SKATE, SMELT, SOLE, TUEBOT, AND WHITING. 105 



The Skate. — The skate, with, its first cousins, the thornback 

 and homelyn, finds place among those fish which are not specially- 

 angled for, but which come to bag now and again when whiting 

 or conger fishing. They are large, flat fish, are found on sandy 

 and muddy bottoms, and have a liking for sand-eels, but will 

 take most fish baits. 



Smelt and Sand-Smelt. — These delicate little fish, 

 which are found mostly in harbours and sheltered bays with 

 sandy bottoms, are easily caught in numbers with the rod and 

 line. I have already said all that need be said on the subject 

 on pages 44 and 52, to which the reader is referred. 



Sole. — This admirable flat fish is not often taken by 

 the angler. It comes to hand occasionally when night fishing 

 with the sea leger {see page 24) on those muddy, oozy bottoms, 

 in which most flat fish delight. Lugworms are the best bait. 

 Any reader of this book possessing influence, either with sea 

 fishermen or our rulers, will do a national service if he uses 

 that influence to prevent the taking of immature soles — a 

 practice which is slowly destroying our sole fisheries. 



Tnrbot. — A very limited number of my readers are 

 likely to catch turbot. These fish are found on banks well 

 known to the fishermen, and, when the spring trawling is over, 

 are sought after in rather deeper water with hooks and lines. 

 Smelts, sand-eels, herrings, and other fish baits are used, but 

 the turbot shows a decided preference for live baits, and on 

 this account the Dutch fishermen, who do an immense amount 

 of turbot fishing, bait their lines with lamperns, which are 

 very tenacious of life. The hooks for turbot should be large 

 and strong. Turbot are not always fished for close to the 

 bottom, though that is their general feeding-place. 



Whiting. — Whiting are indescribably numerous all round 

 our coasts, and are taken in large numbers both by anglers 

 and professional fishermen. The general size is a pound 

 or a little more, but in some places they reach several pounds 

 in weight. Mr. Wilcocks says that the finest run of whiting 

 he ever saw caught averaged not more thnn two pounds. 

 They are usually found on banks of sandy mud, in from 



