lobstek' catching. 117 



paratus for capturing lobsters and crabs is like a cage, and 

 is generally made of wicker work, with an aperture at the 

 top or the side for the animal to enter by ; it can be baited 

 with any sort of garbage that is at hand. Having been 

 so baited, the lobster-pot is sunk into the water, and left for 

 a season, till, tempted by the mess within, the game enters 

 and is caged. Those who would induce crabs to enter their 

 pots must set them with fresh bait; lobsters, on the other 

 hand, will look at nothing but garbage. Very frequently rock- 

 cod, saithe, and other fish, are found to have entered the pots, 

 intent both on foul and fresh food. SheU-fish for bait can be 

 taken by means of a wooden box or old wicker basket sunk 

 near a rocky place, and fiUed with garbage of some kind ; the 

 whelks and small crabs are sure to patronise the mess ex- 

 tensively, and can thus be obtained at convenience. It is im- 

 possible to teU in the limits of a brief chapter one half of 

 the fishing wonders that can be accomplished during a sojourn 

 at the searside. A visit to some quaint old fishing town, on 

 the recurrence of " the year's vacation sabbath," as some of our 

 poets now caU the annual month's holiday, might be made 

 greatly productive of real knowledge ; there are ten thousand 

 wonders of the shore which .can be studied besides those laid 

 down in books. 



As will be noted, I have avoided as much as possible the 

 naming of localities, preferring to state the general practice. In 

 aU seaside towns and fishing villages there are usually three or 

 four old fishermen who will be glad to do little favours for the 

 curious in fish lore^^ — to hire out boats, give the use of tackle, 

 and point out good localities in which to fish. For such as 

 have a few weeks at their disposal, I would suggest the western 

 sea-lochs of Scotland as affording superb sport in all the varieties 

 of sea^angling. Fish of all kinds, great and small, are to be 

 found in tolerable quantity, and there is likewise the still 

 greater inducement of fine scenery, cheap lodgings, and moderate 

 living expenses. But the entire change of scene is the grand 

 medicine ; nothing would do an exhausted London or Manchester 

 man more good than a month on Lochfyne, where he could not 

 only angle in the great water for amusement, but also watch the 

 commercial fishers, and enjoy the finely-flavoured herring of that 

 loch as a portion of his daily food. If persons in search of sea- 

 angling wish to combine the enjoyment of picturesque scenery 

 with their pleasant labours on the water, they cannot do better 



