22 



MODERN SEA FISHING 



for some days for a mile or more out to sea ; and heavy rains 

 and floods inland will colour the sea for a good many miles on 

 either side of the mouths of great rivers. Of course, where the 

 angler is troubled with over-clear water he should not neglect 

 the additional advantage given him by discoloration caused by 

 flood or storm. 



I was very much amused with an amateur sea fisherman 

 at a place I went to with the express object of catching big 

 bass which, that year, were a delusion and a snare ; in fact, 

 they almost seemed to have left the locality for several years 

 past. I had been drawn to the place by some most charming 

 in fact, almost poetical descriptions written by a literary 

 angling enthusiast who quite neglected to state that the 

 excellent fishing he described was of some antiquity, and 

 not known in the present day. I met with this brother 

 fisherman not the enthusiast, but the other and he told me 

 that if I would be successful with the bass of that particular 

 place, I must wait until I could obtain certain conditions : In 

 the first place, there must be a spring tide ; secondly, the north- 

 west wind must have been blowing for three days to colour the 

 water; and, thirdly, I could not hope for success unless the 

 trawlers had been catching skate, whose liver I was to use as 

 bait; and, fourthly, I was to get up exactly an hour before 

 daybreak and sit patiently on a rock, waiting for the bass to 

 come by. I do not doubt for a moment that the advice was very 

 good. It was excellent ; that is unquestionable. Just before 

 daybreak is a deadly time for bass. It is certainly desirable to 

 fish during spring tides ; and no one can dispute the statement 

 that skate's liver is a first-rate bait in many places. But I was 

 tempted to ask how many times in a century I was likely 

 to obtain all these conditions ? Certainly they were not forth- 

 coming during the six weeks or so that I spent at the little 

 fishing town. To show how uncertain is fishing, two years 



