SEA FISHING 

 himself lucky If he deposits the pilchard In his boatman's face instead 

 of catching the hook in his own ear. The bait, once out, is allowed to sink 

 slowly to the bottom, and then a little slack line is left off the reel. That 

 is all for the present, and this is a good opportunity for lunch or a glance 

 at the morning paper, for there is nothing more to be done until a bass 

 takes charge of the hook. When this happens, the slack line will go stealing 

 quietly through the rings. Now is the moment to grasp the rod, gently 

 but firmly. When the line has run quite tight, then, and not till then, he 

 can strike hard, and fight the bass to a finish. U the manner of hooking 

 it leaves much to be desired, he will find aU the difficulty he wants in 

 coaxing it to the gaff, for these ** cobblers *' are heavy fish, few of them 

 weighing less than ten pounds, and the fact of the boat being moored 

 puts a heavy strain on the fine tackle. On the other hand, there is no power- 

 ful tide to help the fish, as in estuaries, and no bridge to endanger the 

 line. In fact, it ought, as a rule, to be possible to save the fish, however 

 large. The same method of fishing may be practised from the rdcks of 

 Chapel Point, as presently described, but on the brightest days it is neces- 

 sary to keep out of sight of the fish. It is in this case even more difficult 

 to bring a big fish within reach of the net or gaff, though familiarity with 

 the conditions at different stages of the tide is of great assistance, and any- 

 one strange to the locality would do well to take one of the native fishermen 

 with him. 



3. Railing or Whiffing. — The manner in which the bass, when in predatory 

 mood, chases the brit and sand-eels at the surface of the sea has already 

 been referred to, and advantage is taken of this habit of feeding to practise 

 the very pleasant style of fishing known as railing or whiffing. The boat is 

 rowed, or sailed, backwards and forwards through the shoal of bass, and 

 the bait (which may consist of a dead sand-eel on spinning tackle, a bright 

 spinner, indiarubber eel, or a red, green or white fly) is trailed at the end 

 of twenty or thirty yards of line. As this manner of fishing necessarily throws 

 a heavy strain on the tackle, particularly under sail, the very slight rod 

 recommended for trolling in estuaries is hardly equal to the task. A 

 salmon rod is expensive, but nothing else is equal to it, though I have 

 caught scores of fish in this way on an old East India cane rod of London 

 make, in three pieces, and sixteen feet when put together. I picked it up at 

 a sale many years ago, and always wondered what it was meant for until 

 I found a use for it. It was well balanced by a heavy bronze reel of four 

 and a half inches diameter, which carried a hundred yards of dressed 



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