26 MODERN SEA FISHING 



importance (from the amateur sea fisherman's point of view) on 

 the British coasts. 



At several of the Yorkshire watering-places it is the 

 exception to see any amateur with a hand line ; and, as I 

 stated earlier in the chapter, rods have been used for many 

 years for fishing from rocky headlands and suchlike places 

 on the coast of Devonshire and Cornwall. In fact, from the 

 shore the rod may be an absolute necessity. In the Medi- 

 terranean the Italians and others have fished for years with 

 rods, as also have the Irish and Scotch for pollack and coal- 

 fish ; but not with such weapons as the modern sea angler 

 would care to handle. 



What are the general advantages of a rod in sea fishing? 

 I will answer the question here, at the outset, because it 

 will be one of the first asked by the sea fisherman of the old 

 school. As a matter of fact, the rod plays much the same 

 part in the sea as it does in fresh water. In the first place, it 

 enables a reel to be used. Not only is it more pleasant 

 to wind up a long wet line on a reel than to handle it, but the 

 chance of bringing into the boat any large fish which is hooked 

 is very much greater when there is an abundance of spare line 

 on the reel with which he can be played. If we use a hand 

 line it must be of considerable substance or it will cut our 

 hands ; but the thicker the line, the greater the resistance of 

 the water on the line, and the heavier the leads which must 

 be used. Therefore hand-lining necessitates not only stouter 

 line, but a heavier lead than is required if rod and reel are 

 used. A fine line and comparatively light lead are, then, two im- 

 portant advantages arising out of the use of rod and reel. My 

 favourite line is much the same as the anglers of the Trent use 

 for pike undressed twisted silk. An old fisherman, to whom 

 I promised a hundred yards if he could break it, cut his hand 

 deeply in the attempt and failed ; and I take it that when new, 



