96 WHITING NEAR THE SURFACE. [l>ART I. 



devil trailed from the stern of a rowing boat off 

 Guernsey where, by the way, first-rate sea-fishing 

 is to be had and I myself had satisfactory proof 

 of the fact whilst fishing in the Linnhe Loch off 

 Ardsheal. On that occasion we were pulling up 

 Whiting so fast, that, my line becoming kinked, 

 I, in order to save time, put my bait overboard 

 to be all ready when the boatman should have 

 cleared, the knot. My line could not thus have 

 reached above a third of the way to the bottom, 

 when, to my surprise, I felt a tug. I struck and 

 pulled away, bringing up two fine Whiting. Pro- 

 fiting by this experience I did not afterwards 

 waste time by allowing my bait to sink much 

 lower, and found consequently that our heap of 

 fish grew much more rapidly under my contri- 

 butions than those of my friends who adhered to 

 the orthodox mode of fishing at the bottom. Our 

 sport that day was, while it lasted, as good as I 

 ever had. There were three of us, besides the 

 boatmen, whose time was pretty well taken up 

 with attending to lines. We started very late and 

 with appearances much against us, the only pro- 

 curable bait being seven herrings in such an ad- 

 vanced state of decomposition that we were too 

 glad to avoid getting them between the wind and 



