106 ANGLING IN SALT WATER. 



ten to about thirty fathoms, and, like most fish, prefer 

 shallow water in summer. Small ones are often caught off 

 pier-heads, but the larger fish are nearly always taken in 

 deeper water. Whiting are in the markets all through the 

 year, but they hardly come within approachable distance of 

 the angler until the spring. The largest and best- conditioned 

 fish are caught in the summer and autumn. Visitors to South 

 coast watering places, who are taken short distances out to 

 sea by local fishermen for a few hours' hand-lining, do not 

 often catch very many whiting, but unlimited numbers of 

 pout and dogfish. The simple reason of this is that the fisher- 

 men do not, as a rule, take their customers to the best whiting 

 grounds, which are further out. A stranger to the coast 

 cannot find these places, as they are only discovered by acci- 

 dent, and are well known to the local men by certain marks, 

 which, when found, should always be made a note of. I hardly 

 know of a fish which repays the angler more for using fine 

 tackle than whiting, a fact which professional fishermen 

 appear to be gradually finding out, as many of them 

 now use hooks mounted on gut. As to tackle, the great 

 thing being to get the bait to the bottom, and keep 

 it there, it is obvious that many kinds may be, and are, 

 used. The best for the angler is, undoubtedly, the pater- 

 noster; and only when the depth of water is considerable, and 

 the tide so strong that a lead of over ^Ib. becomes essential, 

 should the rod and paternoster be dispensed with in favour of 

 hand-lines. Of these, the best is the Kentish Rig, illustrated 

 in Chapter TV. The paternoster should be of moderately stout 

 gut, and the hooks No. 9 or No. 10, the lowest one placed 6in. 

 above the lead, and two others at distances of 2ft. If hand- 

 lines are necessary, the hooks should be mounted on at least 

 2ft. of gut. The ground-bait net should always be used {see 

 page 45). Most commonly the boat is moored ; but sometimes 

 it i^ allowed to drift with the tide, fish being picked up here 

 and there. In hand-line fishing, the lead is dropped to the 

 bottom, and then raised 2ft. if the boat is moored, 3ft. if 

 drifting, so that the baits do not touch the bottom. They 

 should not do this in any case, and, the snooding being 2ft. 



