96 ANGLING IN SALT WATER. 



for bream are sand-eels — ^whicli are best of all — pieces of 

 pilchard or herring, mussels, or ragworms. Mr. Wilcocks par- 

 ticularly recommends the soft part of a limpet. In cutting 

 this bait, a small portion of the hard part is retained, through 

 which the point of the hook is put to keep the bait in position. 

 The hook should be any size between No. 12 and No. 15, 

 according to the bait used, and the run of the fish. Ground- 

 bait is very desirable, placed in a net and sunk, as already 

 described. Pilchard guts are best for this purpose, but, failing 

 these, other mixtures may be tried. The young of bream are 

 called chads, and, during the summer months, are taken in 

 large numbers with the rod and line from piers, in harbours, 

 and off the coasts of Devon and Cornwall. The best tackle 

 is the paternoster ; the best baits, ragworms and pilchard guts. 

 The ground-bait net should always be used. The bream feeds 

 at various depths. The bottom should be tried first, then mid- 

 water, and even nearer still to the surface; but for this the 

 paternoster is no use, unless a large float is put on the line 

 just above the gut length, and the tackle allowed to be carried 

 out by the tide. Care should be taken that the net is at the 

 same depth as the hooks, and that the ground-bait is washed 

 from it to the hooks. Most bream are caught during the 

 summer months. 



The Brill. — This well-known flat fish is very rarely taken by 

 the amateur sea fisherman, unless he is the owner of a trawl 

 net. They frequent banks, and will take a large variety of 

 baits, especially sand-eels and smelts. 



Chad are the young of the sea bream. 



The Cod. — This most valuable food fish now and again 

 falls a victim to the angler, more often, indeed, than is generally 

 supposed. Only a few days back I read in a paper devoted 

 to angling and anglers, that during the week three fine cod 

 of eighteen, twenty, and twenty-eight pounds, were landed 

 from the pier at llfracombe. The places where codfish of 

 this size can be taken from the shore are very few and 

 far between. For these big fish very strong tackle is generally 

 used, but if a salmon of twenty or thirty pounds can be killed 



