BOAT-FISHING. 165 
line, as more would certainly mar the natusal 
appearance of the whole, besides leading to com- 
plications should two good pollack get hooked 
together and differ as to the most promising course 
to pursue, while their agreement might be just as 
disastrous. The reason for the line lying straight 
between the fisherman and the hook is that success 
in this method often, more often than not indeed, 
depends on striking at the exact second, and any 
curve or angle in the line naturally impedes the 
communication of any movement from fish to 
fisherman and wice versa. As for baits, there are a 
number, all excellent, but the living sand-cel 
is probably best, although there are times and 
places where I have known it come off second to 
the mussel. 
Mr. Wilcocks gives in his world-famed Sea 
Fisherman three methods of baiting with 
the living sand-eel; in the tide-way, he aii 
passes the hook in at the mouth and out ¢ocks’s 
3 7 methods 
at the gills; and in slack water, he fixes of paiting 
the hook either in the throat, beneath the ee ice 
pectoral fin, or in the nape above it. Now 
the author of the above-mentioned work was my 
first philosopher and guide in the sport of which 
we are both so fond, and it is therefore not 
without hesitation that I advocate any method 
opposed to his practice; but I am bound to say 
that I have for years found the simpler plan of 
hooking the launce through either upper or lower 
lip equally effective and far easier to perform 
without injury to these exceedingly fragile 
creatures. As the bait obviously turns tail on the 
approach of pollack, this method places the line 
out of sight just as thoroughly as those advocated 
