISH. by Mr. Wilcocks. The courge, the only satisfac- tory receptacle for this delicate bait, has been figured on a ‘previous page. The bait may be kept alive in the courge for two or three days at any moorings ; or, if moorings are not to be had, the courge can be sunk near the fishing grounds with a buoy to mark its where- abouts, and it is a good plan to cut or paint the owner’s initials or name on the buoy in order to prevent errors. It is wonderful what a differ- ence this makes; such are the morals of the foreshore, that the difference between mine and thine does not demand close attention in the case of nameless owners. It is also to be remarked that the luxury of scruples is indulged in to a far greater extent west of Plymouth, possibly, cynics say, because the communities are so limited and it is so hard to get away, the “iron road” being often miles from the sea. Where sand-eels are unattainable, there are plenty of other baits suitable for the drift- ussel |. ; line. Two mussels, one red, the other white or yellow, make a very deadly combination, and, as I have already said, will at times kill against the more popular eel. The hook should be completely buried in them, as both pollack and mackerel take the whole bait, and there is no need for the point of the hook to project. Then the prawn, or even the shrimp, is a first- rate livebait, and should be hooked through the tail, the reason for this being that, when threatened, these crustaceans retreat face to the foe, and if the gut line were seen projecting from the face it is unlikely that any pollack would be taken in for a moment. Also, be careful to insert the M Prawn BOAT-FISHING. 167 hook well above the first ring or joint ; for the back- ward leap of the prawn at any rate is effected, as already mentioned in Chapter I, by the fan-shaped tail, and it is of the utmost importance that the hook should not interfere with this operation, on the perfectly natural performance of which so much depends. A rock-worm of large size, or a bunch of the small harbour ragwormas, hooked through the head, will also be found a good bait, though, personally, I prefer mussel. Down in Cornwall again, where drift-lining for pollack gives great sport, and where, off the Tom Ash ground outside Fowey, I have taken a dozen pollack within the hour, none of which weighed under 8 lbs., the best of all baits isa slab of pilchard, which is cut in the following manner: the knife is inserted at the shoulder of the fish, the edge of the blade pointing to the tail, and the entire side of the pilchard is cut away from the backbone till just before reaching the tail, when the blade is turned downwards and the spine severed. Next, the tail-fin is neatly cut away, and we have left a long slab of pilchard thicker at the end next the tail. The hook is then passed through the thick end, the gut being drawn after it, and then passed once again through the middle. For bass, this is slightly varied: an incision is made on either side of the neck, and the head is drawn out with the trail attached, part of the latter being left with the trunk. The hook is then passed twice through the body, and a double hitch of the gut is taken round the narrow part above the tail-fin. Finally, the latter is removed, and the bait hangs neck downwards. A more killing bait than this, large, silvery and leaving a trail of oil, could scarcely be orms Pilchard 168 SEA-FISH. imagined, and the head is usually thrown out in advance as ground-bait, or “ guffin.” So much for the baits used with the drift-line. The method of using this sensitive tackle is not difficult, beyond the fact that it calls for the whole attention ; and thougn it is customary to put out a line of this kind to fish “for the pot,” or to keep dog-fish and sharks employed, while bottom-fishing, it is quite impossible to fish with the drift-line scientifically unless holding it all the time. And truly, this is half the enjoyment, for the fisherman soon comes to recognise that a very insignificant picking at the line may mean a very good fish. Mackerel may be taken in this way indeed within a couple of fathoms of the surface, and I well re- collect on one occasion seeing the blue fish shearing down in the clear water, while we brought nearly a hundred of them, all of good size, to the boat in less than an hour. Yet, so important is it to strike at the right moment, when the bait just disappears in the mackerel’s mouth, or on feeling the first decided pull, that we saw many shear away merely pricked and, nothing daunted, follow the bare hook to the top. Pollack are, however, taken at a much greater depth, which, as the line cants away at an angle of from 30° to 60° with the gunwale, means a distance of thirty or forty yards from the fisher- man, and it is for this reason that no slack line must be allowed to intervene, as it would seriously impede the due striking of large fish. It is in this drift-lining that you are most likely to hook a blue or porbeagle shark ; and care must be taken in dealing with these fish, owing to their aforemen- tioned trick of slacking the line and swimming to the surface as soon as they fecl the steel. Whether BOAT-FISHING. 