NOVEMBER 177 



used. This adds to the sport. On heavy rod and line, a 

 lib. to 21bs. pouting makes but little fight, whereas on the 

 light tackle he struggles gamely. Other fish, cod or 

 even conger, of course, may smash the tackle ; but 

 surely, at slack tide (the best time on "Our Wreck") 

 it should be possible to kill such fish on single gut, if on 

 on the same material salmon can be taken in the rapid 

 rush of a Scotch river. 



To give some idea of the kind of sport obtained 

 wreck-fishing, a short record of two days at Deal may 

 prove of interest. 



One November day, the tide slacking at mid-day, 

 three of us started off for "The Wreck" at 10.30 a.m. 

 We got on our marks at eleven, and at once started 

 fishing. We were all using three-hook paternosters, the 

 writer fishing with single-gut, the others with twisted, 

 small hooks being used on the top loops, and a good big 

 Minchin cod pattern on the lowest. The top two were 

 baited with sprat and the lowest with lug good old 

 perfumed lug, such as cod love. At once we started 

 getting pouting, two and three at a time. This con- 

 tinued until the tide eased ; in the dead water one of 

 our party got into a cod, 81bs., which was duly gaffed; 

 almost immediately another hooked another good cod, 

 71bs. Then one of us got a horse-mackerel when 

 pulling up. Again the pouting started. Suddenly, just 

 as I had hooked a small pouting, I had a drag at the 

 rod top, and after playing him a little landed another 

 81b. cod. Then one of my comrades got another fish, 

 which gave good sport and which I gaffed. This, to our 

 surprise, turned out to be a whiting, 31bs. weight, one 

 of the finest I have ever seen. The tide by this was 

 again coming through, and we got four more cod, 

 though none so big as we had already taken, and 

 another three score of pouting, many of l^lb. weight 

 I hooked a small pouting, and left the line down a 

 moment to see if another cod would take hold. Suddenly 

 my line commenced to travel out ; seizing the rod which 

 I had laid down for a moment, I struck sharply and felt 

 I was into something heavy. " Winch in, let go ; winch 



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