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SALT WATER ANGLING.

For some years past, I have been in the habit of spending a month or six weeks, annually, at a small retired village known by the name of Boldre, which abuts on the New Forest, in Hampshire, and is situated about one mile from the sea-port town of Lymington. I have, for the most part, selected the present month for my intinerant excursion into that delightful part of the country, when the May-fly, just bursting into active life from its torpid sub-aqueous imprisonment, is to be observed toying throughout the day, during its brief existence, over the surfaces of brooks and streams, falling an easy and unconscious prey to the trout, grayling, and other muscicapous fish. Although I have devoted much of my time to the fascinating pastime of fly-fishing, yet, by way of a change for I am addicted to variety-I have frequently indulged in the practice of salt-water angling, which affords a wide and diversified scope for piscatorial sport. I know of no spot, in the immediate locality I am speaking of, so well calculated for this particular class of diversion, as is the Lymington river, which, taking its rise at a place called New Park in the forest, and skirting the rural villages of Brockenhurst and Boldre, ultimately disembogues its waters into the Solent, a strait that separates the Isle of Wight from the main land, partaking of the character of an important estuary.

The abundant shoals of divers salt-water fish, that come up at this season of the year with the tides, towards the freshes, admit of excellent sport to those who are fond of general angling; and, if "pot luck" should prove an object of consideration to such adventurers, they will find themselves amply remunerated for their pains in following up this order of maritime recreation. The earliest spring visitor of the flood, that manifests itself in these waters, is a small fish somewhat less than, but greatly resembling, the smelt, under which name it is appelled by the inhabitants generally throughout the neighbourhood; but it does not possess that fragrant cucumber odour so peculiar to the latter delicacy, neither does it entertain the flavour of the pride of the Trent. It is known in ichthyological treatises as the anthera, and, in some parts of England, is called the rosette or sand-smelt. Towards the latter end of May, these finny shoals arrive in prodigious numbers, penetrating into the ostia or mouths of all our fresh water rivers, whilst they are mercilessly pursued by their unsparing enemies the gore-bill or mackerelguard, and the whiting coal, provincially named grundel, both which tyrants follow up their prey with unceasing avidity. I have stood on Lymington bridge just as the young tide has been making its way up from the Needles point, and have taken, in the course of six hours, with a single rod and line, twelve score of these fish and upwards, for they seize the bait ravenously when it is offered them, and are hooked and secured without any trouble. A No. 10 hook is the proper instrument to be employed in angling for the anthera, for the mandiles of these

fish are exceedingly thin, and the membraneous orifice of their mouths is easily torn in the act of hooking them. They appear to be omnivorous, for they dart at, and seize every minute object that presents itself to them. When more legitimate baits have been wanting (for the sun has a powerful effect upon vermicular stock, destroying the same in a very short time after it is exposed to its agency) I have succeeded in capturing these fish by cutting up one of their own species into very small pieces, and using the same, which I found to prove a very killing

bait.

The lug and rag worm, procured from the sands and the detritus of the estuaries at low tides, are the most preferable items for salt water angling, as they appear to be acceptable to every description of marine fish, with the exception of the mullet, which is an exceedingly shy biter. The anthera has one characteristic feature pertaining to it, which I never detected in any other fish: it is this, viz., the whole of the viscera are enveloped in a black viscous fluid, that reaches from the thorax to the extremity of the abdomen. These minnows of the deep die almost as soon as they are removed from their native element, and assume a stiff turgid appearance. They are, in a culinary point of view, of minor importance, possessing little or no flavour, and hardly recompense the fisherman for the trouble he may feel disposed to take in preparing them for gastronomical purposes; but if they are consigned to the guardian of the kitchen, they should be attended to immediately, as the sand-smelt is a fish that very soon fades, and will not keep sweet beyond the efflux of the tide during which it is captured. The people in the parts of this country around Lymington fry them with crumbs of bread, after the manner of smelts, and appear to regard them as being that truly delicate fish, whereas they belong to quite a different and distinct family. These fish remain with us throughout the months of May, June, and July, when they take their departure, migrating into other latitudes, for they are never seen afterwards until the return of spring.

