io8 A DATS GROUND-FISHING. 



from one of the slippery individuals, probably the most crafty of 

 any which swim or crawl at the bottom of the briny. ' But,' 

 as he observed in answer to the question, ' he don't bite home, 

 sir,' that is to say, he did not take the hook ; for to feel a 

 Conger is one thing, whilst to catch him often quite another 

 affair. The fish in question had robbed him of no less than 

 six Pilchards in succession, and had yet managed to escape the 

 hook, showing clearly that he was a fishy incarnation of crafti- 

 ness, requiring something even more appetissant as a bait than 

 that oily member of the family Clupeidae, the Pilchard, freshly 

 caught that very morning as these fish were, and luscious 

 enough apparently to satisfy the tastes of either Conger or 

 Cornishmen. 



It is considered that scarcely a more enticing bait can be 

 put into the water for a Conger than a Pilchard : but it has 

 one great drawback namely, if the fish do not feed heartily, 

 but are in a picking humour, they easily rob the hook ; con- 

 sequently, Mackerel is preferred when attainable, as it possesses 

 a tough skin compared with that of the Pilchard, which is 

 more tender than any other fish of the same size. We had 

 no Mackerel, however, on board, although we towed a couple 

 of lines on our way out, in hopes of taking one or two, which 

 would have been very useful to us on the present occasion, for 

 the appetite of the fish having been whetted by the Pilchards, 

 he would have been pretty certain to gorge a piece of Mackerel, 

 * Pilchards being a gathering bait and Mackerel a killing bait ' 

 an old and very truthful adage of the Cornish fishermen. As 

 his Congership, however, evidently required ' cream upon Pil- 

 chards ' as something out of the common, and usually con- 

 sidered unnecessarily rich, is termed in the west we found an 

 efficient substitute in a freshly-caught fish, which, placed on 

 the hook in a particular manner, induced the Conger to ' bite 

 home.' Selecting a * Gilligant ' and scraping off the scales, the 

 fisherman entered his knife at the tail, and cut up towards the 

 head to within an inch of it ; then, turning the fish over, he 

 served the other side in the same manner, and removed the 

 backbone ; and entering the point of the hook down the 

 throat, he brought it out below the gills at the end of the 



