THE ROD IN SALT WATER 385 



more plentiful in the English Channel than in Scotch 

 waters, where the best of the fishing is for lythe and 

 saithe, or, as they are called in England, pollack and 

 coalfish. Indeed, in these colder seas, the fishes of the 

 cod family are the most conspicuous, including the 

 aforesaid lythe and saithe, the cod, haddock, whiting, and 

 torsk. The last four are ground-feeding fish, and must 

 be caught from piers or anchored boats, with the bait 

 on or near the bottom. The cod and whiting are widely 

 distributed, but the haddock (like the hake, a larger 

 cousin) is "uncertain, coy, and hard to please," and 

 comes and goes without why or wherefore. These 

 fishes are almost too familiar to need description. The 

 heavy-looking cod, brown on the back and white be- 

 neath, with a little beard on the lower jaw ; the haddock, 

 with the black mark on its shoulders and the family 

 beard ; the whiting, smaller and more silvery, and 

 beardless ; and, in all, the line along the sides showing 

 plainly, white on the cod, black on the others, and very 

 marked in the haddock. The lythe and saithe (English : 

 pollack and coalfish) are predatory fish, and they stand 

 in relation to the more ponderous cod and torsk as the 

 eagle to the buzzard. They readily seize a moving bait 

 near the surface (even a large fly or bright spinner will 

 take them), so that they are best caught by casting from 

 the rocks or by trailing the baits behind a boat. They 

 bear some resemblance, but the saithe is blue rather 

 than green and has a small beard, which is missing in 

 the other. Both these fish abound on all rocky ground 

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