126 THE MACKEREL. 



winds. With boats under 17 feet over all, leads of two, one, 

 and half a pound are sufficiently heavy. Those of half a pound 

 are weighty enough for a rowing-boat in a calm, but for quick 

 pulling, one pound. 



The best bait is a slice of the tail of the fish ; and to cut it, 

 take a Mackerel by the tail, and turning it on its right side, 

 with the head between your knees, enter the knife on its left 

 side 2\ inches above the tail, and cut down nearly to where the 

 tail-fin joins the tail, then withdraw the knife, and passing it 

 lightly across, take up the bait, and lay it on a piece of cork 

 with the bright side downwards ; now pass the hook through the 

 smaller end, and all is complete (fig. 40). 



Be careful not to cut below the red flesh, which is the first 

 layer under the skin, or the bait will be too thick to fillip or 

 flip in the water, upon which much of its attractiveness depends; 

 the fish admits of the bait being cut thinner from the left than 



FIG. 40. Baited Hook for Mackerel-railing. 



from the right side, which is therefore preferred. This bait is 

 termed a last, lask, float, or fion. 



Having met with, or as it is called struck, the fish, you 

 will probably take many without any check, but immediately 

 you lose them, wear the boat round on her heel and run 

 back over the same course, when you will probably strike 

 them again. 



Five or six hundred Mackerel, or even more, are fre- 

 quently taken in a day by this method of fishing, under the 

 favouring circumstances of a cloudy sky and a fresK breeze ; 

 but under oars a hundred fish is much above the average. 



In the early part of the season, when the fish are shy, a 

 dead Sand-Eel is used to bait the hook with much success. 

 (See fig. 25, Freshwater Eel bait, dead, p. 82, for baiting the 

 hook with it.) 



