SEA FISHING 

 from the hook, and the tackle is wound on a cork. Summer is the season 

 for this fishing, though I saw many good black bream (locally called 

 *• brim ") taken in the winter months of that upside-down land. An im- 

 portant feature of the proceedings, which are conducted in solemn silence, 

 is the offensive groundbait known as ** berley," which, curiously enough, 

 is almost identical in composition with that used by the Greek fishermen 

 of Asia Minor when fishing for sargos — ^black bream closely resembling 

 those of Australia. It is possible, indeed, that the compound was taken 

 to the South Seas by some Levantine emigrant from the Eastern Mediter- 

 ranean. As brewed in Australia, berley for black bream includes con- 

 demned tinned salmon, sour herrings, and the cheapest of cheese. (The 

 cheapest cheese obtainable in Australia is something to be handled with 

 respect, yet I have seen Australian enthusiasts dip their hands in the 

 berley as if it were a potpourri of rose leaves). Sufficient bran is incor- 

 porated with these disgusting ingredients to give the whole the firmness 

 of a cold pudding, and the smell of the mess is simply indescribable. 

 It may be used in either of two ways. A ball of it may be pinched over 

 the lead, or it may be dropped quietly in the water close to the line. Every 

 care is taken not to disturb the water, as black bream are easily alarmed. 

 The boat is paddled very gently to some promising spot near the rocks, 

 and is so moored that it may lie quiet at the edge of the long grass in 

 which the bream lie during the heat of the day. When the baited hook has 

 sunk to the bottom, all slack line is taken in, and the fisherman grasps 

 the line between his finger and thumb, which he is even said to rub with 

 pumice stone so as to make them more sensitive, as the largest bream 

 bite most gently. He strikes at the slightest bite, and the exact moment 

 at which to strike has to be learnt. Personally I should have preferred 

 the help of a very small float, but I was assured that so unusual an 

 apparition would have scared all the bream in the neighbourhood. I 

 formed my own opinion as to the likelihood of such a result; but I could 

 not do anything calculated to annoy those who had taken the trouble to 

 introduce me to the mysteries of their art. A fish that is often caught 

 while fishing for black bream is the flathead, an ugly brute, with a head 

 not unlike the gurnard's, but a good fighter on such light tackle and very 

 fair eating. 



The habit of black bream in frequenting quays and breakwaters has 

 already been referred to, and these give excellent sport on a light rod 

 in many parts of the world. To this group belongs the sheepshead, of 



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