142 COAL FISH. 



quainted with rope and oar, it affords at times an admirable 

 amusement. 



The coal- fishing requires a stiff breeze, and if there be 

 a dark sky it is all the better. In its detail, it is perfectly 

 similar to mackerel-fishing, only that the superior size of the 

 coal-fish makes stronger tackle and a heavier lead indispen- 

 sable. 



An eel of seven or eight inches long is the bait. The head 

 being removed, the hook is introduced as in a minnow, and 

 the skin brought three or four inches up the snoud. This 

 latter is a fine line of two or three fathoms length, affixed to 

 the trap-stick and lead, the weight of which latter is regulated 

 by the rate of sailing. 



The coal-fish, in weight, varies from two to fourteen 

 pounds; it is finely shaped, immensely rapid, uniting the 

 action of the salmon with the voracity of the pike. If he miss 

 his first dash, he will follow the bait to the stern of the boat, 

 and I have often hooked them within a fathom of the rudder. 



Four or five knots an hour is the best rate of sailing for 

 killing coal-fish, and upon a coast where they are abundant, 

 the sport at times is excellent. 



Like the pike, the coal-fish is very indifferent to the tackle 

 used, which is generally very coarse. Not so the mackerel ; 

 he requires much delicacy of line and bait to induce him to 

 take. 



In light winds, or when the fish are out of humour, I have 

 killed mackerel by substituting a salmon casting-line of single 

 gut, for the hempen snoud commonly employed by fishermen, 

 which with a newly-cut bait of phosphoric brilliancy com- 

 monly overcame his resolve against temptation. But there 

 are times when a change of weather, or some inexplicable 

 phenomena of sea or sky, render these fish dull and cautious : 

 for usually it requires but trifling art to kill them. 



A little experience is necessary. The bait must be cut 

 from the freshest mackerel, and assimilated in size and shape 

 to the herring-fry, which they generally follow ; and the way 

 of the boat must be so regulated, as to preserve the deception 

 by a sufficient velocity, without breaking by its rapidity the 

 mackerel's hold. The mouth of this fish is particularly 

 tender ; and if care be not taken, many will drop from the 

 hook, before they can be secured on board. 



