THE SEA FISHER IN FOREIGN PARTS 465 



required when the fish cruise close to the surface. To the 

 ordinary observer the cork which acts as a float gives no indica- 

 tion of a bite, but the keen-eyed native knows that the slight 

 tremble signals a mullet at the bait. As the fish is slow in 

 sucking the morsel into its mouth, it is allowed to go clean 

 away with the bait, before striking. 



The mullet caught in this way are sometimes as much as five 

 pounds in weight, and the method is practically one of tight-line 

 fishing on a sloping beach. Should the mullet take the fancy 

 of going straight out to sea, as he often does, the angler has to 

 wade in as far as he can, and take his chances of holding on 

 when his limit is reached. It is easier when the fish head for 

 the breakers ; the angler then has merely to retreat up the 

 shingle, keeping a steady strain on the line. The fish is ulti- 

 mately landed, as salmon are often landed in Scotland and 

 Ireland, by sheer haulage. The fisherman walks backwards, 

 leaving one of his companions, who excitedly rushes down to 

 secure the prize at the earliest opportunity. The sport is in- 

 creased a good deal where three or four of the serried rank of 

 anglers are each fastened to a fish, crossing one another, and 

 fouling the lines. 



The sea angling in the immediate neighbourhood of Genoa 

 is described by a well-known authority, ' Sarcelle,' as lamentably 

 discouraging. The favourite long bamboo rod is there used 

 both by the man who gets his living by fishing, and the amateur 

 who seeks sport. They use fine tackle, and fish from every 

 rocky point. Though he had often watched them he only wit- 

 nessed the capture of two grey mullet of about one pound each, 

 and sundry small bream. In summer the professionals fish from 

 boats at anchor, in from twenty to forty fathoms of water, and 

 later in the year they use set lines baited with worms, prawns, 

 or tiny squid. The game, however, is hardly worth the trouble, 

 the produce apparently being small quantities of wrasse, bream, 



3 o 



