IV. THE BASS 



By F. G. AFLALO 



FOR those who are compelled to confine their sport to home 

 waters, there is no fish to beat the bass. There is excitement in 

 the first downward rush of exceptionally large pollack, but 

 large pollack are scarce in these days, and those of lesser weight 

 give only moderate sport, for the pollack soon gives up the 

 fight and comes tamely enough to the gafiF after a very brief 

 resistance. Large grey mullet likewise have their admirers, and are 

 undoubtedly attractive, not only for their wariness before taking the bait, 

 but also for their determined struggle afterwards; but the spots at which 

 good mullet fishing can be reckoned on in England can be counted on 

 the fingers of one hand, and even at these the fisherman needs something 

 more than the patience of Job. There are even those who glory in catching 

 tremendous skate, but, with all due respect for difference in tastes, I am 

 quite unable to appreciate this amusement. I have been anchored to bigger 

 skate in Australian seas than any of those so far recorded in Irish waters, 

 and, after considerable experience of them, I would as lief hook a billiard 

 table by one of its pockets and reel it to the surface. On the same grounds, 

 at Ballycotton and elsewhere, they catch large halibut, and these are fish 

 of very different mettle, being, in fact, the fiercest fighters of all the flat- 

 fish, and also immeasurably the largest. The Moray Firth has long been 

 the home of large halibut, and only last spring (1912) one that must have 

 weighed over a hundredweight was cast adrift after a terrific fight with 

 the crew of a cod-boat. Two of the men, who had succeeded in getting 

 the monster to the surface and seizing it with the clips used in dragging 

 heavy fish on board, were nearly pulled overboard. In the end, the halibut 

 proved too strong for them, and they were compelled to let it go, clips 

 and all. This incident has, of course, no connexion with angling for sport, 

 and is mentioned only by way of showing that really heavy fish may be 

 caught in the territorial waters of Great Britain. 



These are some of the fish in great repute among those who fish in the 

 sea. I venture to say that the bass, at its best, surpasses them all. It is 

 a member of the fighting family of perches, but is as silvery as a salmon, 

 and indeed, but that it never jumps out of water, the behaviour of a big 

 bass during its last few moments on the hook is not wholly unlike that of 

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