420 



MODERN SEA FISHING 



both the size of the fish and the dates of their arrival vary very 

 much in different localities and also at different seasons. This 

 longshore cod fishing is quite an institution on the East coast 

 in the autumn. I have said a good deal about it on pp. 60 

 and 209, to which I would refer the intending cod fisher. 



When we are dealing with fish which will take anything, 

 from a white turnip to ' a booke 

 in three treatises,' it is obvious 

 that we are not likely to go far 

 wrong in choosing a bait ; but I 

 must say that, as in fresh water 

 the same kinds of fish appear to 

 favour different baits in different 

 places, so it is with cod. On the 

 East coast nothing answers better 

 than mussels, unless indeed it is 

 a lugworm or squid. In some 

 places I have found lugworms 

 better than any other bait I could 

 try, including mussels. Then, 

 again, when fishing up in the 

 Hebrides, as I have described, 

 the mussels beloved of haddock 

 were quite disregarded by the 

 cod, which were not attracted 



^y j ^ covered my hoo k 



with a piece of haddock. A 



composite bait highly thought of by Scotch fishermen is made 

 of lugworm and limpet. Its mode of attachment to the hook 

 is explained by the illustration. Squid is a first-rate bait for 

 cod, and so are pilchards, sprats, sand-eels, herring, and 

 mackerel. The whelk, called buckie in Scotland, is one of 

 the most favourite baits for long lines, not so much because 



LUGWORM AND LIMPET 