169 fishing with rod or line, it is essential to have a fathom or two of slack in the boat to guard against sudden squalls, and the shark should be played gingerly up to the gaff, gaffed in the head, stunned by a blow on the snout, and slung in a bight of line over the bow. On no account let the brute within the precincts of the boat if you can avoid it; and be still less inclined to quiet its struggles with a knife, for the odour of a shark’s blood, above all that of a porbeagle, is not lightly forgotten, and will cling to the boat during the rest of the month. The pollack must be handled with due regard to its fancy for diving to the rocks, mentioned in connection with railing; and I have always preferred a large net Landing- to the gaff, because the pollack is by no n¢t means an easy fish to gaff. Its gill-covers, how- ever, stand out boldly from the head, and the Cornish fishermen are very skilful in inserting the fingers beneath them and dragging the astonished fish safe over the gunwale. With the bass, it is not customary to take such liberties, as its gill- covers develop in the direction of sharp spines. The bass is therefore, on the comparatively rare occasions on which it nowadays comes to the hook, lifted aboard tenderly witha short gaff, or “ gogger.” Enough space has now been devoted to the sub- ject of drift-lining, which is one of the best of all methods of summer fishing and usually feasible. For some reason or other, this method has been particularly associated with harbours ; but, although these are perhaps the only places where it can be practised without the use of boats, I have invariably found it answer admirably anywhere within ten miles of the coast. Far from land, I Sharks 170 SEA-FISH. have generally found both this and railing give inferior results to heavy leaded lines, probably because the strong currents render the drift-line - nugatory, while, as for railing, the fish do not, as a rule, pursue the fry so close to the surface as they do inshore. There remains bottom-fishing with paternoster, chopstick or leger; and the three chiefconsiderations about this fishing at anchor are: (1) the anchor, or killick ; (2) taking “marks”; and (3) ground- baiting. Of these three very important matters I proceed Anchor t© Offer some particulars. In order to keep or the boat on the right grounds, which are Killick found, as presently described, by taking “marks ” or bearings, it is necessary to use some kind of anchor or stone—the latter being known as a “killick ”—with rope attached. The general rule is to use the anchor, or grapnel, on the sand, the stone among the rocks. There are cases in which, with soft sand and slack tide, the stone suffices to hold the boat up on the sand ; but there are fewer cases in which the grapnel may be used without danger of breakage on the rocks. There are many patterns of small anchor suit- able for rowing and small sailing boats, the best form being, in my opinion, the new patent -anchor sold by the Liquid Fucl Engineer- _ ing Company, of Cowes. Parent Ancuor. It is casier to release from the mud, and can be bought in several sizes, from 4} Ibs. weight upwards. The anchor is bent on to a sufficiently BOAT-FISHING. 171 stout rope by a bowline or other safe knot. If the bottom is foul, it is advisable to bend a buoy- line to one of the flukes, so that, if it gets hung up, an extra strain on the latter will release it. The patent anchor does not need any such device, as it rarely gets foul, though I certainly recollect one instance in which we had to abandon one. There is a right way of throwing out an anchor as there is also a wrong. The first precaution necessary is to see that the rope is fast at either end and all clear. It is best at the bow, so that the boat may ride smoothly head to tide or wind, whichever prevails. If you are alone in a boat, the best plan (with the rope astern) is to get her well under way, then ship the oars, pitch the anchor well out astern, and make fast over the bow when the boat is over the desired spot (see below), provided of course the anchor is snug on the bottom. If, as is better, the anchor rope is fast to the ring in the bows, the solitary rower may for the moment sit with his back to the stern, get the boat in motion stern first, and proceed as before, throwing out in this case well ahead of the boat. With a second in the boat, the proceeding is yet easier. While one keeps the boat gently under way, the other, taking up his position at the bow (assuming that the anchor is made fast there), throws it ahead, the rower backs water until the rope is taut, when all is made fast. In calm water, it is unnecessary to let much rope out; when there is any breeze or swell, however, it is found more comfortable to let out all the rope available, when the craft rides much more smoothly. The stone, or killick, is easier to manipulate, as it may be dropped gently alongside, there being 172 SEA-FISH. no need, as with the anchor, to pitch it ahead. It must be borne in mind, however, that, even among the rocks, the holding power of a stone is far less than that of an anchor, and that for craft of any size a very heavy stone may be necessary, especially in any but the calmest of water; indeed, on the