264 THE COMMERCIAL SEA FISHES OF 



the bays are employed occasionally up to the end of 

 February. Even so late as the middle of March, 1882, 

 small boats were still capturing them with drift-nets off 

 Plymouth, but the moored-nets had been laid up until the 

 next season. 



Along the Cornish coast there is no special fishery for 

 herrings ; some stragglers are taken in the mackerel-nets, 

 and subsequently in the drift-nets employed fishing for the 

 early shoals of pilchards, in July and August, when they 

 are chiefly found in deep water, sometimes going east, 

 sometimes west, in small shoals. Boats from Mount's Bay, 

 Cornwall, and St. Ives leave for the Irish shores about the 

 first week in June, and rendezvous at Howth, to the north 

 of Dublin Bay, where the best fishing is about the last week 

 in June or the first week in July ; subsequently it generally 

 decreases, and the boats go north. 



Herring fishing may frequently have to be suspended or 

 even entirely given up, due to stormy weather preventing 

 fishermen from venturing out to sea. In 1880 the Scotch 

 fishermen had a most successful year, but it was remarkable 

 that " the greatest amount of success attended the efforts 

 of the drift-net boats. The trawl-net boats were continually 

 coming in clean, and, with rare exceptions, were very poorly 

 fished until the recent cold, frosty weather set in, when 

 some splendid takes were secured, yielding to each crew for 

 one night's fishing from ;ioo to 200. Such a marked 

 difference between the two modes of fishing has never been 

 observed before, and as yet no real cause has been assigned 

 for it." 



The "dandy-line" is used for herring fishing at Peter- 

 head during April, May, and June. A piece of lead about 

 ii Ib. in weight is attached to a line, which carries at short 

 intervals transverse pieces of whalebone or cane having 



