be melted out of it over a slow fire; when in poor condition the liver is red and affords no oil. The fish should carry its thickness well down to the tail.

THE SEA-LOACH OR ROCK-LING
(Mustela vulgaris)

is a small fish from 6 to 18 inches long, mottled over with spots.
There are three kinds, Grey, Red, and Black. The smaller
frequent rock-pools, and may be taken with rod, line, and a
small hook baited with the soft part of a Limpet; the larger are
sometimes caught when ground-fishing. They are best fried.
THE HADDOCK.
(Morrhua æglefinus.)

The average size of the Haddock is not more than two or three pounds, although they occasionally reach eight or ten. They are very numerous along the eastern coast of Great Britain, but some are found in all the British waters. Scarborough, with other fishing towns on the east coast, sends numbers to the London market, and the coast of Scotland is even more prolific of this fish, where they are salted and smoked for exportation, and have of late years obtained a high repute, a 'Finnan Haddie' (so called from a village of that name) being considered quite a delicacy. Use the same tackle and baits as for Silver-Whiting, such as Mussels, Lugs, Mackerel, fresh Herring or Pilchard: in the west of England, off Plymouth, &c., a piece of Squid or Cuttle-fish, with a large Mussel on the point of the hook, is considered the best bait for Haddock. Many are caught amongst other fish in the trawl, and also with spillers or long lines. Size of hooks Nos. 8 and 9, fig. 63, p. 211.

THE HAKE.

(Merlucius vulgaris.)

The Hake is a fish which of late years has risen into repute, and large quantities are sent by railway from Plymouth and Brixham to the London, Bath, Bristol, and other markets; it is taken both by the trawl-net and by hook and line.

The drift-fishing for Pilchards and hooking for Hake

usually proceed at the same time, and are managed in the following manner : the Pilchard nets having been shot out in a straight line, the boat is made fast to the last net and drifts along with the tide ; the lines, four or five in number, are then put out baited with fresh Pilchards. Hake vary in size from five or six to twelve pounds in weight, and large hooks and strong tackle are therefore necessary; the hooks are not less than two inches from point to shank, with 8-inch shanks having an eye at the top. Their sharp and huge teeth would soon cut through the snood of a short-shanked hook. Pilchard is considered the best bait, but they will also take a piece of Whiting, Mackerel, or other fresh fish. Before the Pilchard season commences it is the custom to fish for them at anchor, but the success is not usually so great as when drifting with the Pilchard

nets.

Haking, as it is called, is always practised at night, for they do not feed well during the day. I have known as many as 50 dozen Hake and 5,000 Pilchards taken in one night by one boat, with a crew of three or four men and a boy.

To bait with a Pilchard, enter the hook close to the tail and bring it out the other side, then pass the hook through the second time, as shown in the frontispiece. Half a small Mackerel or Whiting is also often used, for which see under 'Conger,' p. 179. For Hake or Conger-fishing a stout truncheon like a policeman's staff, should be provided, made out of a piece of heavy wood, to stun the fish with a smart blow or two behind the head, without which it is difficult to hold them. This will also serve as a disgorger (see p. 53).

Use the boat-shaped sinkers as for Whiting, half a pound leads aft, one and a half pound amidships, and three pounds forward if you use six lines, but four are mostly sufficient when drifting. If at anchor, heavier leads may be required. For size of line, see fig. 11, No. 2, p. 48.

You try first at the bottom, then a few fathoms higher, then shallower still, until you meet with the fish, as they are not always at the bottom, but swim at various depths, following the shoals of Pilchards, Sprats, &c., on which they feed.

The length of line from the lead to the hook is usually

three fathoms, and the Hake will sometimes come so near to the surface of the water that they are taken whilst holding the lead in the hand. The Hake is said to abound on the coast of Ireland, particularly off Waterford and Galway. This is so good a fish that it is scarce possible to cook it amiss: it is excellent in steaks or baked upon potatoes; the back-bone having been removed, and the fish larded with strips of fat bacon, with plain salt and pepper seasoning.

The ham and bacon factors of Plymouth smoke a great many Hake, and although not equal to Salmon thus prepared, they are a very palatable breakfast fish.

Very large Pollack are caught whilst Haking.

Hake-fishing has very much deteriorated on the SW. coast of England during the last 20 years.

THE SOLE.

(Solea vulgaris.)

This excellent fish is generally taken with the trawl-net, but is sometimes caught with the hook. A trot or spiller, as recommended for Dabs, is suitable for this work, and the baits Lug or Rag-Worms; they feed best in the night.

