354 MODERN SEA FISHING 



the harbour the favourite bait is a piece of squid or liver, 

 the same unleaded tackle being used. These harbour fish are 

 so excessively wide awake that if they feel the pull from a lead 

 they at once drop the bait. A rod can, and in most cases 

 should, be used with this tackle. A bait I see I have not 

 mentioned is the guts of the pilchard, which all fish love. 

 They make a most excellent ground bait, particularly if mixed 

 up with pounded crabs. 



In considering what tackle and baits to use, the angler 

 must look at all the conditions of depth, colour of the water, 

 nature of bottom, distance from the fish, &c., and endeavour to 

 decide which of the various methods of angling mentioned will 

 best enable him to put the right bait in front of the fish. 

 There is really no royal road to fishing, and rule-of-thumb 

 work will more often than not simply lead to failure. In the 

 case of bass, and still more of mullet, the angler has to pit his 

 brains against some of the most cautious and cunning of the 

 fish which swim in the sea. Indeed, of large mullet it may be 

 said that, though perhaps not more wary than big bass, they 

 are infinitely more difficult to capture than the highly educated 

 chalk-stream trout or the venerable carp of some ancient fish 

 stew. 



Tiros must not expect to catch many big bass in a day. If 

 they land an eight-pounder they may well regard it as a triumph. 

 For numbers they must seek the whereabouts of the school 

 bass, and if fortune favours them, and they and their boatmen 

 are fairly expert, they may weigh their fish by the hundred- 

 weight at the end of the day. That veteran amateur sea 

 fisherman, Mr. J. C. Wilcocks, by whose teaching in his admir- 

 able work on sea fishing I and many more greatly profited in 

 years gone by, has told how once, fishing with a friend close 

 to Berry Point, at Teignmouth, five hundredweight of bass 

 were caught. I doubt if there is anyone else living who has 