The uncertainty attendant upon salt-water angling is this: you know not what fish you may have hooked until you have succeeded in drawing it to the surface of the water: thus it frequently happens that whilst fishing for anthera, you strike a mackerel-guard, which voracious pilot of the deep will seize a rag-worm with avidity. When such is the case, no time should be lost in landing him; for his long serrated bill, when brought into operation with the gut foot-line, will have the effect of severing it in twain, whereby you will lose both the fish and your tackle. I have, in the act of baiting for sand-smelts, hooked a dozen or more gore-bills one after another, which causes me to believe that they shoal like other fish; if so, they must prove a very formidable colony in their marauding march through the briny waves. They afford good sport when they bite freely. During their stay in any one quarter, the anthera are to be witnessed leaping out of the water, trying to escape the devouring grasp of their reckless pursuers. About the beginning of June, the same water swarms with a fish known hereabout as the whiting coal, whiting pout, or grundel. It is of the whiting family, but is a shorter and much thicker-bellied fish; indeed, in mould and complexion, it resembles a small cooling. They are of a ravenous nature, and come up and go down with the tides. The grundel will readily snap at a live shrimp, a lug or rag-worm. The most effectual

method to treat the above fish, is to use a double twisted gut foot-line,

armed with a No. 6 hook the line should be shotted from four to six inches above the latter. No float ought to be used upon such occasions, but the line should be lowered and drawn up alternately. The ictus or stroke of the fish will be sensibly felt by the hand, when the capture may be completed. Four to five dozen of these fish may be killed during one flood tide; but as soon as the efflux takes place they betake themselves off to the sea, returning with the reflux to the mouths of the freshes. They vary greatly in size; but seldom, in weight, exceed three-quarters of a pound, although I have taken them somewhat heavier. The whiting coal is, for the most part, a remarkably full-bellied fish, the internal organs being arranged and constructed upon a scale quite out of due proportion to the external size of its body. It is, nevertheless, a very gay victim when hooked, and will struggle hard and stubbornly to retain a position in its native element. The meat it affords is very sweet and flaky, approaching to that observable in the haddock and whiting it is a fish very seldom seen in the London markets. The grundel abounds, during the summer months, in the waters of the Solent, and may be taken in large quantities off Cowes, Yarmouth, and the Needles, after the manner exercised in whiting fishing. It quits our rivers at the beginning of August, and does not reappear until the ensuing spring. Independent of the above, there are to be met with very fine flounders, some of which run as much as three-quarters of a pound in weight. They are in these parts denominated" half-fish," from the peculiar construction of their form; a live shrimp or a ragworm is, for the most part, used in the capture of the flounder. It lies close to the ground; and in taking its prey, has a grotesque mode of rising upwards in a perpendicular direction, and seizing the object of its attraction. From two to three dozen of these are often captured in the course of a few hours. There is one objectionable habit noticeable in this fish, which is, that it sucks in the bait, the hook passing downwards into the maw or stomach, to extricate which, the application of the knife is invariably necessary whereby to redeem the hook from the creature's sophagus. Some persons are in the practice of spearing flounders, being furnished with long poles, at one extremity of which are infixed iron spindles, finely pointed and barbed: the fish, when struck, cannot release themselves, and many are taken after the foregoing manner.

The base is another tenant of our waters; the same may be caught by the operation of the rod and line, as are the former fish. The baits used in base-fishing are the lug and the rag-worm. It is a very bold feeder; and, being armed with a forest of spines on the dorsal and pectoral fins, becomes a troublesome customer to disengage from the hook when taken. I was, some summers since, occupied in a boat near a spot in the Lymington river, known as Jack in the basket, where the freshes fall into the Solent. The tide was making up with great force. I had adopted a lug-worm for my bait, and contrived to strike some kind of fish on several occasions, which, in each separate instance, managed to rescind the hook from the line, so that I always lost my purchase of the object I distinctly felt struggling with me. I passed away more than one dozen hooks after the manner described, and was puzzled to make out what unknown usurper of the tide had so effectually defeated every successive endeavour of mine to secure him. It was becoming

