126 SEA-FISH. 
and it is futile to dangle the bait six feet above 
them, or, worse still, to send it careering beneath 
their tails. There is nothing for it, then, but to 
continue varying the depth, increasing it from, say, 
eight to fifteen feet until the float goes under. If 
no luck is had somewhere between these two levels 
it may generally, though not always, be assumed 
that there are no mackerel in the neighbourhood. 
This is another fish that is taken more from 
boats than piers, and, as in the case of the 
mackerel, most works on the subject, while 
giving instructions for pollack-fishing with the 
whiffing or drift lines, are singularly reticent on the 
subject of pollack taken on our piers. In point of 
fact, they do not as a rule run to any great weight, 
but I have known them taken to a weight of six 
pounds, which, with a fish of such dash, is not to 
be despised. It is fair to add, however, that one 
pound is above the average weight of pier pollack. 
These fish will often be attracted by a moving bait 
in preference to one which is at rest; and it is for 
this reason that success often crowns the efforts of 
those anglers who, on the Deal or Eastbourne piers, 
work a parchment bait, an article that bears about 
as much resemblance as the average salmon-fly to 
anything living or dead, with rod and line, up-and- 
down fashion, just before sunset. The best bait 
for these pier fish, however, is unquestionably the 
rock-worm ; when that is not obtainable the rag- 
worm is a good substitute, but on no account to be 
reckoned the equal of the other. The very best 
Dover Pock-worms I have ever uscd come from 
rock- the chalk-beds at Dover, or rather a mile 
worms or two west, just beyond Shakespeare Cliff. 
Never very cheap, the average price that rules 
Pollack 
