INTRODUCTION 41 



and harder on some waters than the east 

 wind on others. For some fish, in both 

 salt water and fresh, anglers prefer no wind 

 at all. Lord Desborough, who had re- 

 markable success with tarpon in Florida, 

 found that his sport with that fish was 

 best on still days. Mr. Sheringham like- 

 wise prefers a dead calm for roach, bream, 

 tench, and perch. In most kinds of float- 

 fishing excessive wind is for obvious reasons 

 a drawback, just as in many forms of fish- 

 ing with the artificial fly it is almost 

 indispensable. For bass fishing in estu- 

 aries I prefer a dead calm, but in the open 

 sea, particularly when fishing off rocky 

 headlands, a curl on the water is productive 

 of better results. The discomfort of too 

 much wind in sea-fishing is too evident to 

 need the support of evidence ; but, gener- 

 ally speaking, the calmest days are best 

 for pollack, bream, or whiting fishing at 

 anchor, while in mackerel fishing from a 

 boat under sail, as stiff a breeze as is com- 

 patible with easy management of the boat 

 will generally be found to put the mackerel 



