SEA FISHING 

 least nibble from any small fish, such as lufer, the bait must be renewed. 

 At any rate, the bitten prawn must be removed and another added in its 

 place. 



There is practically no tide in the Gulf, and the best time for fishing 

 is round about sunrise. The caique, as the small Turkish boats are called, 

 is rowed slowly along, just outside the reeds, and the bait is trailed at the 

 end of thirty or forty yards of line. Every few moments the line is smartly 

 jerked so that, with the strain then taken off the line, the prawns can jump 

 and attract any bass that may be lurking in the neighbourhood. Large 

 bass are taken in the same way at night, but this jerking of the line is then 

 omitted. The reason for this is that the water is highly phosphorescent 

 on summer nights, and the sudden gleam caused by jerking the line would 

 probably frighten the bass away. 



June is the best month for the bass hereabouts, and from daybreak 

 to 7 or 8 a.m. sees the best of the sport. Good bass are also taken after 

 sunset, but all through the day it is too hot and too bright for fishing, 

 There are several favourite bass grounds on both shores of the Gulf of 

 Ismidt. All my best fish were taken off Solujak, half way between Ismidt 

 and Derinj6. On the opposite (i.e. south) shore fine fish have also been 

 caught at Tutun Ghiflik, Gazicli and Deirmendere. The only regular 

 fishermen in the Gulf are Armenians. They work a large talian, a fixed 

 fish trap of very ancient design, and also shoot small nets from a long 

 boat rigged up with a high look-out perch. Standing on this, the rets, or 

 captain, can follow the movements of the shoals of palamut, which are 

 large mackerel, and other kinds of surface fish. Grey mullet (known as 

 cephali) are very plentiful, but will not, according to all reports, take a bait. 

 Bass are much appreciated as food on the best tables in Turkey, fetching 

 in the fishmarkets a shilling a pound. 



As will have been gathered from the foregoing pages, the bass is a fish 

 of infinite variety, offering a wider range of sport by different methods 

 and with different baits than perhaps any other fish in the sea. It is a 

 plucky fighter and, if cooked in the right way in a cold mayonnaise, it 

 is a delicious fish to eat. Its capture is therefore free from the stigma which 

 attaches to the slaughter of tarpon, and it is a worthy foe, against which 

 even the most skilful fisherman may safely pit himself in the certainty 

 of having excellent value for his money. 



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