FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 



reach of the landing net; a problem complicated by the fact that it has a 

 tender mouth, likely to give way under sudden strain. 



I suppose ninety-nine mullet out of every hundred taken on the rod 

 are angled for in harbours or backwaters, though one of the best spots 

 for this fish on the whole of the English coast is in open water, under the 

 Margate Jetty. As a rule, however, it is in sheltered corners that the 

 fisherman seeks his mullet. The harbour works at the mouth of the river 

 Arun are a compromise between the two, for, with the wind offshore, 

 the fish are taken in moderately disturbed water. The tackle used here, 

 at Littlehampton, is a rod and paternoster, and the bait is ragworm, 

 procured from Ford, a little way up the river. The mullet come into the 

 estuary some time in May and remain until the early part of October. 

 They are fished for on the rising tide, at daybreak and in the neap tides, 

 either from the beacon itself or from a small boat moored close to it. 

 A few are also caught from the quays, and there is, or was, a favourite 

 spot for mullet at the upper ferry. 



Another good place for mullet fishing is the Passage Bridge, at Wey- 

 mouth, and the bait favoured locally is boiled macaroni, a little of which is 

 from time to time thrown on the water to bring the fish round the hook. 



The method of fishing at Margate deserves somewhat more detailed 

 description, and is of peculiar interest. For many years large mullet 

 were known to visit the jetty each summer, attracted, no doubt, by the 

 regular supplies of potato skins, green peas, and other waste from the 

 restaurant above. Though their natural food consists of shrimps and 

 worms (found, at Margate, in the soft '' ross " alongshore), mullet need 

 little encouragement to turn scavengers, and such is their habit here. 

 A few were from time to time caught in the harbour with rod and line; 

 but, as this runs dry at low tide, fishing operations were necessarily 

 restricted. Then a number of resident anglers took to the jetty, where 

 there was enough water at all tides, and mullet were caught in increasing 

 numbers from the steps, though nnany were lost by being lifted so high 

 out of the water. It remained for Mr T. W. Gomm, who had had long 

 experience of Thames methods, to introduce a style of fishing hitherto 

 regarded as suited to roach and bream rather than to sea fish. He pro- 

 ceeded, in fact, to catch these Margate mullet from a boat moored across 

 the tide, just as a punt would be moored across the river, and used similar 

 tackle: a ten-feet rod of hollow cane, with large upright rings; a fine silk 

 line dressed with boiled vaseline; a large Nottingham reel; a slider-float; 

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