3io APPARATUS FOR FISHING. 



the latter a northern species of the cod family intermediate 

 in shape between the ling and the cod, but very much 

 smaller than either of them. The boats used by the 

 Shetlanders are the famous Norway skiffs, in almost every 

 respect the same as whale-boats ; they are about twenty- 

 eight feet over all, and eight feet beam, and, wonderfully 

 handled as they are by their crew of six men, they face a 

 good deal of bad weather and go long distances from land. 

 They are called "haaf" or deep-sea boats. 



Hand-line fishing is carried on almost everywhere around 

 our coasts, and with every variety of tackle, according to 

 the kind of fish worked for. Cod-fishing by hand-line in 

 the North Sea commences in July and is carried on till 

 near the end of October, when the fishermen prepare for 

 the winter fishery by long-line already noticed. The same 

 smacks are used for both, but hand-lining is worked only a 

 few miles from the coast, as the cod come inshore after the 

 herrings, which at that time are making towards the land. 

 The gear employed is a stout line 45 fathoms in length, 

 fastened to a long leaden sinker of from Sj to 7 pounds 

 weight, with a strong iron wire called the " sprawl-wire " 

 fixed in it near the top at right angles to the body of the 

 lead and slightly curved downwards at the ends ; to each 

 of these a snood of smaller line six feet long is fastened, 

 and supports a large cod-hook twice the size of those used 

 on the long-line, as with these hand-lines nothing but cod 

 is generally taken, whereas on the others haddock and 

 other smaller fish are caught, and themselves often serve as 

 living bait to attract the cod. The hook on these large 

 hand-lines is often fastened to the snood by means of a 

 bunch of open strands of soft twine about three inches long, 

 so that the fish cannot bite through the line, the teeth 

 passing between the strands without injuring them. Whilst 



