CRABS. 19 



bait and artificial fly. Mackerel fisldng witli the float- 

 line afl'ords, at certain seasons, excellent sport. A 

 large cork float, four-foot trace of single salmon gut, 

 and one medium-sized Limerick trout-hook should he 

 used ; three or four duck-shot will he found, with the 

 swivel, sufficient to keep the trace straight. Eait with 

 either pilchard gut, a strip cut from the tail of a 

 freshly-caught mackerel, or a long narrow ribbon of 

 cuttle; cap the float to about fourteen feet from the 

 hook and let the bait drift off with the tide. "VYe have 

 repeatedly taken numbers of mackerel in this way 

 when hand-lines of the usual pattern were not visited 

 by a single fish. For grey mullet, live shrimps or pieces 

 of rag-worm will be found the best baits. Smelts are 

 taken by mounting a number of very small hooks, 

 Xo. 12 Kirby bend, on short pieces of very stiff gut 

 looped on to the main traces, at about six inches apart ; 

 a light sinker should be made use of, and short junks 

 of rag- worm used as bait. Smelts much frequent 

 localities where fresh water flows into the sea. Lead 

 sinkers, of any weight between seven or eight pounds 

 and that of a buck-shot, can be cast between two 

 common Bath scouring bricks. Half the form of the 

 intended sinker is cut on each brick (after tlie surfaces 

 have been rendered smooth by rubbing them together) 

 with a common knife or chisel. The two halves, when 

 exactly matched, are tied together with tape and a 



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