12 ANGLINa IN SALT WATER. 



I know. It is divided into two parts, which the natural 

 spring in the bow of the net has a tendency to keep open, 

 the result being* that the screw fills out, and keeps tight, 

 even in a well-worn socket. The Hi Regan net folds 

 up for packing. As the sides are of highly tempered steel, 

 some other metal would be desirable for sea work — phosphor- 

 bronze, for instance. A capital net is made altogether of. 

 wood, or wood and whalebone. It is 

 light and very durable. The bow is 

 formed of a strip of well-seasoned ash, 

 steamed and bent into shape. This 

 is bound on to a handle. A mere 

 ring of galvanised iron (Fig. 6), with 

 ends flattened and turned downwards, 

 bound into a handle, answers every 

 purpose. The net itself should be of 

 large mesh, and either tanned or dressed. 

 The object of the dressing is not so 



Fig. 6. Galvanised Iron rnnoh in r>rp«iprvp +hA tia+ na fn 

 Landing-net Ring. mucn xo preserve tne net as to 



render it stiff, so that hooks will not 



entangle in it. With an ordinary soft, small-meshed net, a big 



fish, in his struggles for freedom, will sometimes mix up the 



hooks and net into a tangle, which causes valuable time to be 



lost. Fish often feed in an irregular kind of manner, taking any 



kind of bait ravenously for half-an-hour, and then disdaining 



the choicest morsels for the two hours following. It follows, 



therefore, that the angler who is not prepared to make 



the most of his opportunities — to make hay while the sun 



shines — to catch the fish while they are feeding — will never 



fill his creel. 



Hooks. — Professional sea-fishermen generally tie a piece of 

 hemp snooding round the shanks of their hooks, the tops of 

 which are flattened to prevent the knot slipping off. This is 

 about as primitive and awkward a method as could well be ima- 

 gined. 



In the deep-sea cod fisheries, hooks are sometimes used 

 which are more sensibly shaped. The end of the shank is 

 turned round to fonn an eye, and into this eye the snooding 



