SEA ANGLING IN GEEAT BBITAIN 



At Scarborough ( Yorks) the angler finds most excellent fishing 

 for bass, conger, mackerel, codling and others. Also at Filey, 

 Eamsgate, Deal, Dover an(J Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne. 

 On the south coast we have Brighton, Shoreham, Littlehampton, 

 Bognor, Selsea, Southampton, Bournemouth, Poole, Swanage ; in 

 fact, at nearly all seaports there is some kind of fish or fishing, 

 more or less good, according to the patience and enthusiasm, 

 of the angler. 



In the present volume my object has been to present the 

 fish, not particularly the fishing grounds, but it can be said 

 that if the angler lays out the coast of Scotland, England, Ireland 

 and Wales into sea angling districts, and changes his ground on 

 every angling trip, he will have experienced some of the most 

 interesting sea angling in the world of sport, and have visited 

 some of the beautiful and picturesque regions in Europe. This 

 is particularly true of the west coast of England — Hfracombe, 

 Tenby (South Wales), Isle of Man, Eamsey, Douglas, Peel, not 

 forgetting the Irish coast and Ballycotton, a place where good 

 anglers go before they die, to fight gigantic skates and congers, 

 two great sporting fishes, with the rod and reel. 



I have not the temerity to venture where anglers tread, and 

 discuss British sea angling or the fishes, but I should fancy 

 that the bass, Labrax lupus, stands as one of, if not the finest of 

 small sea game fishes, and specimens I have seen impressed me 

 that it is a fighting fish of the first water. ' The bass decidedly 

 holds the highest place among those sea fishes which afford 

 sport to the angler,' says ' John Bickerdyke,' so my American 

 ' guess ' (used by Shakespeare) was equal to the occasion. It 

 is a fine fish, having something of the appearance or shape of the 

 striped bass, or a monster yellow perch. 



The bass has a wide range in European waters and affords 

 sport from England to the Tiber, and beyond, and has been 

 known from the early times. Archistratus called the bass of 

 Milet the ' offspring of the Gods,' and at Eome it was esteemed 

 so highly that the young were called lanati (woolly), their meat 



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