sands it is rarely efficient. The rope may be bent on with a clove hitch; but there are some forms of stone, those for example that taper abruptly to- wards one or both ends, in which this knot is not the best. The great aim of any knot used for this purpose should be that it is only pulled the tighter by every additional strain. . There is rarely room enough in a small boat for a spare anchor or stone, and in the majority of cases the loss of the only one aboard is the beginning of the end, there being nothing for it but to go ashore. Two alternatives, however, sometimes remain; it is often possible to bring up on some lobster-pots, mooring the boat to the largest bundle of corks, taking care of course to disarrange the pot-line as little as possible; or, on the other hand, it is occasionally possible to make a very good bag drifting over the different grounds. Indeed, there are cases in which, where the tide runs so strongly that the lead will not hold the bottom, something is gained by hauling in the stone and letting the boat drift with the tide, which removes a great part of the drift from the line, and enables the angler to fish on the bottom. Compared, however, with the accurate taking of bearings as described in the following paragraph, this drifting is at the best but chance work, and any success that may attend it should be regarded in the light of the exception rather than the rule. BOAT-FISHING. 173 How to take “marks,” or bearings, is one of the first articles in the sea-fisherman’s creed, Taking and it is a very simple matter, accuracy “marks” being the only essential. Even the river-fisher has his favourite ‘‘swims,” or “ pitches,” his bays for pike, his deeps for roach, the overhanging patch of willows for chub, and all the other backwaters, eddies, holes and the rest. But the vast sea is so very different from any river. Here, unless you know the exact whereabouts of particular patches of rock, or banks of sand, you have only the merest chance of catching more than a stray fish or two! Not all the ground-bait will as arule tempt the pout or bream a quarter of a mile—a_ short distance indeed as distances go at sea—from the rocks among which they have for the time being taken up their abode. The angler in fresh water takes up his position on the bank, or moors his punt, throws in his ground-bait and awaits the coming of the fish. I speak of course of bottom- fishing, analogous to the methods now under consideration, and not of the fly-fisher who selects a rising fish over which to throw his hook. The sea-angler does nothing of the kind, for he would have to wait in all probability several days and nights before catching fish enough for a meai. On the contrary, he goes to the fish, or to some spot where tHey are likely to be found. This may be a patch of sand, a reef of rock, a bed of weed, or a stretch of shingle, and it is found again by its “bearings,” in other words by making it the } The importance of ‘‘marks” varies, of course ; thus, ‘‘ John Bickerdyke” tells me that off Cowes there are none of importance, the boats being anchored a few hundred yards out, and constantly shifted according to the tide. 174 - SEA-FISH. meeting-point of two imaginary lines from diffcrent parts of the neighbouring shore, as near as possible at right angles, and noting objects that lie along each line. It must be clearly understood from the first that these “marks” are for re-discovering old grounds, not for finding new ones. The bearings for the Outer Durley rocks off Bournemouth may be quoted as a practical example of the method adopted: the flagstaff on the end of the pier being got in line with the middle of the patch of trees beyond the square red-tiled house just above the Bath Hotel on the East Cliff, while a conspicuous red house in Alum Chine (the third from the pier) is brought “dead on” the sloping roadway beneath it. These “marks” have served the purpose for some time, though I fished the reef long before there were either red houses or roads in the Chine, and we then had two tall pines, one of which seems to have disappeared before the invasion of bricks and mortar, to guide us. Moreover, on very calm days, it is generally easy to pick up Jack Bridle’s corks, he being the only man who sets pots on both this and the Inner Durley rocks. With a breeze on the water, however, or worse still a strong tide to drag them under, the corks often baffle you until you are right over them. Old Harry Rock, outside Swanage, will also be found to cover the extreme point of St. Alban’s, the headland beyond. There is one great fault- about many of these bearings in that they are of a not sufficiently permanent nature. As it is, the pine that served the purpose so admirably in the old days, is no more ; and, in the case of houses, there is the ad- ditional danger of more of the same pattern BOAT-FISHING. 