82 



are occasionally used for catching codling, and hermit crabs 

 caught when fishing for edible crabs and lobsters are also used. 

 Thirty years ago, at Berwick, pots were baited to catch shore 

 crabs. Sand-eels, when easily obtained, are used during the 

 summer, but this bait is not sought after to anything like the same 

 extent as in former years. Occasionally a rough sea washes ashore 

 " clams," Solen and Mya, and at Alnmouth these are used. Ox 

 liver was used and considered a good bait for haddocks some 

 thirty years ago, at which time sprats were also used for the same 

 purpose. During last winter sprats bought at North Shields 

 fish quay were used by the CuUercoats fishermen for catching 

 haddocks. At some of the northern stations the " ripper " or 

 " jigger," a piece of bright lead to which hooks are attached and 

 jerked up and dowTi in the water, is used for catching cod. 



Railway facihties have made it possible to obtain mussels 

 in quantity, and therefore the tendency is to use more and more 

 mussels and neglect baits which cannot be obtained without con- 

 siderable labour and expenditure of time. 



The fishing stations and the different kinds of bait there avail- 

 able will now be considered. 



Berwick. — Mussels are obtained in the Tweed from below 

 the bridge to the piers. They are got between tide marks near 

 low w^ater, and may also be taken by dredging. The supply is 

 not sufficient for the ten to sixteen boats which land their catches 

 at this station, and use weekly during the season about two bags 

 of mussels per man. Mussels are therefore obtained from More- 

 cambe Bay, and occasionally in small quantities from Newhaven, 

 on the Firth of Forth. Behind the north pier a patch of sand, 

 sheltered somewhat by rocks from the full force of the sea, yields 

 a good supply of Arenicola. The rocks to the north and south 

 of the mouth of the Tweed provide sufficient Hmpets of good size 

 to meet all the requirements of the fishermen now, but this was 

 not the case when some fifty or sixty boats fished from Berwick 

 and Spittal, and the Burnmouth fishermen came south for hmpets. 

 Formerly, Pholas, obtained by breaking up the Carboniferous 

 shales on the coast, was used as bait. 



Holy Island. — No fishing station could have better bait 

 resources than here exist. Fenham Flats provide a large area 



