SEA FISHING 



Sea anglers owe it to their fellow -sportsmen to make themselves as 

 little of a public nuisance on piers as the circumstances allow. They should 

 not swing leads and hooks with risk to other people standing round, 

 and they should not leave bait lying about the landing stages, or, worse 

 still, on the seats of the upper deck. People have, before now, slipped on 

 pieces of fish left by anglers, and the herring men of Lowestoft once raised 

 the curious, but I believe perfectly serious, objection that they were misled, 

 when returning to port at night, by the lanterns of amateurs fishing on 



the harbour piers. 



• • • 



III. ROCK FISHING.—Something has been said incidentally of the 

 association of some fishes, like conger, pollack, pout and bream, with a 

 rocky bottom, and, in addition to these, summer bass and winter cod are 

 also caught on rough ground, though less exclusive than the rest in their 

 preference for it, and seeking their food equally on smooth sand. Rocks 

 which lie in deep water, at some distance from the coast, can be fished 

 only from boats anchored, or sailing, over them, but on coasts where 

 the water is deep enough for fishing (anything over two or three fathoms) 

 close up to the cliffs, first-rate sport is sometimes to be had by standing 

 on the rocks and fishing the water alongside. This pastime is little indulged 

 in on the English coast, for it is possible at only a few spots, such as Culler - 

 coats, Scarborough and Filey on the east side, and Brixham, Dartmouth 

 and, at intervals, round the Lizard and Land's End to the north coast of 

 Devon, in the English and Bristol Channels. Elsewhere, with greater 

 opportunities, rock fishing is popular, and I have tried it, not always with 

 success, but always with interest, in Brittany and the Riviera, as well 

 as at Madeira and Porto Santo and on the coast of New South Wales. 



The attraction of rock fishing is that it gives all the freedom of a boat 

 without its drawbacks. There is, in fact, none of the overcrowding of 

 piers and no tossing about, as in boats. Where, as is sometimes the case, 

 the rocks provide bait as well, a further interest is added to the sport. 

 True, this kind of fishing entails risks of its own, but none that a little 

 care will not overcome. The worst of them is a false step on slippery 

 ledges, and the penalty of this ranges from the danger of being seized by 

 sharks, the probable result of a headlong fall from the North Head, at 

 Sydney, to the mere discomfort of wet clothes, which would be the worst 

 consequence in our own seas to anyone able to swim. And those who 

 cannot swim in the sea should not fish in it. 



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