FISHES OF MY CHILDHOOD 25 



hooked, being game to the last, and big ones 

 not easy to land. 



I had been told that mussels made capital bait. 

 So they did ; but I could not manage to keep 

 them on the hook, and could have easily used 

 up a bushel or two without any return. However, 

 I did once succeed in inducing a very tough one 

 to remain in situ, and straightway caught a plaice 

 of nearly four pounds in weight, in beautiful 

 condition and marked with brilliant red spots. 

 We dined off it the following day. 



Another catch — off which we did not dine — was a 

 cuttle-fish, a creature that rarely takes the hook 

 except in the form of a triangle tackle. It 

 terrified me, but a brother fisherman was kind 

 enough to kill it and cut it up as bait for bass 

 and conger. 



In the Spithead, opposite Ryde, were the 

 remains of several wrecks, where whiting, pout, 

 or " bibs," and other fish, assembled in big shoals, 

 attracted by the molluscs that covered the timbers. 

 These sunken wrecks the Ryde fishermen used to 

 locate by means of landmarks, a steeple or a head- 

 land being brought into a certain position from 

 the sea. 



I used to be taken out for a day's real sea- 

 fishing, as a great treat. We used the old- 



