METHODS OF FISHING. 9 



running, a method much in vogue at Plymouth, in which case 

 one light lead only is used. Fishing in motion includes reeling 

 or railing, and whiffing, both which signify the act of towing 

 lines after the boat ; the former when under sail, the latter when 

 sculling or pulling slowly. Whiffing is in some parts also applied 

 in the same sense as reeling or railing, but it would be better to 

 confine it to fishing in motion, by rowing or sculling, to avoid 

 confusion of terms. Reeling or railing may be defined to con- 

 sist in towing a lead, of a pound weight and over, after a sailing- 

 boat 



We may also include under hand-line fishing, the method 

 of throwing out a leger-line with a weight at the end from the 

 shore, as from piers, quays, shelving beaches and steep rocks ; 

 together with angling with a long strong rod from any of these 

 positions or from a boat. The use of trots, bulters, long-lines, 

 or spillers, which are in fact synonymous terms, is another kind 

 of ground-fishing in which the lines are left to themselves for 

 a greater or less time, according to circumstances, sometimes 

 being shot over night and hauled next morning, the manage- 

 ment of which is so different from other lines that we may 

 very well class it by itself. The distinguishing characteristic 

 of this kind of line is that it consists of a long line or back with 

 snoods and hooks at intervals, the whole affair being sunk and 

 moored by stones or anchors. In another part of this work 

 descriptions and illustrations are given. There yet remains 

 net-fishing, and the use of spears and harpoons ; of the former 

 I have made mention under the heading of 'Remarks on 

 Nets,' and of the latter, under the ' Flounder' (pp. 121, 122), and 

 the ' Grains ' (p. 222). The usual fish taken with ground-lines 

 are Pout, Whiting, Haddock, Cod, Ling, Bream, Dabs, 

 Flounders, Plaice, Gurnards, Eels, and Congers ; in drift-line 

 fishing, Pollack, Sea-Bream, Mackerel, Bass, and Gar-fish or 

 Long-Noses ; in reeling and whiffing, the same as in drift-line 

 fishing, the Sea-Bream, however, only exceptionally. 



In leger-fishing or throwing out a line from the shore, 

 Bass, Congers, Pout, Pollack, and Wrasse, with Eels and 

 Flounders from certain quays and piers, and exceptionally Red 

 Mullet. In angling with rod and line, the same as with the 



