FROM LAND AND PIER 183 



which yield sport to bare-legged fisher lads and skilful angler 

 alike. 



In the autumn our good friend the bass comes into many 

 an estuary and harbour, giving the shore fisher a chance, and 

 during summer months may be seen playing round the piers. 

 I will not venture, as was done in a recent work on sea fishing, 

 to recommend any of the piers jutting out from the watering- 

 places near London as affording first-class bass fishing. But 

 the fact remains that a few bass do occasionally show them- 

 selves beneath these iron structures, and are still more occa- 

 sionally caught. Even Brighton and Hastings piers, and less 

 often the groins (particularly early in the morning, when the 

 water is thick after rough weather), at times yield a bass or two, 

 and the event is sufficiently startling to be deemed worthy of a 

 prominent paragraph in the local newspapers. And I must 

 say that these said paragraphs recur with greater frequency 

 than of yore, doubtless because an ever-increasing number of 

 anglers are giving their attention to bass fishing. 



While for boat work the sea angler requires a rod rather 

 short than long, for fishing from rocks and the shore the rod 

 should err on the side of length. Even when fishing from a 

 pier it is well to have as long a rod as can be conveniently 

 handled, to keep the fish one has the good fortune to hook 

 from bolting in among the old woodwork or iron girders 

 beneath. Any long rod made as light as possible, having due 

 regard to the necessary strength, is suitable for fishing from 

 piers or similar positions ; while for spinning or casting out any 

 distance nothing is better than the excellent cane rods made 

 with greenheart tops, such as are used by pike fishers at the 

 present day. 



Those who wish to avoid a multiplicity of rods may provide 

 themselves with one made on the following lines : Let the 

 butt and middle joint be of East Indian cane, and let there be 



