SEA FISHING 



between Weymouth and Portland, is a favourite spot in the months of 

 August and September. Large fish are taken here with a variety of baits, 

 including mackerel, live shrimp, soft crab and squid. The best sport is 

 had during spring tides, a little before high water, and very strong tackle 

 must be used, owing to certain local difficulties in landing a big fish. 

 Another resort of bass fishermen, which was first discovered in 1911, 

 is the so-called Sea Wall, at Teignmouth, beside the G.W.R. line. A 

 sand-eel is used, living or dead, and bass have been caught up to nine 

 pounds. 



Fishing for bass from the beach is practised at Aldeburgh, Folkestone, 

 Hastings, Brighton, Selsey, Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton, and pro- 

 bably elsewhere outside of my own personal experience. This beach 

 fishing is not always easy with a rod, particularly where the shingle slopes 

 abruptly, and it is, in fact, one of the cases in which the handline should 

 be allowed. Float tackle may sometimes be used with advantage from 

 piers or breakwaters, but it will meet with most success either along a 

 river, as at Littlehampton or Lynmouth, or from the rocks, as off Brixham 

 or Falmouth. This rock-fishing for bass, with live prawns for bait, is 

 very artistic work, but it needs some knowledge of local conditions of tide 

 and weather, not only for sport, but also for safety, as nothing is easier 

 than for the angler unacquainted with these to find himself in trouble with 

 the tide. There are some famous rocks for this fishing between Berry Head 

 and the entrance to Dartmouth, and local experts make great catches of 

 bass, obtaining their prawns at Brixham, where there is a store with a 

 usually reliable supply. Unfortunately, large wrasse, up to four pounds 

 weight, or even more, are also plentiful round these rocks, and it is a con- 

 stant disappointment to the fisherman to have his float carried under 

 by these. They give good sport for a few moments, but are quite inferior 

 to the bass in every respect and nowhere more so than on the table. In 

 fact, they are not palatable to any man of taste, and are best utilized 

 as bait for the crab pots. Strong (but not coarse) tackle must be used 

 for bass from the rocks, and an extra long handle for the landing-net 

 will save many a fish that would otherwise be lost, besides saving the 

 angler from the risk of overbalancing on a slippery foothold and being 

 thrown into twenty or thirty feet of water. At first sight, this fishing 

 from rocks, which have to be reached in small boats, may look unattrac- 

 tive, but, once its intricacies are mastered, it is interesting sport. A man 

 and boat should be kept within hail in case of accident, but after the 

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