70 ANGLING IN SALT WATER. 



a boat, it is not usual to cast out the bait, but to trail it at 

 the end of 30yds. to 40yds. of line. In trailing, or "whiff- 

 ing," as it is called by professional sea fishermen, a baby 

 spinner, with two ragworms attached by the head to the 

 hook, forms an excellent bait. As bass feed at various 

 depths, it is well to commence fishing the bait near the sur- 

 face, gradually adding more lead until it sinks to such a 

 depth as to be visible to the fish. The boat should, if 

 possible, be worked across the tide, so that the fish see the 

 bait before the boat has gone over them. The rule as to 

 using small baits in fair weather, and large ones when the 

 waves are high, applies as much to spinning as to fly fishing. 

 Boats under sail frequently put out lines for bass, but the 

 tackle used has to be very strong and heavy, and is not 

 suitable for rod fishing. 



Another excellent method of catching bass, though hardly 

 affording the variety or sport incidental to fly fishing and 

 spinning, is fishing with the live sand-eel or sand-smelt. For 

 this purpose professional fishermen use a hand-line, on which 

 light leads are strung and fixed at intervals of two fathoms, 

 terminating with about six fathoms of fine, unleaded line, to 

 which the hook and bait are attached. This tackle is used 

 from a boat moored in a tideway, and the force of the 

 current takes out the unleaded portion of the line, and, to a 

 certain extent, the leaded portion, the amount let out de- 

 pending in a great measure on the strength of the tide. In 

 very deep water, the nearest approach the angler can make 

 to this method is to use the sea leger described on page 24, 

 but slightly varying it by allowing at least an extra yard of 

 salmon gut or gimp below the lead. In this fishing there is 

 no object in the lead sliding on a length of gimp; and if 

 special tackle is made, it should be fixed; but the leger 

 answers the purpose. If the current is strong, a good deal of 

 line has to be let out to get the bait low enough in the 

 water, and the angler must use his judgment as to the most 

 suitable amount of lead. It is, however, advisable, when 

 drift-line fishing, to have a second rod, on which is a line 

 without sinkers, for it frequently happens that bass will not 



