84 WHIFFING. 



when drawn through the water, whilst the Lug- Worm is a red 

 bait of the same kind. Brass swivels are attached to the heads 

 of each, to provide for the spinning action. The spinning 

 Sand-Eel and Lugs are taken by both Pollack and Bass, the 

 Grey Eel especially in the dusk, as well as by daylight. With 

 the Red Eel or Lug a friend took off Hartland Point over sixty 

 Bass 3 to 9 Ibs. weight on one visit. Having lived on such a 

 variety of coasts, including rocky, sandy, and shingly shores, 

 some abounding in, and others having little or no natural bait, 

 but on many of which much fish could be taken, I have had 

 to try all manner of things, and have given a considerable 

 variety to choose from in the present article. The best natural 

 baits for whining are without doubt living Sand-Eels and Rag 

 or Mud-Worms ; the living Sand-Eel to be placed on the hook 

 as in the tideway, and the dead as I have here shown in the 

 cut of the Freshwater Eel (fig. 25) ; the Rag- Worm, when 

 two are used, as at fig. 21, p. 68, and if the fish are shy or 

 bait runs short as at fig. 31, p. 85, to do which enter the 



FIG. 30. Tail part of an Eel (Whiffing bait). 



hook about \ of an inch below the head, and bring out the 

 point i^ inch down the worm, and stick the smaller hook 

 through the head. 



Lampreys and Freshwater Eels are to be placed on the 

 hook in the same manner, but the point of the large hook 

 should be brought out lower down, as shown in figs. 25 and 26, 

 p. 82. The blind Lamprey or Pride may be baited in the 

 same way, and the three last-named baits should be always 

 killed prior to placing them on the hook. In Cornwall the 

 blind Lamprey or Pride is very much used as a whiffing bait 

 for Pollack, and in baiting it, the point of the hook is brought 

 out through the back, instead of through the belly, and only 

 sufficiently far down to allow of the mouth covering the flattened 

 top of the hook. The mouth is then tied round with thread 



