COD, HADDOCKS, WHITING, BREAM, ETC 421 



cod are particularly fond of it, but because it is not usually 

 taken off the hook by crabs and similar fish. I have often 

 tried whelk against mussel and lugworm, and always found 

 I caught fewer cod on them than on the more luscious baits. 



With regard to the size of hook, that must, of course, 

 depend on the general run of the fish and the sort of bait which 

 is being used. They may vary between the two sizes shown. 

 The smaller a curved Limerick is particularly suitable for 

 codling fishing with mussel bait. While it is, of course, a very 

 great mistake to put a tiny 

 bait on the point of a big 

 hook, it is an equally big mis- 

 take to cover a small hook 

 with a large- sized bait. Let 

 both be in proportion ; let 

 the point of hook be sharp, 

 and not guarded by a hard 

 bait, and strike sharply as 

 soon as a fish is felt. I have 

 often caught a dozen or more 

 codling without missing one 

 when fishing with good hooks 

 and a rod. In English waters 



cod are mainly caught by professional fishermen on long lines 

 and in the trawl, and in the illustration overleaf are shown 

 the hooks and snoods which are used for this purpose in the 

 North Sea. The tendency among the codmen is to use smaller 

 hooks than formerly. By ' inshore,' as applied to the smaller 

 hook, is meant waters within say forty miles of the coast and 

 from about ten to fourteen fathoms in depth. A sea angler will 

 generally use a paternoster. For fish up to ten pounds single 

 gut is quite strong enough unless the lead required is a heavy 

 one, say over a pound, in which case double or treble gut 



COD AND CODLING HOOKS 



