SEA-ANGLING TACKLE. 



113 



Tisual mode of capturing flat fish is by means of the trawl-net, 

 but many varieties of them may be caught with a hand-line. A 

 day's sea-angling will be chequered by many little adventures. 

 There are various minor monsters of the deep that vary the 

 monotony of the day by occasionally devouring the bait. A 

 tadpole-fish, better Imown as the sea^devil or " the angler," may 

 be hooked, or the fisher may have a visit from a hammer-headed 

 shark or a pile-fish, which adds greatly to the excitement ; and 

 if " the dogs" should be at all plentiful, it is a chance if a single 

 fish be got out of the sea in its integrity. So voracious and 

 active are this species of the SquaMse, that I have often enough 

 pulled a mere skeleton into the boat, instead of a plump cod of 

 ten or twelve poimds weight. 



I shall now say a few words about the machinery of capture. 

 The tackle in use for handline sea-fishing is much the same 

 everywhere, and that which I describe 

 will suit almost any locality. It consists 

 of a frame of four pieces of wood-work 

 about a foot and a half in length, fastened 

 together in the shape of such a machine 

 as ladies use for certain worsted work. 

 Eound this is wound a thin cord, gene- 

 rally tanned, of from ten to twenty 

 fathoms iu length. To the extreme end 

 of this line is attached a leaden sinker, the weight of which 

 varies according as the current of the tide is slow or rapid. 

 About two feet above the sinker is a 

 cross piece of whalebone or iron, to the 

 extremities of which the strings on which 

 the hooks are dressed are attached. 

 Sometimes a third hook is affixed to an 

 outrigger, about two feet above the other 

 hooks. The length of the cords to 

 which the lower hooks are attached 

 should be such as to allow them to 

 hang about six inches higher than the 

 bottom of the sinker. In some parts of the Western High- 

 lands a rod consisting of thin fir is used, but from the length 

 of line required it is rather a clumsy instrument, as after the 

 fish has been struck the rod has to be laid down in the boat, 

 and the line to be hauled in by hand. 



As to bait it is quite impossible to lay down any strict 

 I 



