340 



MODERN SEA FISHING 



name of pink shrimp. The chief characteristic of the prawn 

 is a long serrated spur which projects from its head ; this 

 is almost wanting in the shrimp. These delicate little fish 

 grow to a considerable size in English waters, but not nearly 

 so large as they are often found abroad. In India, where 

 they are very great scavengers, they are recorded a foot in 

 length. 



There is considerable skill in catching prawns in rocky 

 pools. One man will take twenty or thirty prawns from one 

 pool, while another may only succeed in inveigling two or three 

 into the net. It is not advisable to begin by jumping into the 



pool and poking about with 

 the net. The water should 

 rather be approached cau- 

 tiously, when perhaps a few 

 prawns will be seen swim- 

 ming about, and with good 

 fortune may be captured with- 

 out any great disturbance, the 

 net being gently placed un- 

 derneath them. But after 



that every prawn in the pool will have gone into hiding, and 

 will probably be found not deep down, but close to the surface 

 under the fringe of seaweed which gently undulates with the 

 'rise and fall of the water. 



Any little rocky crevice near the surface may contain prawns. 

 The net should be placed over its mouth, and the little fish 

 driven out by means of the crab hook. The net should also 

 be worked along the edge of the seaweed as I have indicated. 

 Small pools which are nothing more nor less than hollows in a 

 big rock, can be baled out, and the prawns will be found kicking 

 about on the bottom, in company maybe with other treasures 

 of the deep or shallows. In some formations the rocks trend 



RIM OF PRAWN NET 



