BY TIDELESS SEAS 73 



much woodwork around, it was impossible to give 

 the captive much law. A final dip of the long- 

 handled net settled the question, and the fish was 

 removed to a sunken purse-net, which is the 

 German equivalent for our creel, and which has 

 the advantage of keeping the fish alive until the 

 angler ceases operations for the day. Nor is it 

 improbable, though I do not insist on such a result, 

 that the presence of these fishes, swimming in their 

 net so near the baited hooks, may act like decoy 

 ducks and inspire newcomers with confidence. 

 Looking back on those sunny summer days in 

 Mecklenburg, I regard the fishing of the float- 

 and-line kind, as the best I ever had and as good 

 as I am ever likely to see again. It cannot perhaps 

 be pretended that such easy fooling of uneducated 

 fishes is a very high ideal for a sportsman, who 

 should rather find his satisfaction in cheating the 

 cunning mullet and discriminating bass Yet it 

 would be idle to deny that the memory of those 

 heavy catches on the edge of the Baltic has come 

 down through the mists of the passing years with 

 a sweet savour that counteracts the sadder thought 

 of imaginary mullet at Littlehampton, brill at 

 Maldon, bass at Poole and all manner of other 

 fish, which I utterly failed to catch in all manner 

 of other places. Even if the unconcealed admira- 

 tion of unsophisticated German friends did now 

 and again prompt the capture of more fish than 



