SURFACE-FEEDING SEA FISH 367 



week's fishing most of the largest pollack will be thinned out, 

 and the place may feel the effect of the attack for a considerable 

 period. The same may be said of a solitary headland, a resort 

 for pollack along miles of otherwise barren coast. I have seen 

 several instances of spoilt pollack grounds ; take, for example, 

 the end of Filey Brigg. At one time this spot had a reputation 

 for large pollack, but now very few are caught there, the con- 

 stant whiffing to and fro across the end of the Brigg having, it 

 seems, thinned out the fish. 



I once spent a few days at Scourie, on the west coast of 

 Sutherlandshire (people go there to visit the island of Handa), 

 and did a good deal of whiffing for pollack. I fished there for 

 a whole day, catching only one lythe, as these fish are termed 

 in Scotland. In the evening our man confessed that there 

 were ' no many lythe ' thereabouts. There used to be plenty, 

 but he thought most of them had been caught. If we a 

 friend and I would go a couple of miles down the coast we 

 should do much better. So we forthwith set sail, arrived at the 

 spot in question, and left our boat in a sheltered bay for the 

 night. We walked over there the next morning and had some 

 very fine sport. 



The wanderings of sea fish are so mysterious and uncertain 

 that I may be utterly wrong in my surmises ; but, in any event, 

 there is no particular object in slaughtering these fine sporting 

 fish by hundredweights. When forty or fifty pounds of pollack 

 have been brought into the boat the rest might very well be 

 returned. Unfortunately, these fish do not keep well, and 

 therefore, if a great quantity are caught they are as likely as 

 not to be wasted. In fact, they are only fairly good eating on 

 the day of capture, but superior to coalfish. They are greatly 

 improved by being crimped as soon as caught, and make by 

 no means despicable kippers. 



The pollack does not possess so many local names as the 



