THE SMELT AND SAND-SMELT. 155 



The horse-hair net used is of a triangular form on a frame 

 each side about 30 inches, and being crossed by a pole, it is 

 pushed along on the sand like an ordinary strand Shrimping- 

 net (fig. 75, p. 244). To the bottom of the net a pipe or hose 

 about 8 inches long is sewed, made open at the bottom, but 

 closed by a string when in use, which being untied the contents 

 are at once emptied without loss. Before salting down, all 

 weeds, &c., must be picked out, or it will become putrid. 



THE SMELT AND SAND-SMELT. 



( Osmerus eperlanus. ) (Atherina presbyter. ) 



The Smelt, so called from the odour which it gives out 

 when fresh caught, is a silvery transparent little fish from 6 to 

 9 inches in length, and of a very delicate flavour, abounding in 

 many of the harbours on the eastern and western coasts, but 

 rarely seen on the southern, where its place is supplied by the 

 Atherine or Sand- Smelt, known under the name of the Rosselet 

 in the Channel Islands, which, although a sweet-eating little 

 fish, is not equal to the real smelt in quality. Some anglers 

 use a floated line, but the Pater-Noster is the most killing, both 

 for this and Mullet-fishing, the hooks a size smaller, say 9 or 10, 

 Limerick make (fig. 63, p. 2 1 1), and the bait a piece of Rag- Worm 

 half an inch in length, or a piece of Shrimp the size of a pea ; the 

 hook need only be stuck through the bait with the point show- 

 ing, which does not prevent these fish biting. Both Smelt and 

 Atherine will take a bait cut from their own brethren or any 

 small bit of brightly shining fish ; but no bait is more killing 

 than a bit of Rag- Worm, and your hooks become unbaited when 

 using it less than with any other, a matter of no small moment 

 in fast fishing. The gut-line should be not less than 6 feet in 

 length, and of stout Salmon or ordinary double gut, with 5 or 6 

 hooks on it, and a small dip-lead at the bottom about a quarter 

 of an ounce in weight, or heavier if there be any current to 

 require it ; the rod light, stiff, and about 14 feet in length ; the 

 line the same length as the rod. Smelts are to be sought for 

 where any drain, sewer, or stream of fresh water enters a harbour, 

 at the gates of a tide-mill, or in rocky coves within any sheltered 



