146 DRIFT-LINE FISHING FOR BASS 



prostrates many people that they dread even to get into a boat. 

 It can be carried on in sheltered positions, where, under the 

 ordinary conditions of wind and water, the violent undulations 

 of the sea rarely enter, to the great satisfaction of amateurs of 

 aquatics of either sex. As many sea-side visitors may not 

 know in what a bar-harbour consists, a short description of its 

 leading characteristics will not be amiss, as it may help many 

 to obtain sport which they may not be aware can be developed 

 in such localities. In brief, then, a bar-harbour is a harbour 

 where, owing to the formation of the shore, the opposing 

 currents from the river and sea cause an accumulation of sand 

 or shingle across the entrance, greatly reducing the depth of 

 water and causing the sea to break heavily when the wind is on 

 shore. Inside the bar the depth of water generally increases 

 rapidly. 



The banks of sand which are found, either on both or one 

 side only of the channel outside the throat of the entrance, are 

 termed ' poles,' and are often fruitful of quantities of Sand-Eels, 

 which bury themselves in these banks on the receding tide. 

 Here they may be obtained by the well-known method of 

 scraping. A bar-harbour has generally on one side of its 

 entrance a nearly straight shore, with a point of sand and 

 shingle running towards it at a right angle, past which the tide 

 runs with great strength, and scours out the sand and gravel to 

 a considerable depth by the force of the ebb stream. Just 

 inside the entrance th'ere is usually a deep pool, generally the 

 deepest water of the harbour, which is caused by the strength 

 of the current impinging on the straight beach during the ebb, 

 whence it is reflected in a rapid eddy during spring tides. At 

 the last quarter of the ebb fish accumulate in this pool, which 

 gradually becomes tranquil as the current slackens, and at the 

 last hour of the ebb they may be fished for with success, until 

 the current of the flowing tide perceptibly runs upward through 

 the pool. When this occurs the chance of sport may be said 

 to cease, and it is then necessary to go more seaward and 

 anchor outside the point. The precise distance cannot be 

 given, except in the case of any particular harbour. The 

 Sand-Eel baskets or courges constitute the most important 



