162 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OF 



attached to the hook, and which, when drawn through the 

 water, represents a wriggling sand-eel. Higher up, on two 

 yards of salmon-gut, two or three smaller grubs may be 

 placed without the eel, and attached like bob-flies on a 

 casting-line. At the head of the gut should be a small 

 swivel, then four or five yards of snooding attached to a 

 coarser hand-line, which is wound round the usual square 

 frame as a reel. At the end of the hand-line, or at its 

 junction with the snooding, is strung a small leaden weight 

 of two or three ounces, so that, while being dragged through 

 the water, the lead may be near but not on the bottom, 

 while the snooding and gut cast with the bait, being lighter, 

 follow at a few feet distance above the rocks and weeds 

 where the pollack like to frequent. The large summer 

 pollack often refuse the " Belgian grub," and have to be 

 tempted by live sand-eels or artificial white-flies. Cockles 

 have been praised as a bait for ground fishing. On the 

 Galway coast small fresh-water eels are said to be ingeni- 

 ously fastened on to the hooks and used as a bait for this 

 fish. 



Breeding. It spawns about the end or early part of the 

 year, and the young are first seen at Mevagissey in April, 

 about one inch long. 



As food. In the highest perfection in the autumn, 

 especially those from about the end of Cornwall or off the 

 Scilly Isles ; it is superior to the coal-fish. 



It is not seen much in the London market, but appears 

 to be eaten on the coast where taken. 



Mr. Dunn observes that porpoises will pursue both the 

 young and full-grown pollack, and not long since the crew 

 of a Mevagissey fishing-boat saw a school of the former 

 attack one of the latter. After a short time full thirty 

 large pollack were left for dead floating on the sea ; they 

 tacked their boat and picked up many of them. 



