134 SEA-FISH. 
easily, and that you can only fish at neap tides and 
in the early morning. After that, the fish go off the 
feed. At Leghorn, we used to catch mullet 
on long horsehair lines, a single gut hook 
at the end imbedded in a ball of paste, made of 
arrowroot biscuit and pounded sardines, and no 
lead. The weight of the paste was sufficient to 
give an impetus to so light a line, and when it had 
been flung 30 or 40 yards, the cork on which the 
line was wound was fixed on two stones in such 
manner that when a fish seized the hook, one stone 
fell off the other, and the attention of the fisherman, 
who was managing perhaps six lines, was at once 
called to the one that needed his immediate atten- 
tion. This use of many lines may seem to savour 
of fishing for the pot, but there is some reason for 
supposing that a modification of this tackle used 
with a rod might answer from some of our piers, 
as those at Dover, Littlehampton, Cowes, and others 
where these fish are at times seen feeding. 
A time-honoured practice may be witnessed 
throughout the summer months on the 
western parapet of the Admiralty Pier at 
Dover, where a number of veteran mullet-fishers 
hang out enormous rods, fixed ina clamp. I have 
watched these patient men off and on for ten ycars 
and more, but I never yet sawa fish caught. They 
bait with rag-worms. 
Mr. Kirby, one of the latest cxponents of mullet- 
fishing, gave an account in the /ze/d some time 
since of how he caught large mullet in the Fleet, a 
backwater between Portland and Weymouth, the 
hook-and ground-bait consisting of boiled macaroni. 
A powerful rod was used, but was not brought into 
requisition until the mullet was hooked, the tackle 
Leghorn 
Dover 