175 springing up, to make the confusion worse than ever. On this account, it is desirable to select natural marks, the work of nature being as a rule more lasting than that of man. Nature’s improve- ments, now that she has got the earth into working order, are very slow; and we are safe in choosing for our marks hills and headlands, uncovered rocks, and the like. Among the buildings least likely to alter their appearance or position for a reason- able period, are lighthouses, coastguard-stations, churches and windmills. A better second string for the Durley, though available only on clear days, is Branksea Island, about a yard of which is opened.! At night, it is of course necessary to have an accurate knowledge of certain green and red lights that assist in fixing the bearings. Enough has been said, I think, on the very important subject of taking proper bearings. As it is often necessary to take up the exact “ marks ” with fastidious accuracy, attention must be paid to the direction in which the tide is running, and allowance made for the length of rope let out. This is of such great moment that I offer no apology, even at the risk of some repetition, for endeavouring to make it perfectly clear. Two typical cases obtain,—that in which the tide is with, and that in which it is against, the boat. In the first, the best plan for the man at the oars is to paddle gently up to the mark, stern first. A few yards before the exact spot is reached, his companion pitches the anchor over the bow (now, in the wake of the boat, as she is going stern first), and the rope is brought up sharp and made fast as soon as the boat is exactly 1 By a yard is meant, of course, so much as appears at that dis- tance to measure a yard—in reality, perhaps a hundred ! 176 SEA-FISH. in position. In the other case, where the boat is approaching the mark against the tide, the oarsman should sit round facing the bow, and overshoot the mark by a few yards. The anchor is then pitched ahead, and the boat allowed to drop back over the mark, the rope being brought up sharp and made fast, as before, when over the ground. Those of my readers who know all about the matter under notice will perhaps think that I have unduly prolonged these instructions ; but it is very difficult to make the correct procedure quite clear to the beginner without saying much that to the old hand is trite. The hardest grounds to pick up by shore marks are those which lie five or ten miles out at sea; and yet it is surprising, as those know who have fished off the Cornish coast, how easily the local professionals pick up such grounds. In such cases, some group of rocks standing off in the water, as, for example, the picturesque Gwingeas, that, like a lion couchant, guard the western approach to the harbour of Mevagissey, is generally requisitioned ; and indecd it is always better for the “marks” on one line to be not too close together. A good deal more on the subject of “ marks” will be found in the Appendix. I have now, I think, made it fairly clear how to find out known grounds, and, having found them, how to keep your boat in the right spot. It remains to get the fish. On really good grounds, particularly at some little distance from the coast, where they are not overworked, there will as a rule be plenty of fish. It may, however, be found necessary to bring the fish to the spot, or at any rate to keep them there. River-fishers will BOAT-FISHING. 177 at once understand that I am about to speak of the process of ground-baiting, a principle woefully neglected in salt water. It is, of course, Ground influenced by a number of conditions in bait the sea that do not in the ordinary course bear on its use in fresh water, as, for instance, the tides, great depth, and distance from which it is often necessary to attract the fish. Nor is it so simple a matter as in some quiet inland water, free from disturbance of any kind, where the bait remains within a foot of where it was dropped until discovered by the fish. Apart from the tides and currents that interfere with its position, the bed of the sea teems with crabs, which, scavengers that they are, soon seize upon any edible matter that they come across. It is therefore necessary to enclose the ground-bait in some kind of receptacle, and, for want of a better, a cage or wicker, or for that matter a square of string net, may be lowered by a cord, which is occasionally jerked to free a little of the mixture. The ground-bait should be so placed that the tide sets from it past the hooks. The object of this is that the fish, following up the track of oily particles and fragments of bait to its source, shall be com- pelled to pass close to the hooks. A similar principle is, I believe, in- volved in the use of the brainy water when baiting for chub with pith. A useful arrangement, not un- like a miniature diving-bell, is supplied by Messrs. N Divine Bett ror Grounp Bair. 178 SEA-FISH. Peek, and this is very suitable for sea-fishing. Care must be taken, however, not to let it touch the bottom, else the catch is released, and the bait comes out ex bloc. As regards the composition of ground-baits used in salt water, 1 may say that it is not nearly as complicated as that of the wondrous compounds of clay, bran, bread, worms, and all the rest that are employed for the mustering of bream and roach. A couple of dozen common shore crabs, a quart of large mussels, and a handful or two of the “innerds,” obtainable at the fishmonger’s ; these pounded to- gether make an admirable “ guffin,” as they call it in Cornwall. In