128 DEEP-SEA FISHING. 



July are the months in which most of these fish are 

 caught by drift-nets in the English Channel and the 

 North Sea ; and they are often abundant in August 

 or even later, but the full-grown fish are not then in 

 such good condition as they were a few weeks earlier. 

 Mackerel without any roe in them are found off 

 Hastings in January, but being in deep water, are not 

 then fished for. In October and November, after the 

 close of the regular season, they are again caught by 

 the Hastings fishermen in the herring nets ; and these 

 fish are short and fat, and without any roe. The spawn- 

 ing season appears to vary within certain limits, but 

 June is about the general time for it ; and it has been 

 already mentioned that mackerel do not go to the 

 ground, like the herrings, for the purpose of depositing 

 their spawn, but shed it quite at the surface, and at 

 varying distances from the land. According to our ob- 

 servations on the Devonshire coast, mackerel remain in 

 shoals or " schools" until after they have spawned, and 

 while thus congregated they do not very readily take a 

 bait ; but after this process has taken place, towards the 

 middle of July, the shoals become dispersed, and the 

 fish, instead of then making their way to deep water, as 

 appears to be the general habit of the herrings under 

 like circumstances, draw nearer the land and even enter 

 the harbours, where they afford excellent sport with the 

 hook and line. Mackerel do not lose condition so much 

 as the herrings by the act of spawning, and they soon 

 recover after feeding voraciously on the young sjDrats 

 and other small fry which abound at that time near the 

 land. Half-grown mackerel, with no appearance of roe 

 in them, are more or less abundant on the coast at the 

 same time as tlie large ones, or in some localities pre- 

 ceding, in others following, tliem ; and it must be within 



