1903 The Angler 's Winter 17 



The Angler's Winter. 



By F. G. Aflalo, F.R.G.S., F.Z.S. 



The angler-naturalist, though he does not, like his brother 

 of the gun, enjoy his best sport during the short days when 

 there is frost on the banks and ice in the shallows, is not by 

 any means idle in playtime, so long as he has no rooted 

 objection to taking his pleasure in cold weather. In sea 

 and river alike there is plenty to be done. For me, I con- 

 fess it, the summer's fishing has all the charm ; the winter's 

 sport is, save for a day now and again to keep one's hand in, 

 a barren pastime indeed. Yet there are many who angle 

 more in winter than in the warmer months ; and for those 

 sea-anglers, for instance, who fish at Deal and other resorts 

 not a great distance from town, the Cod and Whiting of 

 winter are more likely to prove attractive than the more 

 uncertain Bass and Grey Mullet of July and August. 



There used to be a notion that the greater number of our 

 sea-fish left the bays and beaches as cold weather drew on 

 and went off into the deeper water. As cold water is heavier 

 than warm, I never quite understood by what perversion of 

 the most elementary physical laws the fish are supposed to 

 find a more genial temperature at the greater depths. It is 

 quite obvious that the deeper water will long remain un- 

 affected by those local disturbances that ruffle the surface 

 and perhaps render it untenable for fish life, but why it 

 should be accounted warmer is one of those things that, as 

 Dundreary said, no fellow can understand. It is also clear 

 that, as the majority of young fishes hatch out in the warm 

 season of the year, then also will the inshore waters, the 

 very nursery of fish life, hold more evidence of living 

 creatures. Yet I venture to say that there are, if any- 

 thing, more food fishes of useful size within a mile of our 

 coasts between October and the turn of the year than at 

 any other period. Each season, of course, has its types : to 

 the summer its Pilchards and Mackerel and Bass; to the 

 winter its Herrings and Sprats and Whiting ; with Flat 



vol. 11. — no. 5. B 



