60 CATCHING THE WILY SEA-TROUT 



their station near the mouth of a narrow estuary. These 

 fish, in their hundreds, would cruise up and down in a 

 length of water not exceeding a furlong. Such close 

 company did they keep that they could, in racing parlance, 

 be accused of bumping and boring. They could be divided 

 roughly into two classes the school variety which kept 

 to the middle course, and the bigger fish, of from two to 

 three pounds in weight, which manoeuvred between their 

 younger kind and the banks. 



Anglers in those far-off days were wont to try their 

 skill, but the fish were not very responsive, and the 

 capture in large quantities of these esteemed grey mullet 

 was left to the " snatchers." The gear of these men was 

 formed of a long length of strong cord to which was 

 lashed at right-angles a stout piece of wood. From this 

 wooden crosspiece were suspended many wires of different 

 lengths, each carrying a big fish-hook. 



Taking one end of the cord with him, one man would 

 cross the estuary to the far bank by means of a bridge, 

 leaving the other end of the cord with his confederate 

 on the near bank. When the two accomplices were ready 

 they would take turns in pulling the wooden contrivance 

 across the water, and each haul was accounted to be 

 poor if only one fish was foul-hooked. 



Man's ingenuity for catching fish by fair means or 

 foul seems to be unlimited, but I most assuredly do not 

 advocate " snatching/' either by a specially-constructed 

 device or by a metal minnow and its deadly trebles. 



When the river is deep, in consequence of a spate, 

 sea-trout run quickly, but a noteworthy feature about 

 these fish is that when they are travelling hard through 

 fast-flowing dirty water they will take a spinning metal 

 minnow. A salmon, however, cannot be bothered in 

 such circumstances. 



In endeavouring to place before you a true picture of 



