BAITS 113 



not great if the mussel has not been mangled in the opening. 

 On hand and throw-out lines mussels are often tied with 

 pieces of wool or thread. On long lines the Scotch fisher- 

 men cover each mussel with a fleck-like piece of wool spread 

 out and brought over the bait like a fine veil. I never do 

 this, for I find that if the mussel is carefully opened and 

 properly placed on a suitable hook, it will stand being cast 

 out, and with the fine tackle I use I can nearly always feel 

 a bite and strike the fish before the hook is robbed. Profes- 

 sional fishermen, no doubt, so tear the mussel in placing it on 

 their coarse large hooks that tieing on seems almost necessary, 

 particularly for long lines on which fish hook themselves. But 

 there is no general rule on the subject even among professional 

 fishermen. 



A very interesting report on mussels was made by a com- 

 mittee appointed by the Secretary for Scotland, in 1889. Nearly 

 all the 50,000 fishermen of Scotland use these baits during 

 some part of the year, and it was a very curious fact that 

 during three years' haddock fishing at Eyemouth the weight of 

 fish caught hardly exceeded the weight of mussels used. The 

 fish weighed 4,665 Ibs., the mussels 4,022 Ibs. The cost of 

 the mussels was one-eighth of the value of the fish taken with 

 them. There was no question as to there being a growing 

 scarcity of these valuable baits, the fishermen often having to 

 send many miles for them, their cost, including carriage, being 

 as much as 50^. a ton. There seems no reason why the Scotch 

 mussel beds should not be generally available for bait at 

 moderate prices if properly managed, stringent regulations being 

 required to prevent them from being overworked. So prolific 

 is the mussel that it is only necessary to give the beds on which 

 it has been found a fair chance, under efficient protection 

 and regulation, to insure these fish reproducing themselves 

 in almost unlimited quantities. Under favourable conditions 



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