148 SEA-FISH. 
then, knowing that, on the south coast, the rising 
tide flows eastward, the falling tide ebbing west- 
ward, you must constantly pause in your rowing to 
see that you are going straight for the shore, which 
is accomplished by getting the boat quite steady 
and seeing which way a line streams out. If there 
is not any tide whatever, bettcr wait till it starts. 
In any. case, steering in a fog without a compass is 
such difficult and fearsome work, that the compass 
should rank first among one’s baggage, far more 
important than lunch. Yet, I would wager, not 
one sea-angler in a score ever dreams of keeping 
one in his basket: well, experience, we are told, 
keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no 
other. 
Let your basket, then, include a compass, a 
mouth-syren, failing which a strong whistle will do, 
and a tide-table; the lunch and bait will be 
every one’s care. Have presence of mind, above all; 
it can be acquired by practice, as I have often 
observed. Remember that you have two hands 
and two feet and a brain to direct them; and such 
a combination should be enough to get you out of 
any scrape; but they must act together and with as 
much deliberation as the urgency of the moment 
will permit. No hasty cutting of ropes or leaping 
overboard ; but a cool summing up of the chances 
for and against, and then swift action. 
The methods of fishing from boats are many. 
sienna Besides the use of the paternoster, leger, 
of fishing and chopstick, as described in the chapter 
bale on rod-fishing, there are two methods 
confined to boats, whiffing (otherwise rail- 
ing or plummeting) and drift-lining. One principle 
pervades these methods in common, and that is the 
