102 ANGLING. 



THE MACKEREL.* 



IN conformity with a preceding intimation, we 

 shall devote an occasional paragraph to such of the 

 sea fishes, in their order, as afford the angler any 

 recreation. Of these is that valuable table species 

 just named. It may be captured, time and place 

 suiting, with a strong rod, and coarse tenacious 

 line, baited with almost anything to which it is 

 possible to give a life-like motion, a sea gulFs 

 feather, a strip of leather, a piece of fish, of flesh, 

 or, as we once had occasion to try, an inch or 

 two of scarlet ribbon. A favourite and successful 

 bait is that called a lask, which consists merely of 

 a long slice cut from one mackerel and swallowed 

 by another, upon the principle, probably, that " it 

 is not lost which a friend gets." This lure is cut 

 thickest towards the hook, and tapers backwards, 

 that it may vibrate vivaciously when drawn through 

 the water. The angler must be in a sailing boat, 

 and the boat under the influence of a fresh breeze. 

 " The line," says Mr. Couch, is short, but is 

 weighed down by a heavy plummet ; and in this 

 manner, when these fish abound, two men will 

 take from 500 to 1000 in a day. It is singular 

 that the greatest number of mackerel are caught 

 when the boat moves most rapidly, and that even 

 then the hook is commonly gorged. It seems that 

 the mackerel takes its food by striking across the 

 course of what it supposes to be its flying prey. 



* Scomber scombrus, Cuv. and Val. 



