96 WHITING NEAR THE SURFACE. [PART I. 
devil trailed from the stern of a rowing boat off 
Guernsey—where, by the way, first-rate sea-fishing 
is to be had—and I myself had satisfactory proof 
of the fact whilst fishing in the Linnhe Loch off 
Ardsheal. On that occasion we were pulling up 
Whiting so fast, that, my line becoming kinked, 
I, in order to save time, put my bait overboard 
to be all ready when the boatman should have 
cleared the knot. My line could not thus have 
reached above a third of the way to the bottom, 
when, to my surprise, I felt a tug. I struck and 
pulled away, bringing up two fine Whiting. Pro- 
fiting by this experience I did not afterwards 
waste time by allowing my bait to sink much 
lower, and found consequently that our heap of 
fish grew much more rapidly under my contri- 
butions than those of my friends who adhered to 
the orthodox mode of fishing at the bottom. Our 
sport that day was, while it lasted, as good as I 
ever had. There were three of us, besides the 
boatmen, whose time was pretty well taken up 
with attending to lines. We started very late and 
with appearances much against us, the only pro- 
curable bait being seven herrings in such an ad- 
vanced state of decomposition that we were too 
glad to avoid getting them between the wind and. 
