142 WHAT I HAVE SEEN WHILE FISHING 



How many men I know have hastily condemned 

 good fishings simply because sport did not come 

 quickly ! Faith and fine tackle are great aids to 

 success. Never despair while on the sea, but wait 

 patiently for the fish that will surely come. 



It came to us, but not in such wondrous fashion 

 as it sometimes does. We gathered fish, first 

 slowly and of small size, then a little faster and 

 of better size, and, as the sun sank lower, they 

 came more quickly still, and of such weight as 

 to require care and skill in handling. 



Pollack were obviously planned by Nature for 

 strength and speed. The suddenness with which 

 they rush from great depths, seize their prey and 

 dive back from whence they came, requires some 

 experience to realise. 



The strength of this fish, however much ex- 

 hausted before brought to gaff, seems to come back 

 when you attempt to release the hook that held 

 him, and I have in consequence many scars out of 

 which the barbs of flying hooks have come. 



It is the danger of the second hook, which has 

 damaged me so much, that has prevented my 

 recommending to others the use of my favourite 

 bait for large pollack, the " Natural Spin/' 



Hooks large, hard and thick that pliers can only 

 snip the merest point off are nasty things to dig 

 out of your fisherman's calf or finger, and it is 

 almost as painful for him to do the like for you. 



Messrs. Allcock, I am pleased to say, have 



