FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 



available only in cases where the angler can face in the same direction as 

 the tide, so that the latter may carry his float clear of the piles. Swinging 

 out the lead and hooks with a handline calls for delicate management 

 on a crowded stage. The new diplomacy, of the kind favoured in the 

 Panama Canal zone, would first hit a neighbour behind the ear with the 

 lead, or drive a baited hook into his continuations, and then (if so disposed) 

 offer apologies, but the amenities of English watering-places and the 

 temper of English crowds do not favour such etiquette. Pier fishing, 

 in fact, involves too much deference to the madding crowd for comfort, 

 and for this reason it is less pleasant than fishing from the shore, where, 

 whether on beach or rocks, there is room for all. Pierless spots, like 

 Selsey or Seaton, should be better known to anglers than they are. 



Spinning for bass or pollack is practised from a few piers, but this 

 method of fishing, which requires both elbow room and water to fish in, 

 is impossible in a crowd. 



The familiar crossbar tackle, which used to be in general use in boats, 

 but which amateurs have long since superseded with more ingenious 

 patterns, is out of place on piers, and would ere long be entangled with 

 the posts. A throw-out tackle of some sort is needed, and the lead may 

 be at the end of the line, with the hooks above it (as in the well-known 

 paternoster), or it may lie on the sand, with the line working freely in a 

 hole through the middle of it, a saltwater version of the leger used in 

 rivers. 



The one considerable advantage of pier fishing for the stranger is the 

 facility with which he can learn all the local conditions, as to fish, bait 

 and tides, from either the piermaster or others fishing at the time. There 

 is no problem of pioneer work, as is sometimes the case when fishing 

 in unknown seas from boats or the shore. At the same time, as already 

 suggested, originality often brings its reward, and methods in local 

 vogue may frequently be improved upon. The piermaster need not be 

 trusted too implicitly in the absence of corroborative evidence, as his 

 version may be professionally optimistic, and as soon as the first dab 

 of the season is landed on his pier he is liable to hang out a board an- 

 nouncing that good fishing may be had at a charge of twopence a day extra. 



Piers are sufficiently crowded at any time, but during the progress of 

 a sea -fishing competition they are pandemonium. Fortunately, much 

 good fellowship prevails on these occasions, which are social rather than 

 sporting. Otherwise, the crowd would be intolerable. 

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