122 BRITISH SPORTING FISHES. 
tasteless, Yet it is eaten in poor rural neighbour- 
hoods; the fish costing only about twopence a 
pound. Guns are sometimes used to secure big 
fish, as are “click” hooks. Both these methods 
require lights, which the poacher secures in the 
shape of burning tar-brands. All through the 
close season there is constant watching and war 
between the poachers and the water-bailiffs ; but, 
despite the exertions of the latter, cartloads of 
salmon are often taken from the “redds” in a 
single night. 
