BOAT-FISHING. 191 
tion dog-fish of 12 lbs. and over. It is advisable, 
however, to be tolerably sure of your weather 
before venturing so far in a very smali rowing-boat, 
as there are some awkward winds in Bournemouth 
Bay, for all its apparently snug position, with 
the Island on one side and the protecting bluffs 
of the Isle of Purbeck on the other ; and I have 
known more than one case in which small boats 
were compelled to run into Poole Harbour, or 
worse still, make a wearisome bid for shelter further 
up the Solent, rather than face the terrific rollers on 
the Bournemouth beach. 
It is somewhat less easy to find good inshore 
grounds for flat-fish on the rocky coasts Meva- 
of Cornwall; but there is an excellent gissey 
dabbing-ground at Mevagissey, to give a single 
example, just west of the Gribbin, off Pentewan. 
The depth docs not exceed five fathoms, the beach 
being less than two hundred yards distant, and the 
bag is usually a mixed one, small skate being at 
times common, while, late in August, such mackerel | 
as have gone to the bottom are found feeding along 
with the flat-fish. 
It is not probable that any one would set out 
expressly to catch gurnard. There are 
certain fish that we catch rather accident- 
ally than by design ; and the gurnard, as the dory, 
garfish and horse-mackerel, must be reckoned 
among these. Assuming that any one were really 
anxious to make a catch of these unprepossessing 
ground-feeders, I should say that the best plan 
would be-to moor the boat over the edge of the 
rocks in not less than four fathoms, to bait the 
hooks with small pieces of fresh herring (or, if in 
Cornwall, pilchard), and leave them to their own 
Gurnard 
