SHELL FISH AND CONGER HUNTING, ETC 337 



a few feet of water over them, and they are not infrequently 

 provided with bolt holes. The local people know this well 

 enough, and will always put a prawn net over the bolt hole 

 while they ply the front door with their crab hook. When 

 either crab or lobster takes alarm, and finds that there is an 

 enemy attacking him, if he has not a back door by which to 

 retreat he wedges himself up with his back against the walls 

 of his little cave, and is most difficult to dislodge. Professional 

 fishermen who catch a great many crabs rarely give any of 

 these creatures time to fix themselves. The moment they feel 

 the shell of a good crab the hook is turned upwards, and the 

 unfortunate animal is twisted out. 



Great care must be taken to secure lobsters as they are 

 drawn out of their holes, for they are most powerful swimmers, 

 one flap of their tail sending them many yards backwards 

 shooting through the water ; and, even if you get them out 

 into a small shallow pool where everything is visible, you will 

 probably lose them unless you get them in a net at once. 

 The more a crab is worried by the hook, the more strongly 

 does he wedge himself in his rocky fastness ; but a lobster is 

 more inclined to show fight, and will sometimes lay hold of 

 the hook with such fierceness and bulldog tenacity as to allow 

 himself to be drawn out. After being pricked he sometimes 

 marches out. Professional hookers run the hook under the 

 lobster in a horizontal position, then turn up the point, and 

 gaff smartly. 



I need hardly say that it is the early crab-hooker that 

 catches the lobster ; for the lowest spring tides come but 

 rarely, and the local people are all on the gut vive to take 

 advantage of them. Lobsters have this delightful peculiarity, 

 that if we take one out of a hole, another will probably be found 

 in the same position at the next spring tide. In this respect 

 they much resemble large trout in rivers. An ancient dame 



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