24 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



the bass, the pollack and the grey mullet, 

 are in no danger of being trawled much nearer 

 to extinction, since that devastating engine cap- 

 tures them only incidentally and not of set pur- 

 pose. The pollack keeps to the rocks, and the 

 worst intruder in its stronghold is the trammel 

 or handline. The other two thrive in sheltered 

 estuaries and shallow creeks, equally beyond 

 reach of the most effectual commercial methods 

 of capture. Now and again we hear accounts 

 of bass being driven away by dynamite, but such 

 practices are much less rife with us than on south- 

 ern shores, where indeed the indiscriminate use 

 of bombs has ruined once productive home 

 grounds. 



No attempt has been made in the following 

 pages to conceal failures. At most, explanation 

 of the circumstances under which they were 

 scored is offered for the reader to accept or reject, 

 and not to excuse them would be more than human. 

 One chapter, indeed, will be found to treat of little 

 else. Part of the charm of fishing lies in its light 

 and shade, in the success which follows on the 

 failure, sometimes thanks to lessons learnt in 

 time. It rarely happens that the loss of a fish 

 is unaccountable. For the moment perhaps the 

 angler's face wears an expression of baffled purpose 

 attributable only to ill luck, and he may, if in 

 company, even keep up the pleasant fiction of 



