SHORE-FISHING. 99 
On sandy beaches, the procedure is, as will be 
readily imagined, far more tranquil, the fish being. 
usually cod and whiting. The hooks, baited with 
mussel as before, are, with the aid of a heavy lead, 
and sometimes of a forked ash-pole, swung out 
behind the breakers, and the fish very often hook 
themsclyes, though the angler, as distincuished 
from him who fishes only for the pot, will usually 
prefer holding the line and striking at cach bite. 
I have long thought, though it must be admitted 
that I can quote no successes in support of the 
notion, that the true secret of successful bass-fishing 
will be solved from a sloping beach, so often have 
I scen large bass after an August gale feeding just 
bchind the rollers in the surf, where it was im- 
possible to get at them from cither boat or pier. 
Unfortunately, at the very season when the bass 
come so close in shore, the beach is crowded with 
holiday folk, whose immediate neighbourhood the 
peaceful angler shuns at any cost, even that of an 
empty creel. I do not, however, despair of finding 
one of these days in the early morning, the right 
combination of bass feeding close in shore, and a 
beach with plenty of clbow-room. So far, it is a 
dream. 
This fishing from sandy beaches is nowhere more 
practised than on our east coast during the autumn 
months ; and I am indebted to Mr. C. H. Wheeley, 
who contributed the opening volume of this Library 
(“ Coarse Fish”), for the following practical account 
of autumn beach-fishing for cod near Great Yar- 
mouth. 
A flat lead, pierced with a short wooden peg to 
prevent rolling or dragging, is attached to a stout 
H 2 
