60 ANGLING IN SALT WATER. 



In angling for these fisli it is very essential to have some know- 

 ledge of their habits. As a general rule, bass do not approach 

 the shore much before June, and the large fish leave about 

 October. On the Devon coast they have been taken as early 

 as February, but are never seen there in numbers until March. 

 They seem easily affected by the temperature of the water, 

 and in warm, early seasons, may be expected in shore sooner 

 than when the spring is cold and late. Until August they 

 are found principally shoaling off headlands and along the 

 coast, but in that month they commence to work into estuaries, 

 where they deposit their spawn. They show a decided pre- 

 ference for those rivers which have sandy or gravelly bars 

 at their mouths. Round pier-heads and about large harbours 

 they are to be found during the summer, and a favourite 

 haunt is by wreckage, or any old hulk which has been moored 

 for years in one spot. In the estuaries, they work up and 

 down with the tide, and a point of beach stretching out 

 at the mouth of a river is a likely place to meet with them 

 for an hour-and-a-half after high water. In Cornish harbours 

 there are frequently spots where pilchards are cleaned, and 

 the entrails (a splendid bait for most sea fish) thrown into 

 the water. Bass and many other varieties of fish are often 

 attracted to such spots in great numbers, and may be easily 

 taken. As a general rule, the best bass fishing is had during 

 spring tides. While, on the coast, bass feed right in the surf, 

 where no one but a bass fisher would expect to find fish of 

 any kind, on calm days they may be seen basking a little 

 way off the rocks, and at such times it is useless to fish for 

 them; but immediately a breeze from seaward springs up 

 causing waves to break on the rocks, disturbing the myriads 

 of small marine creatures on which bass feed, then, knowing 

 that food is within their reach, they at once commence to 

 search for it, and may be successfully angled for by some 

 of the methods described later on. A breeze from seaward, 

 it will be noticed, gives the angler the best chance of success ; 

 but it should be borne in mind that, after a continuance of 

 windy weather, bass, as a rule, cease to feed on the surface, 

 and are to be taken in deeper water, close to the bottom. 



