INTRODUCTORY. 7 
fourth days after new and full moon, that fishing is 
only possible for an hour or so, just after high and 
low water, and then only close inshore. During 
the neap tides, on the other hand, it is possible to 
fish uninterruptedly during the greater part of the 
day, so that, even if the fish are not feeding quite 
so ravenously, the total catch is usually better. 
The remarkable “second tides” at Bournemouth 
are referred to on a later page. 
On a par with tides in the powers that rule the 
sea-angler’s fortunes are the winds ; indced, 
they are, if anything, of greater importance. 
We may at once set aside the east wind as “ im- 
possible.” A few small pout, or a dog-fish, may, 
it is true, be caught during a spell from that 
quarter ; but in the main, the old rhyme has in it all 
the elements of truth, and I believe the exceptions 
in favour of easterly wind are even less frequent at 
sea than on river or lake The ideal breeze—only 
it must be no more than a dveeze—for south-coast 
fishing is from the south, just enough to fan 
the water into the lightest of ripples. It is well 
to keep an eye on it when abroad in very small 
craft, as, although the south wind itself has not the 
habit with us of developing into a “buster,” as it 
does on parts of the Australian coast, it has, never- 
theless, an awkward knack of veering suddenly and 
without warning to the south-west, in which quarter 
it increases with such amazing velocity that it is 
possible for a very ugly sea to get up all unnoticed 
in the course of ten minutes. It is, therefore, a 
mistake, at all events when out on a strange part 
of the coast, to make fast any of the sheets, even 
in the calmest of weather, the smallest mizen 
Wind 
1 Curiously enough, east wind is best for both bass and mackerel 
under the lee of Chapel Point, Mevagissey. 
