366 MODERN SEA FISHING 



to doubt this is that we cannot see beneath the surface, and it 

 may be that the fish only take a bait well when herrings, &c. 

 are about. The probability is that the smaller and more active 

 school pollack follow the herrings, mackerel, &c., while the 

 larger fish always haunt their fastnesses off headlands and rocky 

 places generally. 



Pollack are believed to spawn between Christmas and the 

 early spring, the exact period probably differing, as it does with 

 most fish, according to the locality. 



Mr. Mathias Dunn, of Mevagissey, has placed on record 

 an interesting account of porpoises attacking both the young 

 and full-grown pollack. Some Mevagissey fishermen saw a 

 battle of the kind taking place, and on putting about and sail- 

 ing up to the spot, found that over thirty large pollack in a more 

 or less moribund condition were floating on the sea. 



There are very few places on our coasts where pollack are 

 altogether wanting, but in apparently suitable localities they 

 are occasionally very scarce. Small and medium sized fish are 

 found in great quantities on the Devonshire coast, growing 

 larger as we reach Land's End. So far as I know, the best 

 sport of all with pollack is obtained on the coasts of Scotland 

 and Ireland, where, the fish not being very saleable, they are 

 not sought after by the professional fishermen, and are, in 

 consequence, very plentiful. 



I rather incline to the opinion that pollack fishing is very 

 easily overdone, and fishing grounds more particularly those 

 skirting headlands and outlying islands more or less depopu- 

 lated, at any rate for a time. When fishing is carried on over 

 large submerged reefs of rocks, and generally in fairly deep 

 water, the fish may be both scattered and plentiful, and no 

 appreciable harm will result from the angler's attacks. But if 

 you take a number of small channels between islands little 

 pieces of water which are almost like rivers and ponds in a 



