SEA FISHING 



Where nets are working, they should always be purchased of the netsmen, 

 and a shilling's worth should suffice for the day's fishing. Taken straight 

 out of the seine, with as little handling as possible, and removed at once 

 to the wedge-shaped wooden bait-boxes with perforated lids, which are 

 towed alongside the boat when fishing, they should live two days. Where 

 there is no net to catch them, sand-eels may often be raked (with an 

 Implement more like a hoe than a rake) in the sand near low -water mark, 

 but, being generally more or less bruised when captured in this fashion, 

 they are less suitable for bass than for pollack, which at times will take 

 the bait when nearly dead. Another objection to an injured, lifeless bait 

 in estuary fishing is that it is much more likely to be draped with weed 

 than one that is lively. This green weed finds its way into West Country 

 estuaries by the ton, being scraped off the banks by the salmon nets, 

 dried by the sun at ebb tide, and then carried far inland on the flood. 

 Some days, indeed, it is such a hindrance as to put a stop to bass fishing 

 altogether, and it is always necessary to reel in the bait at short intervals 

 so as to see that it is free from weed, since no bass will touch a sand-eel 

 with the least particle of weed on it. Obviously a lively sand-eel, dashing 

 to one side or the other on its way upstream, is not so liable to catch the 

 weed as one that drifts motionless through the water. The large green 

 launce, which are netted along with the brown sand-eels, and which on 

 some days preponderate, are quite useless as bait, and should be carefully 

 kept out of the bait -box. 



The best rod for this bass fishing in estuaries is one of the 10 -foot rods 

 made for sea trout. It is in two pieces. The rest of the outfit includes a 

 bronze check reel carrying sixty or eighty yards of fine dressed silk line, a 

 swivel, three yards of single salmon gut, and a 4/0 Limerick hook. The 

 swivel is attached between the reel line and gut collar, and it must be kept 

 free from weed, which quickly hampers its action. On some days a very 

 small lead, weighing no more than a quarter of an ounce, must be used on 

 the line, just above the swivel. On other days, I have done best vidthout 

 any lead whatever. There is no rule, and the only plan is to add the lead 

 if no fish are caught without it. The depth at which the bass happen to be 

 feeding at any given moment can be determined only by experiment. 

 They do not always behave in the same fashion under apparently identical 

 conditions of weather and tide. As a general rule, the shoals play in the 

 Teign at the top of the water on calm bright days and may be traced 

 from the bar to the bridge, above which they scatter over the shallows. 

 YY 345 



