SEA FISHING 



NORTHERN WATERS. The fiords of Norway afford sport with haddock, 

 skate, halibut, and whiting, herring being the invariable bait; but few 

 anglers go to Scandinavia with any thought but for trout and salmon, 

 and the salt water fishing is not very artistic work. The cold, shallow, 

 brackish water of the Baltic, which I fished for several months many 

 years ago, is also no ideal fishing ground, so far, at any rate, as the amateur 

 is concerned. Those, however, who are satisfied with catching large river 

 bream and perch in company with plaice and other marine forms, an 

 experience which, if nothing else, should be a novelty, will get all the sport 

 they want by using float tackle off any of the piers, like that at Warnemilnde, 

 that guard the estuary of a river. The bait is either garden worms or 

 herring. Visitors must bear in mind that, within the rivers themselves, the 

 fishing rights belong exclusively to the local fishermen, and they guard 

 their monopoly very jealously. 



THE MEDITERRANEAN. This beautiful and historic sea is not very 

 kind to the angler. In other days, it must have been a wonderful hunting 

 ground for the fishermen of many nations living on its shores, but cen- 

 turies of over -netting and dynamite have done their work, and near the 

 land, at any rate, fish are increasingly scarce, the grey mullet alone main- 

 taining its numbers and providing sport for the rod from Marseilles 

 to Smyrna. At Tangier, which lies on the threshold of the landlocked sea, 

 I have caught a variety of fish from boats anchored in the bay or opposite 

 Gape Spartel, and with both Moorish and Spanish fishermen. The latter 

 are the more skilful, but are also more expensive and lazier than their 

 neighbours. It was in Tangier Bay that, baiting with sand -worms and 

 using fine tackle, I caught the only two red mullet that ever fell to my rod. 

 Sport at Gibraltar is not nowadays of the first order, though occasionally 

 good catches of whiting and other ground fish are made off the town. 

 Along the Riviera, both French and Italian, the fishing is, owing to the 

 causes aforementioned, indifferent. A few bass may be caught at Cannes 

 during the winter months by railing at night with the mud -prawn known 

 locally as machotte for bait. The boat must be rowed slowly, and the fish 

 occasionally run to ten pounds, but are not plentiful. In summer, when 

 the sardines come inshore, there is no better bait for bass than one of 

 these little fish, and the fishing may then be done during the day. Other 

 favourite baits along this coast, used for the most part with long rods 

 from the rocks, are ragworms {esques) and small cuttlefish (supions). 

 The muraena is plentiful, and in addition to its sharp teeth and vicious 



FFF 401 



