3 88 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



catching them. The best sport I ever had with these 

 fish was in a little backwater of the Gulf of Ismidt, in 

 Asia Minor. The water was so still and clear that, even 

 in three or four fathoms, one could see the great scarlet 

 gurnards crawling slowly over the bottom, and a bait 

 dropped in front of their nose on a single gut line, with 

 a light rod, was instantly seized, and a few moments of 

 fair sport would result. So, later in the day, would a 

 baked gurnard. 



Both bass and grey mullet I bracket them merely 

 as our most sporting marine fish, and not for any family 

 connection occur on the west coast of Scotland, and 

 of large size, but the English Channel is their true home 

 in these islands, as they are Mediterranean forms. The 

 bass is a handsome, silvery, perchlike fish, with a big 

 head and prickly fins. The mullet, also silvery and less 

 like a perch, has a small head and mouth and softer fins. 



They differ much in their habits, except that both 

 are fond of the mouths of rivers and of haunting piers 

 and docks for the food they find there. The bass, how- 

 ever, is a predatory fish, chasing the sandeels and other 

 fry, and therefore seizing moving baits near the surface. 

 The grey mullet (which must be distinguished from the 

 totally different red mullet) is a vegetarian in great part, 

 though it will take ragworms, and occasionally, particu- 

 larly about sunset, a white fly. In our seas neither are 

 taken on the rod weighing much over 10 lb., though 

 bass of 1 5 lb. are occasionally recorded ; but in warmer 

 seas these weights are frequently exceeded. I have 



