184 SEA-FISH. 
described in the foregoing pages. A few smali 
conger are, it is true, taken by day—the largest I 
ever remember hooking in this way weighed but 
6 lbs. rr oz. though I have been told of conger ot 
three times that weight being taken in the full glare 
of day. These I cannot regard, however, as other 
than exceptions, and those who embark for conger- 
fishing pure and simple will not need to leave the 
shore until the last rays of the sun are on the 
water. I suppose the very darkness—conger-fishers 
resent even the pale light of the moon—lends a 
spirit of adventure to the outing; and the rest of 
one’s enjoyment consists in hand-to-hand fights 
with enormously strong fish, that are all over the 
boat at once, knocking over lanterns, dashing be- 
tween your legs, barking and grunting, and alto- 
gether entering into the fun. 
The tackle figured for whiting (p. 197) serves ad- 
mirably for conger, only the hook may be any- 
thing up to three times the size, and should be 
lashed to a strong snood of new gimp or soft flax, 
served with copper wire. I have used the snooding- 
that is said by those who supply it to be évo soft 
for the conger to bite through ; but my faith in it 
has been somewhat shaken of late years by one or 
two accidents, though I believe it varies much in 
quality, as I have certainly had excellent results 
with it in former seasons. On the whole, however, 
the flax snood served with copper wire takes some 
beating. The conger does not asa rule take the 
bait very far down, so that it is unnecessary for 
more than a yard at the most to be served with 
copper. I tried for the first time, last year, a 
tarpon-hook on a snood of raw hide, which was 
supplicd to me by Farlow, and it certainly proved 
