DECEMBER 187 



move freely, as the bite of the fish must shift the position 

 of the lead before the angler can possibly strike, and 

 hence fish may leave the 

 bait if the resistance of 

 the lead is too great. 

 Of course, the pull neces- 

 sary to laterally displace 

 a pendulum weight of, 

 say, four or six ounces at 

 the end of a cord of 

 eight or ten fathoms, 

 already borne in the same 

 direction by the tide, is 

 infinitesimal ; but if the Fig. 41. Pneumatic Rod Button, 

 lead is too heavy and lies 



buried the case is much different. It is as well 

 occasionally to lift the lead clear of the ground, 

 say, three or four feet, and let it drop again ; this clears 

 the bottom hook if caught up in rough ground, and 

 sometimes tempts a fish to run at the baits ; a further 

 advantage is that such a manoeuvre often discovers the 

 presence of a big cod, which has laid hold of the bottom 

 bait and is lazily sucking it without giving any sign of 

 his presence. 



In order to illustrate this kind of sport enjoyed 

 amongst the cod and whiting, the following extracts 

 from note books may prove of interest. 



In November, 1897, the British Sea Anglers held their 

 competition late in the month, and 1 had the pleasure of 

 fishing on one of the days with a gentleman who was 

 judging. After the last of the competitors had gone off 

 we decided that, as nothing more remained to be done 

 till the return of the boats, we might as well go and do a 

 little fishing ourselves. So, hailing our boatman and 

 getting our things together, we launched about ten 

 o'clock and hoisted sail. 



The nice northerly breeze quickly took us to our 

 ground north of the Brake Buoy, and, dropping anchor, 

 we presented our baits to the fishes; sprat on the upper 

 and lug on the lower hook. The tide was nearly slack, 