dusk; so I hauled up the anchor, laid by my rod and tackle for the night, and rowed homeward. The next day, I hit upon an expedient which I considered would prove the means of obviating the unpleasant disappointment I had experienced on the preceding day; so I obtained some stout gimped hooks, and having attached one of them to my trolling line, I in the afternoon rowed down the river, and anchored off the same place. I had not been long in the act of pursuing my avocation, when I felt a tug at my line. I was confident in the strength of my tackle, and perceived I had hooked some fish of more than ordinary power. It required great skill and judgment, on my part, to secure my hold upon my unknown friend, for his weight assured me it was no baby I had to deal with. I was engaged upwards of five minutes in struggling with my combatant, when eventually I discovered that I had hooked an immense base; and as I drew him up into the boat, his large mouth being wide open, and the long spines on his back and other fins being thrown upward, he looked like some sea-dragon I had got beside me : this capture weighed six pounds. On the same evening I succeeded in taking from three to four dozen base of different sizes, varying from half a pound to three pounds in weight: I found, from this fact, that the largest fish lie in deep water, and that boat-fishing is, on that account, preferable to standing on the shore in the prosecution of the above kind of sport. There is an abundance of salt-water eels in the tideways, more particularly so in the various dykes that intersect the boundaries of the salt-works between Lymington and Key, or Quay-haven. I have seen eels taken out of these ditches which have weighed as much as nine pounds each. Baskets and night lines are chiefly used in eelcatching; but there is a somewhat curious practice pursued by some of the country folk in these parts, in relation to the capturing of these fish: it is styled eel-bobbing; and the mode adopted is as follows:-A man provides himself with a long stout ash or other pole, cut from some adjacent wood or hedge-row. At one of the extremities of this pole he affixes a strong cord; to the other end of the cord is annexed three or four skeins of coarse worsted, cut asunder, so that every thread is separated. To the extremity of these threads a knot is made, and the same are caused to be conducted through as many large lob-worms as there are filaments. When the whole of the latter are furnished with vermicular bait, the angler consigns his bob to the water, and allows the worms to rest at the bottom of the dykes for some time. By gently raising his bob, he can sensibly distinguish what the likely quantity of fish are engaged in gorging their prey. When he apprehends that he has drawn a tolerably good lot to his toil, he suddenly jerks it up, casting the bob over his shoulders behind him on the ground. The cels getting their teeth entangled in the worsted, are unable, readily, to disengage themselves, and eventually become the unsuspecting victims to their own gluttony.

There is another ingenious method of catching the above fish, which goes under the name of sniggling. Eels are very prone to take umbrage in the crannies of decayed bridges, and, until they liberate themselves from their latebra, and begin to " run," it is with great difficulty they can be tempted with a bait. In such cases, expert fishermen have recourse to the following effectual mode of surprising their quarry concealed in their imaginary secure abodes. They procure a thick strong

method to treat the above fish, is to use a double twisted gut foot-line, armed with a No. 6 hook the line should be shotted from four to six inches above the latter. No float ought to be used upon such occasions, but the line should be lowered and drawn up alternately. The ictus or stroke of the fish will be sensibly felt by the hand, when the capture may be completed. Four to five dozen of these fish may be killed during one flood tide; but as soon as the efflux takes place they betake themselves off to the sea, returning with the reflux to the mouths of the freshes. They vary greatly in size; but seldom, in weight, exceed three-quarters of a pound, although I have taken them somewhat heavier. The whiting coal is, for the most part, a remarkably full-bellied fish, the internal organs being arranged and constructed upon a scale quite out of due proportion to the external size of its body. It is, nevertheless, a very gay victim when hooked, and will struggle hard and stubbornly to retain a position in its native element. The meat it affords is very sweet and flaky, approaching to that observable in the haddock and whiting it is a fish very seldom seen in the London markets. The grundel abounds, during the summer months, in the waters of the Solent, and may be taken in large quantities off Cowes, Yarmouth, and the Needles, after the manner exercised in whiting fishing. It quits our rivers at the beginning of August, and does not reappear until the ensuing spring. Independent of the above, there are to be met with very fine flounders, some of which run as much as three-quarters of a pound in weight. They are in these parts denominated" half-fish," from the peculiar construction of their form; a live shrimp or a ragworm is, for the most part, used in the capture of the flounder. It lies close to the ground; and in taking its prey, has a grotesque mode of rising upwards in a perpendicular direction, and seizing the object of its attraction. From two to three dozen of these are often captured in the course of a few hours. There is one objectionable habit noticeable in this fish, which is, that it sucks in the bait, the hook passing downwards into the maw or stomach, to extricate which, the application of the knife is invariably necessary whereby to redeem the hook from the creature's esophagus. Some persons are in the practice of spearing flounders, being furnished with long poles, at one extremity of which are infixed iron spindles, finely pointed and barbed: the fish, when struck, cannot release themselves, and many are taken after the foregoing manner.

The base is another tenant of our waters; the same may be caught by the operation of the rod and line, as are the former fish. The baits used in base-fishing are the lug and the rag-worm. It is a very bold feeder; and, being armed with a forest of spines on the dorsal and pectoral fins, becomes a troublesome customer to disengage from the hook when taken. I was, some summers since, occupied in a boat near a spot in the Lymington river, known as Jack in the basket, where the freshes fall into the Solent. The tide was making up with great force. I had adopted a lug-worm for my bait, and contrived to strike some kind of fish on several occasions, which, in each separate instance, managed to rescind the hook from the line, so that I always lost my purchase of the object I distinctly felt struggling with me. I passed away more than one dozen hooks after the manner described, and was puzzled to make out what unknown usurper of the tide had so effectually defeated every successive endeavour of mine to secure him. It was becoming

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