222 



MODERN SEA FISHING 



tutored by practice, would be well advised to stick to harbours 

 and landlocked waters generally. As I have said in an earlier 

 chapter, if they choose to journey to the north-west coast of 

 Scotland, or certain portions of the Irish coast, or to the fjords 

 of Norway, they will find water as calm as any millpond. Few 

 indeed are the days when on the South or West coasts of England 

 there is not some slight upheaval of the water and the rest. 



With regard to the choice of a boat, the sea angler must 

 necessarily take what he can get ; but if there is much variety 

 let him select a craft which is somewhat beamy and seaworthy, 



YORKSHIRE COBIil.KS 



rather than narrow and cranky. Wherever there is a harbour 

 the boats will, as a rule, be more stable than those which have 

 to be beached. On portions of the East coast, where the shores 

 are very flat and sandy, a peculiar kind of boat, called a cobble, 

 is used. This is a composite arrangement of fine lines in the 

 bows and fairly deep in the water. But towards the square 

 stern, where the single deep keel is replaced by three smaller 

 ones, the bottom flattens out. Though these boats are not 

 over-safe when running in a big sea, they do most excel- 

 lently meet the peculiar requirements of a flat sandy shore. 