Soles are also often taken in a trammel net.

The Sole, in common with other flat fish, frequents the sandy and oozy bottoms of our coasts, and is taken also in the various tidal rivers whilst of a very small size, especially in the lower part of the river Exe, by seine-nets. I have seen Soles thus caught not more than 6 inches in length, which from their small size are locally called tongues, and are sold in quantities at times by the fish-hawkers. At night in the open sea the fish frequent the shore, and, when the wind is strong enough off the land for their purpose, trawling vessels scrape the coast line, to the prejudice of the fishery in general; the laws being a dead letter, because no one is charged to enforce the same. It has always been considered that the bays and shores are the nurseries of the smaller fish, which therefore should remain undisturbed by trawl nets, whose proper sphere of operations is the offing, but who continually work the shores whenever favourable

circumstances render it worth their while so to do. The greater part of the fish supply of Plymouth having been caught in sight of my residence on the confines of Devon and Cornwall, I have had constant opportunities of seeing, from the cliffs as well as from the sea, these operations in progress amongst the passing vessels. It is a great pity that our legislators are not more qualified by their own experience to deal with our fisheries, as important evidence respecting them is frequently suppressed, and that given before Commissions so cooked as not to afford any means of arriving at the truth. That the shallows of the shore are the nurseries of the small fish is constantly proved by the quantity of small Plaice, Soles, Turbot, &c., caught when shrimping in the sand-pools on every strand. I have taken numbers myself in these situations, allowing them to escape by inverting the net. In a trawl this is impossible, as it is dragged long distances, and the fish are killed, the whole mass not unfrequently being churned up, so to speak, into a kind of paste. The destruction permitted in this way is something frightful to contemplate, and much is caught and sold as manure which, if allowed to live and grow, would tend to make up for the destruction of fish-life always in progress.

The destruction in river-seining has also been great, as it is the habit to capsize the bunt of the net, and leave quantities of young fish to die in the sun. It is expected that reservations of portions of bays will be made shortly, as nurseries or breeding grounds.

THE PLAICE.

(Platessa vulgaris.)

Large quantities of Plaice are taken with the trawl, also with the trot or spiller, consisting of a Whiting-line and hooks fig. 63, No. 10, p. 211, on a double thread snood of fine twine laid up with twisting machine; single twine will not answer as well, being more liable to foul. Occasionally they are caught with handlines, and where they are very plentiful may be fished for in a similar manner to that employed for Dabs; best baits, Lugs and large Rag-Worms. Small Plaice, Dabs, Flounders, and Freshwater Eels may be taken from off most piers on the coast

by the rod and a Pater-Noster line, hooks No. 4 size, Kirby or Limerick, and the bait a boiled Shrimp peeled, Rag-Worms, and Lugs. For harbour-trot, use No. 13 hooks (fig. 63, p. 211, size of line, fig. 11, No. 2, p. 48).

Many Plaice and sometimes Turbot are taken by spearing on the sand flats between the Scilly Islands, also on the west coast of Scotland.

THE TURBOT.

(Rhombus maximus.)

This highly-prized fish frequents sand-banks in all parts of the British seas, and is taken by the trawl and long lines or bulters. The size of the hook one inch from the point to the shank (p. 210), fastened to strong snooding three feet in length, and from 1 to 2 fathoms apart, on a stout line of about the thickness of window-sash line, coiled in a box, tray, or basket, the hooks baited with half a Smelt, or Atherine, large Sand-Eels, a piece of Herring, Mackerel, Long-Nose, otherwise called Gar-fish, or other fresh fish. The Lampern is also an excellent bait and is much used by Dutch fishermen for their long lines. A fishery for Lamperns has existed at Teddington on the Thames for ages.

This line is secured by stones at certain distances, or anchors, and supplied with buoy-lines to raise it when necessary.

From two to three thousand hooks are sometimes attached tɔ one line, extending a mile or more in length, and shot across the tide. Large boats in the North Sea carry frequently as much as ten miles of long lines or trots.

THE DRIFT-TROT.

In Guernsey, whilst at anchor on the bank waiting to raise the trot, the fishermen use a 'Ligne Longue,' as they term it, consisting of a 50-hook trot bent on to a ground-line, and which drifts out with the tide. Turbot are occasionally caught with ordinary hand-lines whilst waiting for slack tide to raise the long-lines; the line such as used for Silver-Whiting. Turbot vary in size from one or two to thirty pounds in weight.