250 FISHES I HAVE KNOWN 



limited to two in a small boat, one to each fisher- 

 man, as the management of a couple at a time, 

 though frequently attempted, results in entangle- 

 ment and confusion. The bait may be a spoon, 

 or it may be living sand-eels, lamperns, earth- 

 worms, smelts, a strip of pork skin, squid, or 

 cuttle-fish ; but the best bait, and one almost 

 always used in Cornwall, is a slice of the tail of a 

 freshly caught mackerel, its silvery skin being 

 carefully cut off, without any of the red flesh, so as 

 to flip about freely just below the surface. With 

 properly adjusted leads of the correct weight, this 

 is sure to be successful. Once, when unable to 

 obtain a mackerel, I tried a bit of clay-pipe stem 

 run up the line to the hook, and at the first cast I 

 had a fish. 



We used to row down the harbour, rounding 

 Pendennis Castle, from whose thick walls peered 

 modern ordnance, of which cannon more anon ! 

 When clear of the land, we hoisted our solitary 

 little sail (there was generally a breeze), and made 

 for the mackerel-ground, which, according to the 

 time of year, might be in shore, or far off by the 

 Manacles, or beyond. 



As early as January, mackerel appear off the 

 Scilly Islands ; in Cornwall about the end of 

 February. I found the month of May the best. 



