142 FISHES I HAVE KNOWN 



blue, and the clear water gently waved the 

 beautiful sea-weed that could be seen far beneath 

 the surface. 



To keep a fine, fat mussel on a fish-hook is 

 not so easy at it seems. Come off, it will, however 

 dexterously attached. Even the friction of the 

 water as the lead runs the line out, is sufficient 

 to unfasten the slippery morsel. In my first essay 

 with rock-cod, no sooner did the lead appear to 

 touch bottom (I was using an ordinary sea-rig 

 tackle), than I felt a smart tug, and, pulling up, 

 found the mussel gone, and the fish also ! This 

 was repeated so many times that I became 

 exasperated, and at last did, what I should have 

 done at first I secured the bait with an india- 

 rubber band. Again came the familiar tug, but 

 this time, on striking, there was a heavy drag 

 and a quivering of the taut line, and I contrived 

 to get the fish up to the thwart. 



It was a large-headed, wrasse-like fish, with 

 formidable fins, and I should have been inclined 

 to let it go had I not known it was a rock-cod, 

 fully eight pounds in weight. 



Next came a monster that I could barely lug 

 into the boat, but luckily, like its predecessor, 

 it was not very lively/. My arms being tired, I 

 carelessly let the bait lie at the bottom, and a 



