268 HIGHLAND SPORT 



within an ounce or two, five pounds each. Three fish, however, 

 appear to be more easily landed than two, as their joint efforts to 

 escape tend to neutralize the violence of their mutual struggles. 



The sport with whiting, as long as it lasts, is usually fast 

 and furious, for during the first two days of the arrival of a 

 shoal on the feeding grounds, from ten to fifteen dozen may 

 be pulled into the boat in a few hours. The third day of the 

 whiting fishing on the same bank is usually spoilt by the 

 quantity of dog fish that have come in pursuit of them, and 

 then often there will be more of these gentry hauled up than 

 delicate whiting. There is one species of dog fish that carries 

 a long spike on its back a little above the tail ; this weapon, 

 which varies from one to two inches in length, is so strong and 

 so sharp that a fish of but five pounds can drive it through 

 the leather of a boot, and when a wound on bare flesh is in- 

 flicted it usually swells or festers to an alarming extent. All 

 such customers should be knocked on the head before being 

 brought on board, while it is wiser never to permit any sort of 

 "snapping turtle" to be pulled in alive, and a smart rap on the 

 head as the gunwale is reached should settle matters. I have 

 often been surprised at the numbers of big dog fish I have 

 landed on single gut when fishing for whiting, and can only 

 account for it by remembering these latter fish require quick 

 striking, and thus most of the dog fish, having been caught 

 for whiting, were only hooked just far enough inside the mouth 

 to hinder them from reaching the gut with their teeth. 



On still, sunny days great amusement may be had with 

 a small barrel from which both ends have been removed, 

 and one replaced with plate glass. If the tub be then 

 fastened to the stern of the boat with the glass end sunk 

 some inches under water, the bed of the ocean can be closely 

 scanned down to a depth of twenty feet. On each side of 

 the man at the tub a very long bamboo pole should lie, 

 one armed with a sharp three-pronged spear, while the other 

 should carry a semi-circular shaped net of small mesh, which 



