20 MODERN SEA FISHING 



higher than in the centre. Thus anyone fishing from the end 

 rock, which will, as likely as not, be the best spot, is liable 

 to be cut off from the land as the tide rises. Not a few lives 

 have been lost from this cause, so I venture to sound a note 

 of warning. 



Occasionally we hear of people being swept from rocks by 

 waves of unusual height. There was a very sad case of this 

 kind at Filey, which, I believe, is recorded on a tablet fixed in 

 the cliff side. A pathway is cut in the rock, far above high- 

 water mark, but some persons who were walking along it 

 when, so I was told, the water was low, were swept from it by 

 an extraordinary wave. I heard of a similar case in Ireland, at 

 Kilkee, and therefore make the suggestion that anyone fishing 

 from rocky reefs during a heavy swell should keep his eyes open 

 for marine eccentricities of this kind. Of course, anglers do 

 not fish from rocks in very rough weather, but on the lee side 

 of headlands there are sometimes eddies which are fishable 

 even in half a gale. 



But to return to our tides. Not only should the ways of 

 the tidal currents be learnt so far as they have bearing on the 

 catching of fish, but they will repay some slight study in connec- 

 tion with the journeyings to and from the fishing ground. It 

 is obviously an unwise thing, at a place where the tidal currents 

 run strongly, to arrange a fishing trip so that at the end of the 

 day one has to beat back against tide and wind. Always manage, 

 if possible, to have the tide with you on the homeward voyage, 

 even if there is a fair wind. There is nothing more uncertain 

 than the weather in this part of the world (that is why it is 

 such a common and useful topic of conversation), and it does 

 not follow that because there is a fine south-westerly breeze 

 in the morning, when we set sail, it will continue to blow in 

 the same direction, or at all, in the evening. If the wind drops 

 towards night, as it very often does, if the little vessel is too 



