COD, HADDOCKS, WHITING, BREAM, ETC 429 



Some fishermen, in lieu of having an armoured snooding, use 

 hooks with shanks about eight inches long, with an eye at the 

 end ; the fish then bite on to the hook shank instead of on to 

 the snooding. 



The LING, though perhaps not so fierce as the hake, emu- 

 lates the cod in the matter of voracity. There is certainly no 

 record of a fish of this variety having swallowed ' a booke in 

 three treatises ' or a bunch of keys (afterwards returned to its 

 owner through the medium of a long line), but there is an 

 unusually well-authenticated legend that one was caught off 

 Brandon Head, in the county of Kerry, which contained 

 a flask. Moreover, in the flask was half a pint of spirituous 

 liquor. 1 Another such a story dates from November 17, 1881. 

 A Mr. Boal, of Consett, opened a ling, which weighed twenty- 

 five pounds, and discovered within it a small bottle, pieces of 

 sealing wax, some parchment, a few herrings and a codling. 



Ling grow to a great size. In the 'Field' of March 23, 

 1895, is a record of one weighing 85 Ibs., and of three which 

 together weighed 222 Ibs. They were caught off the Faroes 

 from the steamer fishing line-boat ' Saridus.' 



If ling fishing is being carried on from the pilchard or other 

 drifting boats, not so much lead is required as if the boat were 



1 Here is a certificate of truth culled from the Pall Mall Gazette, being a 

 letter to the editor : ' Sir, In reference to the amusing article of April 8, giving 

 an account of the cobble stones which were found in the stomach of a ling 

 exposed for sale in a fishmonger's shop at Liverpool, it may perhaps be of 

 interest to your readers to know that I have in my possession an example of 

 what I think may be considered as " gross an error on the part of a fish" as 

 has ever been placed on record. On the table before me is a round zinc flask, 

 on which is inscribed the following legend : " Royal Irish Fisheries Company. 

 This flask, containing two glasses of an ardent spirit, was found in the stomach 

 of a ling, taken off Brandon Head, co. Kerry, February 1849. Presented by 

 J. E. Stopford, LL.D. , director, and W. Andrews, manager, to Mr. M. J. 

 Ffennell, in testimony of their esteem and their sense of the services rendered 

 by him as Commissioner of Fisheries." The flask, which was presented to 

 my father, holds four wineglasses. With two glasses the flask weighed just 

 i Ib. Yours, &c. , HENRY FFENNELL.' 



