GREA T BRIT A IN. 93 



gloomy, so much the better. The plan adopted is termed 

 whiffing, railing, trailing, or plummeting. Hand-lining 

 may be carried on at any time during the day, as they 

 appear to feed at all hours, but best in the morning and 

 evening. The line is short but heavily weighted to a cone- 

 shaped leaden plummet ; a small line, termed the snood 

 or snoozing, is attached to near the end of the leaded line 

 on one side and terminates in the hook at the other ; the 

 bait or lask is wedge-shaped, the thick end being on the 

 hook, while it should take on an undulating motion to 

 resemble a fish. 



Baits. When whiffing or hand-lining for these fishes, 

 natural baits may be employed, as a slip from the side of 

 another mackerel's tail, termed a lask, a cuttle-fish, a thin 

 rind of pork, or mud-worms. But besides the foregoing, 

 any glistening substance will attract them, as a pearl 

 button, or Hearder's silver spinner, which is an imitation 

 fish fastened on to a silvered plate of copper, and mounted 

 so as to spin freely on a piece of wire. A slip of white 

 kid or a piece of red cloth have likewise been used with 

 good effect ; or, stranger still, Ball found about two inches 

 of the stem of a tobacco pipe, put on the line down to the 

 hook, a novel and most successful bait. Fishermen also 

 believe they can entice mackerel from the bottom by 

 various Beatable substances, used when the boat is at anchor, 

 as salted pilchards which, having become rancid, are beaten 

 to a pulp and hung over the side of the boat in a basket 

 from which little bits drop. 



French mackerel vessels are of a larger capacity than 

 those employed by British fishermen, carry a greater 

 number of hands, and are frequently aided by steam power. 

 The French seek the large shoals of spawning fish, and it 

 is said not to be uncommon for one vessel to obtain 