Australia the correct name is “berley” ; and indeed the colonial compound is particularly offensive, among its choicest ingredients being condemned tinned salmon, sour herrings, and cheese. Some of the most cunningly compounded of ground-baits for sea-fishing which I ever came across were those in use among the Livornese, with whom I fished for three or four months some years ago. The simplest of these consisted of a couple of fresh anchovies. The whole proceeding of getting it near the hooks was so inelegant that I hesitate to enlarge on it; but, to put the matter tersely, the native anglers used to chew the fish and zimpel it, without using their hands, with wonderful accuracy right against the line. There being little or no inshore tide in the Mediterranean, the prin- ciple aforementioned did not operate, yet this primitive ground-baiting conduced unmistakably to a full bag. Two other ground-baits I learnt from my Italian acquaintances; the one a stiff mixture of anchovies, sand, and shells, which was thrown out in pellets; the other, very useful in angling for BOAT-FISHING. 179 grey mullet, a lump of Parmesan cheese tied toa small cork bung, the latter being set afloat just before fishing, when the particles of cheese would crumble into the water and attract the grey mullet from all quarters. It will thus be seen that, without all the mysteri- ous selection and baiting of “pitches” over night, or the adjustment to the material of the hook-bait, the principle of attracting fish to the neighbourhood of the hooks, and, what is almost more important, keeping them there (almost all sea-fish being of a more or less roving disposition), may be introduced with excellent results into angling in the sea. One more hint, which I have not yet given. Allusion has been made to those vagrant robbers, the crabs, which are so unremitting in their attentions to the bottom hook. A good plan for keeping them at reasonable distance is to tie half-a-dozen fish-heads —your fishmonger will supply these daily, gratis— to large stones, which are then pitched in the water at some little distance from the boat. To these the crabs of the vicinity will quickly attach them- selves; and such is the fighting instinct beneath their corselets, any that chance to shuffle that way will soon join in the mé¢e, leaving the ground-hook to the flat fish. I mention this under the heading of ground-bait, because it is more than likely that the fish-heads may also attract fish in your direction. In taking leave of this important subject, the claims of which are not as yet fully recognised by the sea-fisherman, I may say that ground-bait is less necessary among rocks than on the sand, there being enough weed and animal life to attract fish of all kinds, while there is often the additional N 2 180 SEA-FISH. attraction of baited crab-pots. The extent to which these latter are appreciated by all manner of fish may be gathered from the fact that large bass and conger are often taken in them, so coiled as to be unable to escape. There remains the consideration of a few fish which are commonly taken in boats on the bottom tackles already mentioned, or on others closely re- sembling them; and of these, the chief are the bass, bream, cod, conger, various flat fish, gurnard, mackerel, pouting, and whiting. One of our most successful bass-fishers is Mr. J. C. Wilcocks, now in his seventy-first year, if I mistake not; and he recently sent me some hints for catching these fish at the heads of Poole Harbour (I wasted some of the best years of my life formerly over those same Poole bass !), which are of general application to bass-fishing from boats. I therefore give the gist of them here, and as Mr. Wilcocks killed 150 of these fish at Shoreham in the course of four seasons, his methods are sure to command ready attention. Speaking of fishing generally at the mouth of a harbour, he says that the living sand-cel is the only reliable bait, and the wicker courge the only satisfactory receptacle in which to tow it to the grounds. The bass wait in the low water between the haven points for such sand-eels and shrimps as may come that way, and Mr. Wilcocks anchors his boat in the tideway and lets the line drift over the fish. The essential con- dition is that the sand-eels shall be lively ; and in support of his vote for the courge, he quotes a case in which a Shorcham gentleman took his ceis to sea in a pail, the result being that they: had lost Bass “Loguol "OD DNIAYONS OIWLIII NYAS "7130 ‘QUYNAVIS AUNH EAT RS, BOAT-FISHING. 