78 SEA-FISH. 
of water; but occasionally the sudden downward 
rush of a pollack will prove too much for the 
angler, and the top joint will dip, his best efforts 
notwithstanding. After an experience of this sort, 
it is as well to rub the top joint with a damp 
cloth on reaching home, drying it with another 
cloth. 
In like manner the reels, the rod-ferrules, the 
joints of gaff and landing-net, anything, in fact, in 
the construction of which metal is employed, may 
with advantage be overhauled and touched with a 
drop of fine machine oil, at any rate once a week. 
A little care for one’s tackle, though many may 
vote it a bore, takes up but a few minutes each 
evening ; and the trouble expended will be repaid 
a hundredfold, if only in the comfortable sensation 
when at sea that the gear may be trusted to hold 
its own against any fish likely to interfere with 
it. As may, indeed, all good gear properly cared 
for and handled. The rod and line, above all, 
need constant care, for it is on them that the strain 
falls hardest. 
A word may here be said against the practice, 
prevalent at Littlehampton and some other ports, 
of not taking the rod to pieces after each day’s 
fishing. Apart from the inconvenience of carrying 
the rod in this form, the habit is a bad one, tending 
to breakage, especially when again taking it to 
pieces after the season is over. An inexpensive 
mullet-rod, by which the owner sets no store, may 
perhaps be used thus, but it is not fair treatment 
for any good weapon that has to kill heavy fish. 
