SEA FISHING 



that, unlike the softer bait of pilchard, it is difficult to remove from the 

 hook without paying the penalty. The other chad, though cannibals, can 

 make little impression on it. The first chad caught should therefore be 

 beheaded and cut in half and the backbone removed. This produces two 

 admirable baits. 



As a general rule, the red breams, some of which grow, like the Austra- 

 lian snapper, to a great size, are found in moderately deep water on rocky 

 ground, whereas the black kinds haunt piers and quays. All bream bite 

 best at night, though the snapper and " black brim " of Australia are 

 both fished for in daylight. 



Our own sea bream may be taken on pollack tackle, and on the same 

 grounds, either with the driftline or on. the ground line. I never heard of 

 one taken while railing, and it is doubtful whether these fish, which are 

 heavily built and of somewhat sluggish habits, would move fast enough 

 through the water to be caught in this way. They commonly feed near 

 the bottom, but I have had very fine bream on a driftline streaming away 

 close to the surface, and such a fish will fight much more lustily than a 

 pollack of the same weight. As with the bass, however, care must be 

 taken in handling bream, as the fins are prickly, and even those of chad 

 can inflict a nasty wound. All manner of baits will catch bream, and among 

 them pilchard, herring, mackerel and sand-eels are in general use, as 

 well as mussel and lugworm. 



Of all red bream, the two most famous are the snapper of Australia 

 and the merjan (i.e., coral fish) of the Sea of Marmora. The latter is pro- 

 bably found throughout the Mediterranean, but I know it personally only 

 off Pendik. The snapper (which Australians usually pronounce schnapper) 

 is caught from steamers which, with steam shut off, are allowed to drift 

 broadside over sunken reefs in moderately deep water. There used to be 

 famous snapper grounds off Sydney Harbour, both north and south, and 

 it is usual for parties of eight or ten to charter a tug, leaving the Circular 

 Quay at midnight so as to fish at daybreak. The best of the fishing is during 

 the Australian winter, that is to say from April until September, but the 

 fishing is no longer what it was twenty years ago. The bait consists of 

 mackerel, squid and yellowtail. These yellowtail are not the big game 

 fish of Gatalina, referred to in another chapter, but little mackerel -shaped 

 fellows of a pound or two. Grey mullet is also a capital all-round bait. 

 It is, in fact, too attractive, particularly to sharks, and is therefore used 

 as little as possible, for the sharks of Australian seas are not the mild 



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