362 MODERN SEA FISHING 



round the hook baits being the essential condition precedent 

 to the mullet taking to the hook freely. One hour's suitable 

 water was the most that could be reckoned on daily. With 

 regard to j. A. c. K. holding these large fish on very small 

 hooks, I should think it very necessary that the hooks should 

 be made extra stout in the wire, otherwise they would tear out. 



Here is another prescription for catching mullet : Take the 

 tough upper crust of a newly baked, plain bread bun and cut it 

 in strips about half an inch wide. These should be kept in a 

 tin for a few hours to toughen. Three-quarters of an inch cut 

 from one of these strips is the bait ; the hooks used are small. 

 The main line, which is used without a rod, consists of horse- 

 hair, at the end of which is a length of twisted gut ; the whole 

 line is buoyed by means of small pieces of cork placed along it 

 at intervals. If no fish are to be seen, breadcrumbs are scat- 

 tered about, which may or may not bring them up to feed. 

 When the whereabouts of the mullet are thus determined, the 

 line is laid along the surface, the angler being in a boat, and 

 more breadcrumbs are sprinkled around it with a lavish hand. 

 The boat retires, the fish reappear, and if they have been edu- 

 cated up to buns, will surely be caught. 



The object of having hair line is to obviate the rod. It 

 is far easier to play a fish on a hair line, because of its elas- 

 ticity, than on one made of hemp. A somewhat similar plan 

 can be carried out by means of a rod and an ordinary undressed 

 silk line well soaked in vaseline. This will float for a long 

 time on the surface, particularly if a few small pieces of cork 

 are used to increase its buoyancy. 



I once saw a man fishing for and catching grey mullet from 

 Dover Pier by means of a somewhat similar tackle. His line 

 was of twisted silk ; just such a one as is used on the river 

 Trent for chub, but perhaps a little thicker. At the end of it 

 was a three-yard cast, such as we should use for lake trout ; at 



