336 MODERN SEA FISHING 



poet knew them, and I did not. There were, however, no 

 more lobsters forthcoming. None the less, it was a day full of 

 joy and novelty. There was one big conger which tried us 

 severely. It was in a small cavity, one entrance to which was 

 so small that I could only just get my hook into it. I could 

 feel his soft sides, and directly he was touched there was a 

 great slap of his tail in, I suppose, the pool of water standing 

 below the rock. There were two ways into this little cavern, 

 so the poet guarded one door and I the other ; and ever 

 and anon, as we poked about, our two hooks would catch 

 one in the other, and thinking we had a fair hold of the 

 fish we would each give a terrific pull and nearly break our 

 wrists ; but finally my hook, which had long before been 

 thoroughly blunted on the rocks, somehow or other caught 

 hold of the creature, out he came kicking, and we despatched 

 him. 



This method may be described as fishing on land, in the 

 dark, by touch. The hook has to be most gingerly inserted 

 into every likely-looking hole, and after a while, it is not diffi- 

 cult to distinguish between the rock and the shell of a crab or 

 the yielding body of an eel. A somewhat mean way of finding 

 crab holes is to take a piece of line about two yards in length, 

 fasten to one end a piece of dead fish, to the other a fragment 

 of white or red rag and a small stone. Place this among the 

 rocks at low water. As the tide rises and covers the spot a 

 crab will as likely as not seize the fish and carry it off to his 

 lair, leaving the piece of rag outside to betray him when next it 

 is low water. Of course a number of these informers may be 

 laid along the seashore.. Lobster holes have to be learned, and 

 the crab-hooker who tries his skill in a new country is not 

 likely to catch many of these shell fish, though he may be 

 lucky enough with crabs and congers. The lobster holes, as I 

 have said, are close to the low-water mark ; sometimes there is 



