68 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
but even he does not seem to have scored any marked success 
with them, and the blanks evidently have outnumbered the 
prizes in the same proportion as in most lotteries. Mr. 
Jardine, on the other hand, describes bass of from 8 lb. to 
10 lb. as “not by any means uncommon captures,” and notes 
that the largest he ever caught was taken by spinning bait 
off Brixham, in Devon, and weighed 134 lb.* 
He cites Frank Buckland as recording one of 22 |b. from 
Herne Bay, and Yarrell one of 28 Ib. Some notable captures 
have been reported while these chapters were being prepared 
for the press. In September, 1902, a large number of bass 
were observed in the deep reaches of the Tamar, whence they 
dropped down with the tide to the junction of that river with 
the Tavy. Numbers of anglers plied these fish with every 
kind of bait, but in vain. Sam Brown, however, a Saltash 
fisherman, succeeded in taking a huge fellow in a stop net, 
weighing 22 lb. 2 0z. On November 2nd of the same year 
a bass of 154 lb. was found stranded on the rocks at 
Ramsgate. 
Bass are sometimes taken by the rod off piers, such as that 
at Littlehampton and Exmouth, which are favourably placed 
in the estuaries of rivers frequented by these fish, the tackle 
usually most successful being a short nine-foot rod, a Notting- 
ham reel with a hundred yards of the fine, strong silk line 
used in tarpon fishing, a trace of treble twisted salmon gut, 
a pike-float, and a very large hook baited liberally with soft 
green crab. For fishing at sea a longer rod is recommended, 
and the favourite bait is a pilchard, or four sand-eels arranged 
so as to form a group on two large hooks on separate strands. 
Bass are also taken by spinning, and even by casting a large 
fly resplendent with much tinsel. But, as I have said, I have 
no personal acquaintance with this fish, and I shall do the 
reader the best service in my power by quoting from the 
* Pike and Perch, by Alfred Jardine. The Anglers’ Library. London: 
Lawrence & Bullen, 1898. 
