SEA FISHING 

 pounds. It is very similar to the pollack in outline, but its colour is more 

 blue-green, and there is a small *' beard," as in the cod. 



Both pollack and coalfish are caught on the hook in much deeper water 

 and further from land than the bass. I have caught pollack in forty fathoms 

 of water, and that is by no means an exceptional depth for them. There 

 are few spots where either fish of any size is found close inshore, but the 

 " billet " of Filey Brigg is another name for the coalfish. There are, it 

 is true, a number of piers from which pollack are regularly caught, but 

 only a few, like those at Deal and Dover, commonly yield big fish. All the 

 best pollack fishing must be done from boats, either railing, driftline- 

 fishing, or fishing with heavily leaded tackle. 



Railing. — The method of fishing known as railing, or whiffing, has 

 already been referred to in the chapter on the bass. For pollack the 

 procedure is much the same, only this fish habitually feeds at a greater 

 depth than the other, chasing the small fry at the surface only after sunset 

 or even later. It is, therefore, essential that the bait should work lower 

 down, and this may be attained in one of two ways: letting the boat move 

 more slowly through the water, or adding more lead to the line. These 

 conditions being constant, a greater depth may also be reached by letting 

 out a longer line. 



Like the bass, pollack take either natural or artificial bait trailed in 

 this fashion. Among the former, mention may be made of sand-eel, rock- 

 worm, ragworm and prawn as among the most deadly, and the tail of a 

 freshwater eel is also used with success on some parts of the coast. The 

 artificial baits for pollack include all manner of indiarubber " eels," tin 

 spinners and " files." The ** fly," by the way, used for bass and pollack is 

 not the complex and costly lure known to the salmon-fisherman. Much 

 less is it the delicate counterfeit tied for the undoing of trout. It consists 

 merely of a couple of large feathers, dyed red or green, or even used white, 

 and attached to a large tinned hook with sealing wax, which forms the 

 " head " of the fly. Anything more unnatural looking it would be hard to 

 design, yet I have seen these flies catch scores of fish, which probably 

 mistake them for brit. A curious bait cut from parchment is also used 

 on Eastbourne Pier on summer evenings. It is worked rise-and-sink 

 fashion, and resident anglers used at any rate to have great confidence 

 in its powers, but I never saw it do any execution. 



During the day the larger pollack anyway keep far down. In sixty fathoms 

 of water, few are found less than forty below the surface. This is too deep 



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