SURFACE-FEEDING SEA FISH 387 



carried on a good deal at night. I have not used ground bait 

 for these fish, but have not the slightest doubt it would con- 

 duce to a good catch. In America the mackerel fishermen 

 have mills in which they grind up herrings for the purpose. 

 Having attracted a large number of mackerel, they lower a 

 bright metal fish which is well armed with hooks and then jig 

 it about ; the mackerel rush to it and are foul-hooked. 



When sport is not obtained either by whiffing or fishing 

 near the bottom, various depths should be tried, for mackerel 

 exhibit great susceptibility to changes of temperature, both as 

 to their migrations and the depths at which they feed. 



This concludes nearly all I think need be said about this 

 admirable fish. When the mackerel are biting very shyly and the 

 hook is being constantly robbed, I would suggest and it is a 

 mere suggestion, for I have not tried it using Stewart tackle 

 made up with large hooks, the bait being a strip of pilchard and 

 a strip of squid cut worm-shape caught on and twisted round 

 them. There is a two-hook tackle of this kind on p. 117. 

 Three hooks might be better for this purpose. I have used this 

 tackle for several kinds of bottom-feeding freshwater fish, other 

 than trout and salmon, and found it answer extremely well, 

 except in the case of tench, which mumble the bait and soon 

 discover any hooks which are not well covered. Fly fishing for 

 mackerel is referred to on p. 149. 



Sometimes the plummeter will capture a fish in which the 

 usual mackerel markings are replaced by spots such as are 

 found on the back of a loch trout. This is merely a variety, 

 Scomber punctatus, or spotted mackerel. There is also Scomber 

 colias, the coly or Spanish mackerel, the latter name being the 

 least desirable, as it is also applied to the tunny, and confusion 

 engendered. This fish is not common in British waters. It 

 may be instantly known by the eye, which is twice or three 

 times the size of a common mackerel's. 



