398 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



found in the soft mud of harbours and estuaries, whereas 

 lugworms bury in the hard sand along open coasts) 

 or paste are the baits for grey mullet. 



Soft crab (i.e. shore crabs that have cast their shell) 

 will catch bass, cod, and other kinds of fish. 



By way of experiment, mussels or sandworms may 

 always be tried in a locality where you are not certain 

 of what will be caught. If fish baits are used, herring, 

 pilchard, or mackerel should be cut up in preference to 

 others, as they are oily and silvery, both attractive 

 features in a bait. Whiting and flatfish are next to 

 useless, though I have known a bait of gurnard, with the 

 skin left on, successful at times. Shrimps and prawns, 

 used alive, are also deadly baits for bass and pollack. 



Next to knowing the right kind of bait comes a 

 knowledge of how to use it, and here there is some 

 latitude, though there is in most cases a way that is 

 better than the rest. 



Mussels, one of the best of all-round sea baits, are 

 not easy to keep on the hook. The difficulty is some- 

 times got over by scalding them, but this process, though 

 it hardens them, undoubtedly makes them unnatural 

 and less attractive. With a little practice, moreover, first 

 passing the hook through the small piece of gristle, and 

 then, after a turn or two through the soft parts, bringing 

 it out at the "tongue," mussels may be made to stick 

 on the hook, though few baits are easier for the fish 

 to remove without getting caught. 



Baiting with worms is too familiartoneed description. 



