AN ANGLER'S YEAR 



the best fish the writer landed being one of 171bs., foul- 

 hooked in the top of the head, and the best day was 

 with a friend and the boatman all rod-fishing, when 

 they took twenty-four codling up to 7-|lbs. A short 

 record may interest my readers : 



A day or two before Christmas, on a bright, still 

 morning as the spring tides were beginning to weaken, 

 we started off just about high water for Walmer Hole 

 with a few sprats of yesterday's catching. We intended, 

 however, as stale sprat is soft and not attractive, to get 

 some fresh bait from the sprat drifters, which were 

 gradually working down towards us as we rowed south. 

 The first drifter we met was shaking out his nets minus 

 any fish, a poor look-out for our fishing ; the next had 

 got about a score, and his temper, in consequence, not 

 being of the best, we left him without further parley. 1 5 



Finally we met a small boat working a shore net ; the 

 fisherman had got about a beef tin full, and half of these 

 we purchased for sixpence. Equipped with fresh bait 

 we rowed on with renewed energy, gradually discarding 

 neck wrappers, coats, sweaters, &c., as the sun grew 

 hotter and hotter and the sea more glassy, A quarter 

 before twelve saw us at our destination close in shore, 

 abreast of the bungalows beyond Walmer Castle, a fair 

 row with a fore-sail mizzen punt against a spring tide. 

 We dropped anchor, baited, and started to work at once 

 although the tide was by no means done. Owing to 

 the peculiar eddy referred to, the current, however, 

 never runs so hard in this part of the bay as it does 

 Ramsgate way. We therefore fished paternoster all the 

 time, the writer using a linked wire pattern with 

 Diamond booms which had proved most effective all 

 season ; the little swivel-head on the end of the boom 

 permits the scraps of fish bait to revolve freely if put on 

 with a half turn ; this seems to be very attractive to the 

 fish, and if the point of the rod be steadily raised in 

 slack water, the twirl of the bait frequently tempts fish 

 to bite, that otherwise would probably not take hold. 

 As the tide had distinctly eased we did not use wire 

 lines, although when fishing further out during the 

 previous month my boatmate and I had found them 



