168 SEA-FISH. 
imagined, and the head is usually thrown out in 
advance as ground-bait, or “ guffin.” 
So much for the baits used with the drift-line. 
The method of using this sensitive tackle is not 
difficult, beyond the fact that it calls for the whole 
attention ; and thougn it is customary to put out a 
line of this kind to fish “for the pot,” or to keep 
dog-fish and sharks employed, while bottom-fishing, 
it is quite impossible to fish with the drift-line 
scientifically unless holding it all the time. And 
truly, this is half the enjoyment, for the fisherman 
soon comes to recognise that a very insignificant 
picking at the line may mean a very good fish. 
Mackerel may be taken in this way indeed within 
a couple of fathoms of the surface, and I well re- 
collect on one occasion seeing the blue fish shearing 
down in the clear water, while we brought nearly a 
hundred of them, all of good size, to the boat in 
less than an hour. Yet, so important is it to strike 
at the right moment, when the bait just disappears 
in the mackerel’s mouth, or on feeling the first 
decided pull, that we saw many shear away merely 
pricked and, nothing daunted, follow the bare hook 
to the top. Pollack are, however, taken at a much 
greater depth, which, as the line cants away at an 
angle of from 30° to 60° with the gunwale, means 
a distance of thirty or forty yards from the fisher- 
man, and it is for this reason that no slack line 
must be allowed to intervene, as it would seriously 
impede the due striking of large fish. It is in this 
drift-lining that you are most likely to hook a blue 
or porbeagle shark ; and care must be taken in 
dealing with these fish, owing to their aforemen- 
tioned trick of slacking the line and swimming to 
the surface as soon as they fecl the steel. Whether 
