176 AN ANGLER'S YEAR 



few and far between, get tired of the catching of inter- 

 minable numbers of whiting. The " Wreck " is full of 

 variety in more ways than one. Sometimes one gets 

 on the wreck and is able to stay there ; sometimes with 

 wind against tide the boat slews about, and half the 

 time the tackle is boat's-lengths away from the desired 

 spot ; sometimes one loses tackle, sometimes not ; 

 sometimes one gets good pouting, sometimes only the 

 small ones put in an appearance ; sometimes one gets 

 only pouting, sometimes cod, conger, whiting and other 

 oddments are taken ; altogether a day's fishing on the 

 wreck is a novelty and quite worth trying. 



For the last year or two, probably owing to the 

 blowing-up of the s.s. " Patria," in the close vicinity, 

 the wreck has been a little out-of-court. This is, how- 

 ever, only a temporary inconvenience to the fisherman, 

 and no doubt the remains of the sunken steamship will, 

 in a very few years, prove another bit of broken sea- 

 bottom which will turn out a good " mark " for the sea- 

 angler. It will, however, always possess a melancholy 

 interest locally, for two Deal boatmen, poor chaps, met 

 their doom when the ill-fated vessel sank for the second 

 and last time. 



In fishing rough ground of the character which " Our 

 Wreck " possesses, the writer has always found one 

 form of tackle most successful, namely, a three-hook 

 paternoster made up, not with booms, but with 

 Jephcott's treble swivels. (Fig 15). If booms are used 

 they are apt to hitch and thus lead to the loss of the bottom 

 tackle. The lead also should be made fast with a piece 

 of old boot-lace, which does not chafe through, and 

 breaks if by any chance the lead gets caught ; of course 

 the lead is lost, but the paternoster itself is saved 

 Personally, I prefer for this fishing to make up my 

 paternoster with single stout salmon-gut, but several 

 excellent anglers notably Mr. H. Edwards, who has 

 fished this mark for years always use twisted-gut on 

 account of the off-chance of getting something very 

 heavy. On the other hand light bottom-tackle allows 

 of a lighter winch-line, and hence a light rod can be 



