piece of Long-Nose 1 inch long or a bit of parchment is considered an additional attraction. Rod-fishing with a Light Line.-Off a pier-head, when there is a very little or no tide, or in a moderate tide from a boat, very good fishing may be had with a light line, with no sinker whatever, a collar or bottom of the best Salmon gut, 5 or 6 feet long, being attached to the line. If the water be sufficiently deep, let out about 15 yards of line, use no float, and bait with Rag-Worms; you will chiefly take Pollack, Bream, and Horse-Mackerel. ་་་་་་་་་་་་་་་ The Pater-Noster Line (fig. 34).—This kind of line is preferable in fishing off piers &c. in quiet water and gentle eddies, inside a harbour's mouth, or other favourable situation, and enables you to take a greater variety of fish than the other. To fit up this tackle, take 6 feet of double twisted gut and a pipelead half an ounce in weight, and having passed through it a piece of double hemp snooding, make a knot below, and you will then have a bow in the top, to which loop on the gut; then take a hook tied to 9 inches of single gut, with a bow at the other end, and fasten it by a sliding loop to the hemp, and at three or four of each of the knots above, place a hook tied to not more than 6 inches of gut; they will now keep clear of each other and stand out from the line, as shown in fig. 34, and you can bait with Rag-Worms as before. For open sea-fishing and at Pater-Noster. FIG. 34. the mouths of extensive and deep arms of the sea, stout gimp should be used in place of the twisted gut, and the hooks themselves be tied on twisted triple gut, and of tried strength, for you are always liable in these positions to meet with very large fish, and unless well prepared will have your tackle carried off in the most unceremonious manner by a 10 or 15 lb. Pollack, or even a larger Coal-fish. Three hooks will be quite sufficient for a Pater-Noster for Pollack, and the hooks, supposing you use gimp for the main part of the Pater-Noster, may be kept from slipping down by a lashing of waxed thread on the gimp, at about intervals of 18 inches; if of gut, the knots will be sufficient. Bait with the Rag-Worm. Plumb the ground with the lead occasionally, and lift it a few inches off the bottom, until you feel a bite. You may bait the bottom hook with a boiled Shrimp, taken out of the shell, and will take with it Flounders, occasionally Dabs, sometimes called Sole-Dabs, and Freshwater Eels, which are found in most tidal harbours, but use Mud-Worms when procurable. A landing or Shrimp-net must be provided, with which to dip up the large fish, as your tackle would frequently fail you in attempting to weigh them out. See p. 91, or fig. 74, p. 243. N.B. The larger kind of Mud-Worm is frequently known as the Rock-Worm, as it is found in the sand, clay, or gravel, close to rocks, or under large stones; many are also obtained by forcing asunder stones naturally cracked, for the fissures in which they have a great predilection. In the Channel Islands it is customary to clear a spot of stones, and then to dig in the subsoil with a harpoon-shaped digger of iron, called a 'Petron,' 6 inches long and 3 wide, on a 4-foot handle. The Floating Trot (fig. 35).-A Trot is a long line with hooks at intervals, and the variety here described is used in Guernsey for Pollack and Gar-fish. The Floating Trot should consist of a stout Cod-line, well stretched to take out the kinks, having pieces of cork 4 inches long by 2 wide secured flat on the line, at intervals of 2 fathoms, and midway between the spaces bung corks 2 inches across, bored through the centre, and grooved round the edge to re ceive a 3-foot piece of stout horse-hair line, having a pipe-lead at the end half an ounce in weight, and 3 feet of hemp snooding with a strong Mackerel or Pollack hook. A knot or stop must be made on each side of the bung cork, leaving sufficient play for it to revolve freely on the line; to ensure this be careful to bore the hole both large and smooth with a hot wire. At every fourth cork make fast a piece of line three or four fathoms in length, with a large stone to hinder the main line rising too high off the bottom, as well as to keep it from forming too much of a bow by the stream of tide, and moor the line at the ends with two heavy stones with buoy lines. Bait with living or dead Sand-Eels, two or three large Rag-Worms, Lugs, FIG. 35.