181 all vitality by the time the fishing-ground was reached, and he got no sport whatever. For fishing such a harbour-mouth from shore, Mr. Wilcocks recommends a rod and gut leger, or float-tackle, baited with soft crab. Bream-fishing, when the fish run large and numerous, is about the most exciting sport, gea- while it lasts, that the British seas can offer. bream We have no bream, it is true, to equal the glorious red schnapper of Australian waters, nor is our black bream sought on such delicate tackle as in the colonies ; but there are scores of reefs on the south and south-west coasts, where you may with luck catch a hundredweight of the common red _sea- bream in an afternoon’s fishing, few of the fish under a pound and a half in weight, and some of twice the size. They are not particular, these bream ; and once the boat is brought right over their particular patch of rocks, usually a couple of miles at least from the shore, a strip of fresh mackerel or herring, put on the hook without any particular regard for covering the point, will catch them. Nor, where the fish are biting greedily (usually towards sunset), is there any precise mode of striking, as they hook themselves. The best tackle for them is the hand-line, the time taken in hauling a large bream on the rod through perhaps twenty fathoms (120 feet) of water, being a serious loss. I hope that my verdict for the hand-line may not be misconstrued into a plea for pot-hunting. Were our bream large enough to give really good play, I would unhesitatingly advocate the rod, even at the sacrifice of two-thirds of the numbers caught ; but in the pursuit of shoal fish in deep water, the aim of the 182 SEA-FISH. angler is, as I understand it, to make the biggest bag he can by fair means, and the rod is certainly but ill adapted to the conditions that usually obtain in bream-fishing. In conjunction with the hand- line, there is no better bottom tackle than the Cornish boat-shaped lead with cord loops, figured on p. 84. The proper manipulation of this lead and line has already been given; it remains to add that the hook, of the size figured (p. 55) may be a fathom below the lead. Bream may be hauled direct into the boat, or guided to a landing- net ; being very spinous fish, not unlike perch, they should not be handled carelessly. The cod, caught in some numbers on Deal and other piers, does not come in shore until the fall of the year, the earliest fish I ever took of any size being off Hastings, or rather midway between that port and the newer Bexhill, on the last day but one in September. That is, however, in the ordinary course, quite three weeks too soon, and the third week in October right on to the end of the year will be found the best time. There is not much to be said in the way of special instructions for this cod-fishing, for, truth to tell, it is all a matter of the fish passing your boat ; and I have more than once seen a new recruit catch the finest cod of the week on his first outing, scarcely knowing what bait was on his hook. This does not, however, detract much from the undoubted enjoyment of a day off Deal on a fine crisp November morning, when fish of twelve or fifteen pounds are taking the sprat or lugworm freely. Ona stiff rod, such fish give good, though brief, sport, and they may for a few moments tax the angler’s cunning to bring them to gaff. The Cod BOAT-FISHING. 183 bag is usually varied on such occasions by a few good-sized whiting and pout, both of which are capable of taking the largest baits used for cod. The smaller cod, or codlings, are caught inshore throughout the year, especially in May and June, and one of the best spots for them that I can call to mind is, or was, the particoloured buoy outside Ramsgate harbour. They are, like the majority of sea-fish, most capricious in their comings and goings, more particularly in certain sheltered bays that lie somewhat outside their course. Thus, one July morning in 1896, I caught a score of fine codling on the Pier Rocks, Bournemouth, in the course of half an hour, few running under a pound. With one small exception, in August, these were the only codling I saw at Bournemouth that summer; while in the present year, I have seen not a single one. Bournemouth Bay is, however, rather subject to sudden and unlooked for incur- sions on the part of capricious migrants ; thus, the present summer witnessed an almost unprecedented July arrival of small scads, or horse-mackerel, numbers of which were taken in the sean-nets, and a few even from the pier. In the course of an ac- quaintance extending over a number of years, I only once before saw these fish in any quantity at Bournemouth, and that was close on ten years ago. Conger-fishing is the same all the world over ; and, though it entails night-fishing, with all Conger- its attendant discomforts, cold, darkness, ing and the rest, there are few who do not desire at one time or other the novel experience of a night’s congering, or, having once tried it, are satisfied with one taste only. For, in truth, it is most ex- citing, and differs in every respect from the methods 184 SEA-FISH. described in the foregoing pages. A few smali conger are, it is true, taken by day—the largest I ever remember hooking in this way weighed but 6 lbs. 11 oz. though I have been told of conger ot three times that weight being taken in the full glare of day. These I cannot regard, however, as other than exceptions, and those who embark for conger- fishing pure and simple will not need to leave the shore until the last rays of the sun are on the water. I suppose the very darkness—conger-fishers resent even the pale light of the moon—lends a spirit of adventure to the outing; and the rest of one’s enjoyment consists in hand-to-hand fights with enormously strong fish, that are all over the boat at once, knocking over lanterns, dashing be- tween your legs, barking and grunting, and