THE IRISH FISHERIES 



ghastly method is by means of " needle-tackle." One or 

 two stout needles are buried in the body of a worm and 

 the line is tied round the whole ; this is sunk with a stone 

 or plummet and is extraordinarily successful in working, 

 for eels are no less greedy than other fish, and, once the 

 bait is snapped up, the points are safe to lodge some- 

 where, so that the needles act as a fixed cross-bar, to 

 which the line is immovably fastened. This is for 

 summer fishing. In the rivers and lakes, night-lines are 

 also let down, but this is not regarded as a legitimate 

 form of fishing at any rate by the gamekeepers. 



At the approach of winter the eels either bury them- 

 selves in the mud or migrate to the estuaries like that of 

 the Shannon, or sometimes into the open sea. If they 

 stay in the mud they are soon " forked out " with an eel- 

 spear an instrument with several prongs, which is fitted 

 to a long, slender handle ; but if they reach the estuaries, 

 the taking of them ceases to be a sport and becomes an 

 industry. Eel-pots are laid down in series after the 

 fashion of the crab-pots, across the current, and are 

 cleared and rebaited every morning. The traps are very 

 ingeniously constructed ; they are of wicker and shaped 

 like a narrow-mouthed gallipot ; the funnel-like entrance 

 is made of springy, flexible sticks which radiate towards a 

 common centre a hole as big round as a shilling. The 

 eel has no difficulty in forcing its way through this open- 

 ing, for the springs bend back most obligingly ; but they 

 shut to again after the fish has passed through, and he 

 has no sort of chance of ever getting out any more. 



The Ulster fishermen are naturally very different from 



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