-Floating Trot. strips of Cuttle or Squid, or any bright fish, and shoot it on or near to rocky ground just before sunset, and raise it in the morning. You will take large Pollack, Coal-fish, Bass, Bream, and Gar-fish, but for the last named use smaller hooks. A line of thirty fathoms will be found a useful length. At the commencement of the season in March, should fish be scarce, this gear wil. be found very effective, but may be used at any time. In common with other trots or bulters, this should be shot across the stream of tide, if not too strong. It may be used either on the surface, or at midwater, and should H be kept when not in use in a basket with a hook holder, shaped like a tuning-fork. THE COAL-FISH. (Merlangus carbonarius.) This fish is of a much more rounded form of body than either the real or Silver Whiting, or the Whiting-Pollack or Lythe. It is found all round our own coasts as well as on that of the north of France, and Channel Islands, but is much more abundant on the east, north, and north-west of the kingdom, and amongst the Orkneys and Shetlands, than in the English Channel. The back is dark green, lateral line and belly white, but their hue varies much, many being quite blue on the back. It attains a larger size than the Pollack, reaching sometimes 30 lbs. ; but the flesh is inferior. It has a number of provincial names, being in Devon and Cornwall known as the Race or Rauning Pollack, in Yorkshire as Parr and Billet, in the north of the kingdom as Saithe, Sillock, Coaley, Grey Lord, and Stedlock or Stenlock, and in Guernsey as Mutan. Its habits are very similar to the Pollack, being found on rocky ground, and it is taken with the same tackle and baits. I have caught numbers of 1 lb. or 2 lbs. weight in harbours with rod and line, and find them struggle harder than Pollack. Immense numbers of young Coal-fish are taken with rod and line in the Scotch lochs under the name of Cuddies, also on the Yorkshire coast, under the name of Parrs. Large fish keep more outside off headlands in strong streams of tide, and are also found on the smooth ground, where they are taken from the drift Herring boats, with hook and line, mingled with Cod. In the north of the kingdom and amongst the Scotch islands they are caught in large numbers by whiffing, with half a dozen rods stuck into a faggot or wisp of straw lashed to the thwart of the boat, with a very short line and a white feather fly (see p. 92), the boat being pulled very slowly along. A regular fishery is prosecuted in Norway, and they are also abundant on the North American coast. I THE WHITING-POUT. (Morrhua lusca.) Whiting-Pout, Rock-Whiting, Short-Whiting, Lady-Whiting, Blinds, Bib, and Blains, and the Ponchette of the Channel Islands, the 'universal Pout,' as I have heard it humorously styled, is one of the most common fish on the coasts, both on mixed and rocky ground; the larger ones afford good sport, and are very fair eating, if cleaned immediately after they are caught, as indeed all fish should be. Those taken in harbours are, however, generally small. No. 3 line, p. 48, is the size recommended. The best tackle for this fish is that described for SilverWhiting, viz., the boat-shaped lead (fig. 7, p. 42), or the Kentish Rig (fig. 3, p. 38), which I consider about the best form of chopstick for ground-fishing. Weight of leads 1 lb. for the stern-lines, and 2 lbs. for the forward lines. Any of the gear, with moderate-sized leads, as described and illustrated for Whiting, will answer for Pout-fishing; but, as it is necessary to make a selection, I have chosen these two as the best, after having given all kinds of gear an impartial trial for some years. Supposing two hands in the boat, one line apiece is sufficient in ten fathoms of water and under, and even in deeper water one is ample for beginners, but in from fifteen to thirty fathoms, after having become expert in handling the lines, two may be worked by one as in Whiting-catching. In shallow water the line should be kept in hand and the fish struck sharply whenever a bite is felt; in deep water the fish are much bolder and more ravenous, and will generally hook themselves. This applies also to the true or Silver-Whiting. By using two lines you will not be losing time, as immediately you have taken your fish off one line, and fresh baited your hooks if requisite, you have only to throw the lead overboard and attend to the other. In putting your gear overboard, be careful to throw the hooks well away from the lead, which will ensure their going down clear, otherwise they will be very likely to foul. To set your line, act as in Whiting-catching-viz., first sound the |