alto- gether entering into the fun. The tackle figured for whiting (p. 197) serves ad- mirably for conger, only the hook may be any- thing up to three times the size, and should be lashed to a strong snood of new gimp or soft flax, served with copper wire. I have used the snooding- that is said by those who supply it to be évo soft for the conger to bite through ; but my faith in it has been somewhat shaken of late years by one or two accidents, though I believe it varies much in quality, as I have certainly had excellent results with it in former seasons. On the whole, however, the flax snood served with copper wire takes some beating. The conger does not asa rule take the bait very far down, so that it is unnecessary for more than a yard at the most to be served with copper. I tried for the first time, last year, a tarpon-hook on a snood of raw hide, which was supplicd to me by Farlow, and it certainly proved BOAT-FISHING. 185 efficient, although I took no large conger that season. This summer I had better opportunities for testing it, and, as it stood the strain and teeth of conger of very fair size, its excellence cannot be ques- tioned. Only, it is larger than it need be for conger. The professionals use enormous hooks for this fish; but these are quite unnecessary, and the amateur will find one of the size figured (p. 55) ample for every purpose. On such a hook, I have killed conger weighing 40 Ibs. The conger come alongshore about June, but August is, on the whole, the best month for them. Down at Mevagissey, there are excellent conger- grounds within a couple of hundred yards of the shore, both to the eastward off the Gribbin ; and, in the opposite direction, down by the Deadman, or Dodman. We used to glide out of the little harbour with the pilchard-boats, about six in the evening, and make straight for the ground nearest their pitch for the night, commencing operations with fresh mackerel or squid for bait, and, towards nine, at the first haul, zunning alongside one of them for half-a-dozen pilchards, just removed from the strangling meshes. I have brought a few conger to book with the rod in those waters, one weighing 244 lbs. ; but, candidly, I don’t enjoy the fun. In the proper sense of the word, the conger gives no play; and the strain on the rod, no matter how stiff, is such as to render it unfit in a very short time. The loss of time is prodigious; in the time it took me to kill that particular fish on the rod, I should probably have accounted for three or four on the hand-line. And, lastly, in a conger of any- thing over a dozen pounds, there is just enough of the element of resistance to make the capture of it, 186 SEA-FISH. even on a hand-line, fairly attractive. The pro- cedure is simple, given fresh bait and strong tackle. The hook is passed two or three times through the bait, and is lowered with as little disturbance as possible. If the hook is a fathom below the lead, let the latter just touch the bottom, and draw in about 5 ft. of line, so that the bait hangs un- disturbed on the rocks, hitching the line round the rowlocks. Leave about three fathoms of slack coiled in the boat; after which make fast to the thwart. The line is thus made doubly fast; the fisherman then grasps it very lightly just over the side, and without moving the bait in the slightest, as conger are easily alarmed. The bite comes in the form of a picking at the bait, the largest fish often picking quite lightly ; this, when followed up by a steady pull, must be answered with a sharp strike; and, as soon as the fish is fairly hooked, the line is released with a turn from the rowlock, and the fisherman hauls his eel as soon as the circumstances of the case allow. With really reliable tackle, no quarter need be given, unconditional surrender being insisted upon at once, before the fish has got its shoulder to the line and learnt its own strength. It is wonderful how effective is bluffing with these big fish ; on the rod, it is the correct thing to give law and let the fish have a run for its life; but with the conger on a hand-line, no such etiquette is observed, and the cel is smuggled over the gunwale before it quite realises the situation. A sharp tap with the blud- geon, already advocated, or with any other handy weapon, on the snout (or, better still, on the vent, “where its life lics,” as the fishermen say), reduces the fish to order, when the hook can be freed with BOAT-FISHING. 