A DAY WITH THE MACKEREL. 129 



form, and only \ of an inch in thickness. Hook on the squid 

 first, the large end uppermost, and then the piece of pilchard, 

 placing the silver side outermost. Sound the bottom, and raise 

 the lead sufficiently to keep the bait just off the ground. Small 

 mussels are quite as killing as pilchard for this method of fish- 

 ing, but this is little known. Living Sand-Eels are also excel- 

 lent bait. In a tide-way the light drift-lines with pipe leads 

 answer with any of the above-named baits. It is best by 

 jerking the line to keep the bait in constant motion, which is 

 termed ' bobbing.' For want of a Squid or Cuttle, use a slip of 

 parchment. 



A DAY WITH THE MACKEREL. 



* There is not on sea or river (always excepting Salmon- 

 fishing) any sport comparable to this delightful amusement. 

 He who has experienced the glowing sensations of sailing on 

 the Western Ocean, a bright autumnal sky above, a deep green 

 lucid swell around, a steady breeze, and as much of it as the 

 hooker can stand up to, will estimate the exquisite enjoyment 

 our morning's Mackerel-fishing afforded.' Thus far the author 

 of ' Wild Sports of the West.' 



It was on a fine morning in the month of July that I deter- 

 mined on a day's hook and line Mackerel-fishing, or, as it is not 

 unfrequently termed, reeling or trailing. The weather was fine, 

 yet cloudy, whilst a pleasant breeze from the east, increasing as 

 the sun approached the meridian, rippled the previously mirror- 

 like surface of the summer sea. 



The easterly wind has this frequent peculiarity, that it in- 

 creases until about two o'clock in the day, or a little later, and 

 sinks to rest with the declining sun. The locality is an open beach 

 of pebbly shingle, terminated at its eastern extremity by a cliff, 

 immediately under which there falls into the sea a small river, 

 whose entrance is so barred with shingle that it is closed to 

 even the smallest boat, ay, even to a Salmon, for nine hours 

 out of twelve. Anything like a boat of tonnage cannot of 

 course, under such circumstances, be made use of, as the 

 harbour being so frequently inaccessible from the sea, and the 

 sea from the harbour, the craft, although afloat in ten feet at 



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