FISH TO BE TAKEN. 59 



flounder. It is browu in colour, the back 

 covered with small scales ; no spots like the 

 plaice, nor prickles like the turbot. In catching 

 this fish, the tackle employed should be line 3 ; 

 snouding, 2 ; hooks, 3 or 4; lead, 3. The bait is 

 mussels, cockles, sand-eels, or herrings cut in 

 pieces. The brill is a voracious fish, and bites 

 readily. During the summer months it is 

 usually taken with hooks and lines ; nets are, 

 however, sometimes employed. 



PLAICE AND FLOUNDERS. 



These fish may be ta,ken in considerable 

 quantities with rod and line. Mud-worms or 

 small pieces of fish make excellent bait. Mr. 

 Lord says : " Another plan, by which I have 

 taken great numbers both at home and abroad, 

 is to mount a line of stout prepared water-cord 

 with eight or ten hooks tied on bits of fine line, 

 gut, or twisted horse-hair, each about a foot 

 long, and a split duck-shot on each, mounted 

 two feet and a half apart, or a small- size 

 sinker or marker ball, with a hole through it at 

 the end ; hooks and bait as usual. Secure the 

 shore end of the line, which should be about 

 five-and-twenty yards long, to a sharp wooden 

 peg thrust into the ground, or, if too hard to 

 receive the peg, a heavy stone may be used to 

 fasten the line to. Make use of a long, 

 naturally-grown stick, forked at the end, or a 

 portion of an old fishing-rod, with a forked 

 stick fitted to it to throw out and take up the 

 line with. Three or four of these lines, as 



