374 MODERN SEA FISHING 



which go from ten to twenty pounds in weight, large numbers 

 of which are caught by the fishermen, who trail small eels. 

 Both in the Orkneys and Shetlands the liver is cut out for 

 oil, the rest of the fish being often thrown away or used for 

 manure. I believe there is an oily extract from the liver 

 which is of service in tanning. 



As food the coalfish is certainly inferior to the pollack, 

 having a peculiar flavour of its own which is not altogether 

 pleasant, and lies, I imagine, in the skin. This can, however, 

 be overcome by judicious manipulation in the culinary depart- 

 ment. An excellent way of dealing with a large catch of these 

 fish is to have them kippered. I made the experiment some 

 years ago, and the result was a success in every way. In fact, 

 there is hardly a fish in the sea which cannot be treated in this 

 manner. A kippered codling is certainly much better eating 

 than the same fish plain boiled. Kippered mackerel, too, is a 

 most estimable creation of civilis.ation. But it is, alack ! a 

 thing to be eaten with caution, not to say fear, for the mackerel 

 being a bad-keeping fish, it frequently happens that the unscru- 

 pulous fishermen, if unable to dispose of their take at a fair 

 profit, sometimes hurry their two-days-old fish into the smoke 

 house and produce an article which, though tasting well enough, 

 is apt to work ill on those who eat of it. An imperceptible 

 but very dangerous decomposition originates in the mackerel 

 not very long after it has been caught. Beware of those which 

 are dull as to their gills on the fishmonger's slab, or weedy as 

 to their brown flesh when on the table. 



But to return to gadus alias, which is as appropriate a 

 term for him as any of those conferred by Linnseus, Pennant, 

 Couch, Yarrell, and the rest. As the coalfish feeds on the 

 surface, in midwater, and on the bottom, there is hardly a 

 method of fishing described in previous chapters which will not 

 suffice to take him ; but the best sport of all is certainly to be 



