358 MODERN SEA FISHING 



the mullet, so that when the fish leap they fall on to the rafts 

 and are captured. In English waters a trammel net is often 

 found deadly. 



Sometimes enormous takes of grey mullet are made in seines. 

 One of the biggest hauls on record occurred in January of this 

 year (1895). A quantity of these fish was seen in Whitesand 

 Bay, Land's End. The Sennen Cove fishermen were sent for, 

 and shot their nets by moonlight, about ten o'clock at night. 

 About twelve thousand mullet, averaging something like 4 Ibs. 

 each, were surrounded. Many of them weighed as much as 

 8 Ibs. This was a very unusual and very valuable catch, the fish, 

 which weighed several tons, selling for 6oo/. The take seemed 

 so remarkable, that I doubted the accuracy of the figures and 

 wrote to the postmaster of St. Just on the subject. He kindly 

 assures me that the report is perfectly correct, and adds that the 

 buyers who sent the fish to Paris made a very bad bargain. 



Angling for these shy fish is like an incurable disease there 

 are many prescriptions for it. Some of these, I fear, do not 

 stand the test of time and are merely based on chance successes, 

 depending more on the humour of the fish than the attractive- 

 ness of the bait or 'cute arrangement of tackle. The great point 

 in mullet fishing is to use ground bait, not, as I have previously 

 explained, so much for the purpose of attracting fish as of lulling 

 their suspicions. Those who have studied the chapter on Baits 

 may remember that some years ago I suggested to the director 

 of the Marine Biological Association that macaroni might be 

 used as a vehicle for the bait extracts which a chemist employed 

 by the Association was preparing. Whether experiments were 

 ever tried with the substance, I cannot say. But now, behold ! 

 while I am at work on this chapter a sea fisherman, Mr. John 

 Kirby, under the pseudonym of j. A. c. K., sends a most enter- 

 taining and practical account of mullet fishing to the ' Field,' 

 in which he appears to prove most conclusively that the 



