INTRODUCTORY 7 



coasts during spring tides by hunting among rocks at low water 

 for large crabs, lobsters, and congers. The weapon is an iron 

 hook, the use of which really involves more skill than many 

 methods of line fishing. So I have made shell-fish hunting, 

 including prawning and shrimping, a part of my subject. 



The amateur sea fisher would indeed have reason to be 

 thankful to anyone who would compile a guide, showing exactly 

 the sport to be expected at all seasons of the year at every 

 fishing town or village round the British and Irish coasts, with 

 the marks of the best fishing ground, and information as to local 

 baits obtainable. I am afraid such a book will never be written. 

 Mr. F. G. Aflalo's ' Sea Fishing on the English Coasts ' is a first 

 step in that direction, and it is to be hoped that the subject 

 will be carried much further. One chapter is here devoted to 

 an endeavour to give a good general idea of the fishing round 

 our coasts ; but for the rest the man who seeks sport in the 

 sea will have to find out much for himself. If a member of 

 the British Sea Anglers' Society he can, of course, obtain the 

 benefit of such advice as the executive of that body is in a 

 position to give. 



A word here as to this Society, which was formed with the 

 object, amongst others, of popularising sea fishing as a sport, may 

 not be out of place. The Society came into existence in the 

 spring of 1893. Sir Edward Birkbeck, Bart., is its President, 

 and it includes among its supporters Lord Brassey, Lord St. 

 Levan, Sir Harald G. Hewett, Bart., Sir George R. Sitwell, 

 Bart., M.P., Sir Albert Rollit, M.P., Captain Lambton Young, 

 Mr. R. Biddulph-Martin, M.P., Mr. R. B. Marston, Mr. H. 

 Cholmondeley Pennell, Mr. W. Senior, Mr. T. A. Dorrien- 

 Smith, Mr. J. C. Wilcocks, and a number of other gentlemen 

 who are either enthusiastic sea fishers or have shown an interest 

 in the preservation of our sea fisheries and the welfare of sea 

 fishermen. The gentleman who was until 1895 honorary 



