A DAY'S DRIFT-LINE FISHING OFF GUERNSEY. 77 



length on the lines was requisite ; I therefore prepared to * rig a 

 soldier.' A soldier-line is one of two-stranded hemp-twine, 

 having for a sinker a two-pound Mackerel plummet, and is 

 made fast to a strong flexible stick about two feet long, which 

 is stuck into one of the thowl-pin holes in the midship part of 

 the boat, that is to say, in front of the drift lines. With this 

 line I chiefly fished during the strength of the tide, substitut- 

 ing it for one of the lighter ones, with fair success ; but when 

 it slackened I reeled it up and put out the drift line as 

 before. 



But what is this on my line which hauls as dead as if I had 

 hooked a weed ? I hope it's a Dory ! 



This it turned out to be, and I desired my friend to get 

 ready the hand-net, for it often happens that Dories are taken 

 without being hooked at all, but by swallowing a small fish 

 which has previously taken the bait. It is therefore always 

 well to be prepared, and nothing is better than a little hand- 

 net, in which our Dory was dipped up, testifying his disappro- 

 bation of his entrance into a foreign element by two grunts as 

 he was placed in the basket. 



' I think we had better shorten up,' I observed, ' as the 

 stream of tide is fast decreasing, or we shall be hooking up in 

 the long ore weed.' On trying my line, however, I found that 

 the hook was already fast in the uneven bottom. I tried jerk- 

 ing and hauling by turns, but it was of no avail, and putting on 

 a steady strain, I got free, but with the loss of the two lengths 

 of double gut, which form the hook links. Two or three 

 minutes, however, served to repair damages, and I was soon 

 at work again. 



' Suppose we put out a light line,' my friend observed ; ' I 

 think we may get a Gar-fish or two on the turning round of the 

 tide.' 



I accordingly baited a line, without any lead on it, and 

 paid out about ten fathoms. Here I made fast a loose thowl- 

 pin, and then secured the end to the stern ring-bolt, leaving 

 about four or five fathoms of slack line. This line had not 

 been out long before the thowl-pin went overboard with a 

 violent surge, and my friend found the bait had been seized 



