264 



MODERN SEA FISHING 



described answers very well for this purpose, and live baits 

 are far better than those which are artificial or dead. Large 

 mud or rag worms and live sand-eels are among the best that 

 can be used. This plan can be followed in any tideway, not 

 necessarily in estuaries. For instance, in channels between 

 large islands and the shore there are often very strong tidal 

 currents in which are found bass and pollack, and these places 

 can be easily harled. 



If, when harling, a large shoal of fish is met with, it is 

 sometimes desirable to let down the anchor or stone, and try 

 for them with the drift lines, using live baits ; but often it will 

 be found that more fish will be taken by harling than by re- 

 maining stationary in one spot. The drift-line harling with 

 live baits, described in the previous paragraph, is particularly 

 deadly. 



Of course there is nothing to prevent the sea angler casting 

 a spinning or other bait from a boat, either off the reel or in 

 Thames fashion, after the manner described in the chapter on 

 Fishing from Piers, Headlands, &c., p. 190, &c. In special 

 cases where harling is out of the question, and the fish cannot 

 be covered by railing, or where it would be undesirable to row 

 a boat over or near them, this plan is the best that can be 

 followed. 



Heavily leaded float tackle can be cast out in exactly the 

 same manner just as a freshwater fisherman will cast out a 

 live-bait tackle for pike. I have dealt with the method ex- 

 haustively in the chapter already mentioned. 



There is a method of whiting fishing, carried on while the 

 boat is in motion, which I have seen practised with success at 

 Ilfracombe and other places. It is only suitable for fishing 

 grounds where the bottom is not very foul, and the fish are 

 abundant and widely distributed. Either paternoster tackle 

 or ordinary hand lines are used. The boat is allowed to drift 



