STJEFACE PISHING FOE MULLET. 83 



not yet been discovered. For one angler wlio catctes grey 

 mullet tliere are ten who fail ; and tlie failure is often owing 

 to ignorance of a very important fact concerning these fish : 

 they are so shy, that they usually refuse a bait unless distri- 

 buted around is a quantity of food of which the bait seems 

 a part ; in other words, ground-bait is necessary, 



In summer, when the weather is warm, grey mullet are 

 often found feeding on the surface, but in cold weather they 

 feed deeper. During the winter they sometimes bite well 

 in harbours, a light gut paternoster, with very small hooks, 

 baited with ragworms, being used to take them ; but even then 

 ground-bait is necessary, and the large fish will not come well 

 on the feed without it. Grey mullet feed very badly in brackish 

 water, and are more easily caught in the sea near breakwaters, 

 piers, and other structures, round the lower portions of which 

 they find their food. A good many are taken from Plymouth 

 breakwater. 



A very certain method of surface fishing, when the sea is 

 calm, was described by Mr. Collier James, in the Fishing Gazette, 

 about two years ago. For bait he used the tough, upper crust 

 of a newly-baked, plain, bread bun, prepared by removing the 

 crumb, and cutting the crust in strips about |in. wide, which 

 were kept in a covered tin for a few hours to toughen. 

 When baiting, strips fin. long were torn off, and the 

 hooks, which were small, given one turn through them. 

 For ground - bait, he had breadcrumbs. His main line 

 was of horsehair, terminated by a length of twisted gut. 

 K"o leads were used, and small pieces of cork were attached 

 along the line at intervals. If the fish were not visible, 

 his plan was to row very quietly about spots frequented by 

 them, scattering a few breadcrumbs here and there. If 

 there were any mullet they would, after the boat had passed, 

 come up to the surface, and feed on the breadcrumbs, which 

 were only thrown out to discover the position of the fish. 

 The next thing was to lay out the line (the mullet would, 

 of course, disappear while this was being done), scatter a 

 few breadcrumbs round the baits, and row a distance of 

 thirty or forty yards, paying out the line for that distance. 



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