ROD FISHING IN THE SEA. 79 



exclaimed, but on easing the boat we soon found that it 

 7vas a good fish. Urmston's rod and tackle were light for 

 the work, and the fish had to be played very carefully. 

 However, patience is a useful virtue, and after some 

 minutes the broad yellow side of a fine calig could be 

 seen gleaming in the water, and before long an Sib. fish 

 was safely basketed. From that time Urmston became 

 an enthusiastic rod fisher, and I was convinced that though 

 with the fly a larger miuiber of fish might be taken, the 

 big fish were only to be tempted with the gibbon. 



Here is piece of advice for anglers : When fishing 

 from a boat never be induced to take with you a 

 friend who is not cither fishing himself, or thoroughly 

 interested in your fishing. If you do so you will find 

 most probably that just as you are getting on grandly, 

 your "passenger" will complain that his " legs are getting 

 cramped," or that " the seats of the boat are dreadfully 

 hard," and ultimately that "he wishes he could get 

 ashore." Of course you have to put him " ashore," and 

 in so doing lose perhaps an hour of the very best state 

 of the tide. My remarks may appear ill-natured, but I 

 can speak from experience that a non-fisherman is about 

 the most unsatisfactory company you can have on a 

 fishing boat. Another piece of advice which I again 

 give is — learn the ground thoroughly. A rocky shore 

 varies so much with the state of the tide, and so much 

 good ground may be fished at half water during a flood 

 tide, which it would be useless to go to at ebb tide, that 

 the trouble of getting to know the ground thoroughly is 

 more than repaid by the extra success in fishing, whilst 



