114 SEA-FISH. 
number, and are—drift-lining with live or dead bait ; 
float-fishing ; and what may by contrast be termed 
still-fishing, in which the position of the bait, 
whether on a paternoster or other throw-out tackle, 
is fixed by a heavy lead. The first and second of 
these methods are unquestionably the most plea- 
sant, but can only be practised in smooth weather. 
The third, on the other hand, as I shall have 
occasion to show, is often most successful when 
there is half a gale blowing from the south-west. 
In any case, I would recommend a rod. So 
sporting a fish as the bass deserves at least to meet 
his fate in sporting manner; besides which the 
enjoyment of killing one large bass on the rod is 
equivalent, in my opinion at least, to that of haul- 
ing in half-a-dozen on a stout hand-line. But the 
tackle, though fine, must be very strong through- 
out, for in the bass the angler has a fish which, 
without perhaps the first violence of the pollack, 
will often make a second and even third run when 
almost within reach of the net or gaff; and this 
holds more truly of the medium-sized bass of, say, 
six or eight pounds, than of the rare specimens 
that top twelve or fifteen, which I have occasionally 
seen show less fight than the smaller. 
Except in the case of estuaries, as that of the 
Arun at Littlehampton, or that of the Exe at 
Exmouth, bass are rarely caught from piers, unless 
there is a good sea on, so that live-baiting and 
float-fishing are chiefly successful where cither a 
river is running in from the sea, or, in the case of 
harbours, where there is a constant supply of offal 
and refuse to attract these foul feeders inshore. 
And further, I would counsel the float-tackle for 
the estuary and the drift-line for the harbour. 
