IX. THE "COARSE FISH" OF THE SEA 



By F. G. AFLALO 



HITHERTO we have been concerned with a number of 

 sea -fish which are angled for, each by its own peculiar 

 methods, with tackle and bait specially adapted to its 

 tastes and manner of feeding. On the whole, it must be 

 confessed, a fish which, like the bass or grey mullet, 

 demands close study of its haunts and habits, makes the 

 strongest appeal to the sportsman who takes his fishing seriously, since 

 he knows that, though luck must always play its part in failure or success, 

 the best catch usually goes to him who best plays the game. On the other 

 hand, beginners, with others who take their sport unscientifically as an 

 excuse to be on the water, have an affection for those ground -feeding 

 fish, such as cod, whiting, whiting -pout, sundry flatfish, from the powerful 

 halibut to the frequent dab, gurnards, dory and garfish, which may, 

 collectively, be considered under the above title. The herrings, represented 

 in warmer seas by the tarpon, a full account of which is given elsewhere 

 in these pages, afford no sport in European waters, unless, indeed, we 

 include the method of " jigging " for them with a mirror in Calais har- 

 bour. The larger sharks and rays, coarser than any species named in this 

 chapter, are also referred to separately, and have to be caught with special 

 tackle adapted to their size and strength. 



The characteristic habit which the foregoing miscellany may be said 

 to have in common is that of living, or at any rate feeding, near the bottom 

 of the sea. They have not, therefore, to be sought, like bass or pollack, 

 near the surface and over a considerable area of water. True, the garfish 

 often feeds, in company with mackerel, at the top of the water, and the 

 dory, as well as some of the flatfish, has been known to follow a bait drawn 

 slowly to the surface; but, on the whole, these are all ground-fishes. 

 Individually, no doubt, they furnish less sport than a bass or grey mullet; 

 but they are easy to catch and good to eat, which commends them to all 

 who are able to appreciate a fish on a plate as well as on a rod. 



All that is necessary, given the proper tackle and bait, is to anchor a 



boat over the right spot and to keep the baited hooks near the bottom. 



Whiting-pout, alone of the number, live habitually amid the rocks, and 



as, moreover, they keep to deep clefts, or gullies, the boat must be placed 



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