187 a twist and the eel stowed away for’ard out of the way, so that it gives no trouble when, as is pre- sently the case, it comes to its senses. Large eels are better killed, which is easiest effected by stabbing them in the back of the neck with a long pointed knife, and thus severing the spinal cord. Like the pollack, and some other fish, the conger will occasionally blow the bait, apparently un- touched, a foot or two up the line ; but this should be removed after each fish is unhooked, and a fresh bait cut for the next. It should be unnecessary to give any warning against the conger’s teeth, for the great mouth will be forbidding enough for most tastes, and a “gag,” such as the Jardine pattern mentioned on a previous page, should always be employed in extracting the hook from all but the smallest ; a conger of but 3 or 4 lbs., than which it is unusual to hook smaller, can bite very smartly. Small congers of this weight can, however, in the absence ‘of any handy weapon, be quieted by in- serting the forefinger and thumb of the right hand in the gills, and, having got a firm grip, dashing the tail once or twice against the thwart or gun- wale. Anything is preferable to the use of a blunt knife, as the blood of the conger, though lacking the nauseous smell of that in sharks, is yet suffi- ciently copious and sticky to be exceedingly unpleasant in the boat. In addition to this, a slime, thicker even than that from the fresh-water eel, adheres in thick films to everything with which the conger comes in contact. The necessity for having conger-baits perfectly fresh has already been stated; and there is every reason to believe that, its large eyes notwithstanding, the sea-eel secks its food by scent rather than with their aid, “188 SEA-FISH. An occasional conger is taken on the drift-line when there is sufficient out for it to reach the bottom ; but on the whole, the boat-shaped sinker with two large hooks on the snooding above mentioned, will be found the most reliable gear for this work. The conger is not held in much esteem for the table, but there is a continental method of stewing a slice from the neck of one weighing 5 or 6 lbs., which makes a more agreeable dish than the majority of those that figure in the second course at most English restaurants. On the capture of flat-fish, some remarks have been offered incidentally under the head of pier- fishing ; and it only remains Flat- to note the modifica- fish tions in tackle called for in seeking them with the aid of a boat on the outer grounds. The throw-out tackle there referred to is obviously not the correct thing in boat- fishing, and even the ordinary form of leger loses its sensi- tiveness when used vertically. I have, therefore, used, what I advocated ten years ago, the conical plummet, in place of the coffin-shaped leger-lead or bullet, stopping its pro- gress towards the hook in the same way, with a fragment of match on the line. The friction between line and lead is thus even less than in the leger thrown from shore, and the slightest bite can be ConicaL Leap. BOAT-FISHING. 189 felt, the strike acting moreover directly on the fish without raising the lead from the ground. The baits for flat-fish are, as already intimated, many, among the most effective being mussel, which sometimes requires tying on, especially when the fish are biting so shyly as to require half a mussel only on the hook. It is easy enough to bait with a whole mussel, fixing it securely on the hook without the aid of thread; but a portion of the mollusc, necessarily deficient in some of the more gristly parts that help to fix the whole on the hook, offers no such facilities, and a few turns of brown thread will be found most useful. Other baits for these fish are lugworm, not more than half an inch of which should be allowed to hang from the hook, raw shrimps, and fragments of mackerel, fresh herring, squid, or sand-smelt, the last being, as already mentioned, one of the most killing baits for turbot. Owing to their shape, these fish offer considerably more resistance to the water than others of like weight and size, and a landing-net should always be handy to relieve the strain on the rod-top and gut trace. Not only in- deed are they rarely of a size to require the gaff, but, save on those of very large size, that implement would be very difficult to use. It is not unusual out in the deeper water to hook a heavy skate or ray of some kind while fishing for flat-fish, and some patience must be exercised in hauling this odious-looking creature very slowly, otherwise the strain will break the gut. 5 144, 165, 180, 235 Winches, 50 Winch-fittings, 47 Wind, 7 Wind-rs, 86 Winterton, 100 Worms, 19, 25, 127, 167 Wrasse, 9, 40, 103, 109 Yarmouth, Gt., 27, 69 RICHARD CIAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY, Send ad. for W.J.CUMMINS’S CATALOGUE, ee ee PCkLe Rods from 10/6 to 81/6 Reels from 14/6 Spiller or Jigger Lines, 7/6 and 16/6 Railing Lines for Mackerel and Pollock, 2,6 upwards. SEA HOOKS, LEADS, TRACES, LINES, &e., &e. North of England Works, | BISHOP AUCKLAND (CO. DURHAM). G. LITTLE & CO, Fishing Tackle Makers. 63 HAYMARKET, LONDON, S.W. SPECIALITIES FOR SEA FISHING. New Sea Reel, cannot rust or warp. “Balls” Eyed Sea Hooks, Paternosters, &c. Write for our Catalogue, sent post free to any address. Telegraphic Address: “ TROUTING, LONDON.” [Page before half-title. ESTABLISHED OVER 20 YEARS. Every Purchaser of the FISHING GAZETTE is INSURED ayainst Accident while Travelling on a Railway, also ir case of death from Drowning. FISHING GAZETTE A JOURNAL FOR ANGLERS. Edited by R. B. MARSTON, Hon. Treasurer of the Fly Fishers’ Club, &c. PUBLISHED WEEKLY, PRICE 2d. Subscription, 10s. 6d. per Annum. ; The GAZETTE contains every week Original Articles on Angling of every kind. The Paper has recently been much enlarged and improved, and Illus- trations appear nearly every week. © Under the editorship of Mr. R. B. 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