CHAPTER XII. 



SEA-FISHING. 



"There is a tide in the affairs of men, 

 "Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune, 



* * * 



* * 



"And we must take the current when it serves 



"Or lose our ventures." — Julius Csesar. 



"I care not, I, to fish in seas, 



"Fresh rivers best my mind do please." — Izaak Walton. 



oEA-FISHING, and all fishing within tidal limits in the 

 estuaries, are to my mind very unsatisfactory. This may 

 result, to some extent perhaps, from my want of know- 

 ledge on the subject, hut my humhle opinion is that it 

 is much more attributable to the influence of the tides. 

 About sea-fishing I cannot speak from personal experi- 

 ence, and only from hearsay, that the case is apparently 

 the same there ; but in the estuaries I have noticed again 

 and again, that the getting of sport is almost entirely 

 dependent on the turn of the tide. The majority of fish 

 in the estuaries will not take, except during the half 

 hour, or less, when the tide has commenced to flow in- 

 wards. I believe that they not only will not take, except 

 at that time, but that they are not there to fish for. I 

 believe they come in with the tide, and move on with it, 

 so that it is only while they are passing you, that you 



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