68 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 



but even he does not seem to have scored any marked success 

 with them, and the blanks evidently have outnumbered the 

 prizes in the same proportion as in most lotteries. Mr. 

 Jardine, on the other hand, describes bass of from 8 lb. to 

 lo lb. as "not by any means uncommon captures," and notes 

 that the largest he ever caught was taken by spinning bait 

 off Brixham, in Devon, and weighed 131 lb.* 



He cites Frank Buckland as recording one of 11 lb. from 

 Heme Bay, and Yarrell one of 28 lb. Some notable captures 

 have been reported while these chapters were being prepared 

 for the press. In September, 1902, a large number of bass 

 were observed in the deep reaches of the Tamar, whence they 

 dropped down with the tide to the junction of that river with 

 the Tavy. Numbers of anglers plied these fish with every 

 kind of bait, but in vain. Sam Brown, however, a Saltash 

 fisherman, succeeded in taking a huge fellow in a stop net, 

 weighing 22 lb. 2 oz. On November 2nd of the same year 

 a bass of 1 5^ lb. was found stranded on the rocks at 

 Ramsgate. 



Bass are sometimes taken by the rod off piers, such as that 

 at Littlehampton and Exmouth, which are favourably placed 

 in the estuaries of rivers frequented by these fish, the tackle 

 usually most successful being a short nine-foot rod, a Notting- 

 ham reel with a hundred yards of the fine, strong silk line 

 used in tarpon fishing, a trace of treble twisted salmon gut, 

 a pike-float, and a very large hook baited liberally with soft 

 green crab. For fishing at sea a longer rod is recommended, 

 and the favourite bait is a pilchard, or four sand-eels arranged 

 so as to form a group on two large hooks on separate strands. 

 Bass are also taken by spinning, and even by casting a large 

 fly resplendent with much tinsel. But, as I have said, I have 

 no personal acquaintance with this fish, and I shall do the 

 reader the best service in my power by quoting from the 



* Pike and Perch, by Alfred Jardine. The Anglers' Library. London : 

 Lawrence & BuUen, 1898. 



