INTR OD UCTION. g 



The intention of the author is that this work should be found 

 a truthful description of Sea-fishing, and a vade mecum for re- 

 ference and instruction, both for the British and other seas ; 

 for, rely on it, any man who is practically acquainted with the 

 varieties of sea-fishing round our own coasts will be able to take 

 fish on the coasts of all the world. This is not a mere assertion 

 of the author, but the result of the experience of British fisher- 

 men who have found their knowledge available from Newfound- 

 land to the Antipodes ; and in the latter region particularly on 

 the coasts of Australia and New Zealand, where large quantities 

 of fish have been taken by the same methods. 



A careful inspection of the gear in the Great International 

 Exhibition of Fisheries held in London in 1883 has quite con- 

 firmed the author's views as here stated. 



Throughout this work the author has endeavoured to keep 

 before him the necessity of describing and depicting the 

 different kinds of gear and baited hooks, with which, above all 

 things, the sea-fisherman ought to be familiar. Another matter 

 to which particular attention must be paid is the habitat of the 

 fish, as well as that of the various worms, shell-fish, &c. used 

 as bait, which will be of great service in discovering their haunts 

 at any particular locality. By aid of a chart he should endea- 

 vour to ascertain the nature of the bottom, positions of rocks 

 &c. which practice has been specially recommended in an article 

 devoted to the subject. In the following article on ' Marks 

 and how to take them,' accompanied by an illustrative chart, 

 plain directions for fixing the positions of fishing-grounds in 

 order to find them on a future occasion have been laid before 

 the reader. Proficiency in any art cannot be attained without 

 considerable attention and practice, to which Sea-fishing is 

 certainly no exception ; and when to this is added the necessity 

 of an acquaintance with the management of a boat, if one really 

 wishes to go thoroughly into the subject, the reader will perceive 

 he has need to exercise no small amount of forethought, as well 

 as bring into play a not inconsiderable amount of personal 

 activity, if he would' be anything more than a stern-sheet fisher- 

 man, an animal guiltless of letting go, or getting up an anchor, 

 spritting a sail, bowsing on a tackle- fall, et hoc genus omne> 



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