SEA FISHING 

 and is allowed to drift witli the tide at the end of thirty or forty yards of 

 line. As pollack, like most fish, feed with their heads towards the tide, 

 this may be compared with downstream fishing in a river. The handline 

 is generally used for this fishing, and if one only is used it should be kept 

 in the hand, so as to strike at the least bite. The fishermen, however, use 

 two or three lines, each being made fast to the boat and some slack being 

 hitched round a large cork. When a pollack runs off with the bait it pulls 

 the cork over the side and thus attracts the fisherman's attention. If a 

 rod is used, it may be laid down with the check on the reel, as these large 

 pollack most often hook themselves. The pollack has only one idea, to 

 bore to the bottom as soon as possible. Down it goes, straight as an arrow. 

 Occasionally, when hooked in railing, it sheers nearer the surface, like a 

 bass, but this is probably the result of resistance to the horizontal pull 

 on the line and is against the pollack's almost invariable rule of sounding. 

 The first rush of a ten or fifteen pound pollack is very agreeable. Unfor- 

 tunately it soon gives up the fight, and I have brought fish of that weight 

 to the gaff within ten minutes, whereas a bass would take three times as 

 long. Only comparatively calm days are suited to the driftline, if only 

 because anchoring off the Cornish coast in breezy weather is anything 

 but comfortable, even if one has no fear of being sick. 



Ground Lines. — ^In applying the name of ground line to one with a heavy 

 lead, it is necessary to explain that the pollack is not caught, like 

 conger, actually at the bottom, but several fathoms from it. Whether 

 using a handline or a rod, the fisherman should keep hold of his 

 tackle and strike at once, as a pollack is less likely to hook itself, 

 and more likely to go free with the bait, on a leaded line hanging 

 plumb than on one drifting without lead. The pattern of lead used for 

 this fishing in the west country is peculiar, but it is the outcome of 

 long experience and is particularly suited to fishing with several lines 

 from the same boat, as it reduces the risk of each fouling its neigh- 

 bours. The lead is roughly shaped like a boat, with a short length of 

 stiff cord soldered to each end. To one of these cords the reel (or hand) 

 line is hitched and it is then attached to the other, with a little slack 

 between. It is sheer impossibility to explain this attachment in so many 

 words, but it may be learnt on the spot in five minutes. A little longer 

 will go to acquisition of the one and only way of throwing out the lead, 

 as there are a score of wrong ways, any one of which means entanglement. 

 The hooks have to be thrown clear first and the lead then pitched against 



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