THE ROD IN SALT WATER 389 



taken bass in Turkey of 17 lb., and in the Persian Gulf 

 sportsmen catch mullet of 18 lb. 



The John Dory is another warm- water fish and is 

 at its best in our south-west coast, in Cornwall, where 

 it reaches a weight of 18 lb. In fact, I never heard 

 of a large dory being caught much north of a line drawn 

 between the estuaries on the Thames and Severn. This 

 fish has as ugly a face as any in our seas, but this does 

 not prevent its being excellent eating. No one goes 

 fishing specially for it, but one is occasionally taken in 

 swallowing a smaller fish already on the hook, and then, 

 being probably overheavy for the tackle, it must be 

 played cautiously to the landing-net or gaff. 



The only other big sea-fish caught on the rod in this 

 country are congers, skates, and sharks. The conger 

 is a great eel that lives in the rocks and is caught on 

 very strong tackle, chiefly at night. The skates, or rays, 

 are those great, square, flattened fishes with the long, 

 whiplike tails, the latter being in some cases furnished 

 with sharp spines. Like their relatives the sharks, 

 they have their eyes above the head and their mouth 

 beneath. The upper surface is usually dark brown or 

 grey, and the lower white. They live on the sand and 

 will take any large bait that lies there, and they show 

 about as much fight as one would expect from a 

 billiard table. For this reason I have always had 

 difficulty in believing that there are men who deliber- 

 ately set out to catch skate for their own amusement, 

 but it is a fact that they do so. 



