BOAT-FISHING. 169 
fishing with rod or line, it is essential to have a 
fathom or two of slack in the boat to guard against 
sudden squalls, and the shark should be 
played gingerly up to the gaff, gaffed in 
the head, stunned by a blow on the snout, and 
slung in a bight of line over the bow. On no 
account let the brute within the precincts of the 
boat if you can avoid it; and be still less inclined 
to quiet its struggles with a knife, for the odour of a 
shark’s blood, above all that of a porbeagle, is not 
lightly forgotten, and will cling to the boat during 
the rest of the month. The pollack must be 
handled with due regard to its fancy for diving to 
the rocks, mentioned in connection with railing; 
and I have always preferred a large net Landing- 
to the gaff, because the pollack is by no n¢t 
means an easy fish to gaff. Its gill-covers, how- 
ever, stand out boldly from the head, and the 
Cornish fishermen are very skilful in inserting the 
fingers beneath them and dragging the astonished 
fish safe over the gunwale. With the bass, it is 
not customary to take such liberties, as its gill- 
covers develop in the direction of sharp spines. 
The bass is therefore, on the comparatively rare 
occasions on which it nowadays comes to the hook, 
lifted aboard tenderly witha short gaff, or “ gogger.” 
Enough space has now been devoted to the sub- 
ject of drift-lining, which is one of the best of all 
methods of summer fishing and usually feasible. 
For some reason or other, this method has been 
particularly associated with harbours ; but, although 
these are perhaps the only places where it 
can be practised without the use of boats, I have 
invariably found it answer admirably anywhere 
within ten miles of the coast. Far from land, I 
Sharks 
