Part I: Tarpon And Other Big-Fishes

Chapter I. The Tarpons And The Gar-Fish. The Tarpons (Elopid)

These fishes belong to the sub-order Malacop-terygii, of which we have given a short definition in dealing with the salmon family, and they have often been associated with the herrings in zoological c...

The Gar-Fish (Belone)

The gar-fish, with its near allies the saury (Hemirhamphus) and the flying fish (Exococtus), which are associated under the family Scombresocid*, represents a group of Teleosteans of the sub-order Per...

Chapter II. Tarpon And Other Big Fishes Of Florida

Our once well-stocked rivers are rapidly declining both in volume and fish. The former, in consequence of improved systems of drainage and increased consumption of water; the latter, by over-netting a...

Tarpon And Other Big Fishes Of Florida. Part 2

May is the best month for tarpon fishing, although good sport may be obtained earlier if the weather is warm enough. In June the rainy season sets in, and it becomes hot, while the fish, being heavy w...

Tarpon And Other Big Fishes Of Florida. Part 3

When about four miles out in the gulf, the fish suddenly alters his course to due north, and finally enters Boca Grande Pass. Here are many more fishers who greet the apparition with jeers and shouts;...

Tarpon And Other Big Fishes Of Florida. Part 4

Among them is a 17-feet hammer-head upon which the harpooner has had his eye for some time, and after which he now proceeds; straight towards the boat comes the hammer-head, his huge proportions denot...

Chapter III. The Mahseer And The Bola

Natural History And Classification The carp family is very richly represented in the fresh watei^ of India and Burma, but, with a few exceptions, by genera totally different from those with which w...

Chapter IV. Mahseer Fishing

There are many varieties of fish in Indian waters, some few good for the table, but the larger number poor as compared with our fish in Great Britain. Most of the fish take ground bait only, and it...

Mahseer Fishing. Continued

The total catch was four fish over ten pounds each, and nine others averaging a little over four pounds each. We could not carry all home, so buried some and heaped a cairn of stones over them. We wer...

Chapter V. Fishing-Rods And Tackle For Mahseer

Fishing-rods, reels, and tackle employed in mahseer fishing may be described as similar to those used for salmon fishing, and only differ from them in a few details, such as balance in rods, and stren...

Fishing-Rods And Tackle For Mahseer. Continued

Gut, undoubtedly, is our oldest friend and a true one. For light spoon traces as well as for fly it should be used, and must not be left out of the tackle list, as it always comes in useful. It should...

Part II: Angling

Chapter VI. The Pike (Esox)

The Esocidey with the pike and their allies, constitute a group, or sub-order, the Haplomi, distinguished from the Malacopterygii by the absence of the so-called mesocoracoid arch or bony bridge on th...

Chapter VII. Fishing For Pike: The Quarry

Pike, jack, or pickerel, as the same fish is variously called according to its age and size, are the only recognised species of Esox-lucius found in the rivers and lakes of Great Britain, or known in ...

Chapter VIII. Fishing For Pike: History And Habits

Pike are monogamous; the males and females pair in January or early February, so that, during these months and March, when one is caught the other may often be captured. The females spawn in March o...

Chapter IX. Fishing For Pike: Fables And Records

It is a strange thing with some pike, or rather with the captors of them, that the weight of fish they catch increases largely after death in a most marvellous manner, and quite irrespective of their ...

Fishing For Pike: Fables And Records. Continued

The fecundity of pike is amazing. Frank Buck-land tells of one which was caught on April 2,1870, in one of the Norfolk Broads, and sent to him. It weighed 32 lbs., and measured 3 feet 8 inches; the ro...

Chapter X. Fishing For Pike: Rods And Tackles

The pike ranks, in the estimation of most anglers, as one of the gamest and most sport-giving of all fresh-water fish. A 12-pounder in its prime, ue. from October to February, will give as much s...

Fishing For Pike: Rods And Tackles. Continued

There are plenty of low-priced lines to be had, but they are not cheap because of little cost; they are badly made and untrustworthy, consisting of a core of shoddy material, around which silk is plai...

Chapter XI. Fishing For Pike: "Spinning," "Live-Baiting," And "Paternostering"

Most anglers consider spinning a more artistic way by which to capture pike than other methods, and as I have described the rod and tackles necessary for pursuing this delightful branch of the art o...

Fishing For Pike: "Spinning," "Live-Baiting," And "Paternostering". Continued

24.- Chertsey Bridge. 25.- Live-Bait Snap Fishing. The last, and possibly the best artificials I shall mention, are phantom-baits ; they are made in various sizes and colours, of sil...

Chapter XII. The Perches (Percides)

These spiny-rayed or Acanthopterygian fishes, of which our common perch is the type, are distinguished among their relatives in having only one or two spines in the anal fin, the allied Cen-trarchid* ...

Chapter XIII. Perch: "Paternoster" And "Float-Fishing"

The freshwater perch (Perca-fluviatilis) is a typical member of the Percidae family, and is not only one of the most beautiful of the fish which inhabit our rivers and lakes, but ranks as a prime favo...

Chapter XIV. The Carp Family (Cyprinias)

These fishes represent in our fresh waters the great sub-order Ostariophysi^ soft-rayed Teleosteans, with the mesocoracoid arch present as in the Salmonids, with the ventral fins inserted far behind t...

The Carp Family (Cyprinias). Part 2

1. Carp X Crucian Carp (Cyprinus Kollarii) Barbels as in the carp, but smaller; scales in lateral line 35 to 38. 2. Roach X Bream (Abramis Buggenhagii) Anal fin with 12 to 17 branched rays; s...

The Carp Family (Cyprinias). Part 3

The Barbel (Barbus vulgaris), an inhabitant of the rivers of Central Europe, is very locally distributed in England (Thames, Lea, Trent, Yorkshire, Wales), and absent from Scotland and Ireland. Specim...

Chapter XV. Angling For Carp

There are exceptions to all rules, but as a rule I should not advise an angler to waste much time in carp fishing-life is too short and the art of catching carp takes too long to learn, and there are ...

Angling For Carp. Part 2

As for the best times and seasons, Mr. Overbeck says in the water he fishes the last two weeks in September and the first two in October are the only weeks in the year he does any good; he has caught ...

Angling For Carp. Part 3

I was fishing for bream with a 14-oz. rod, a running line of plaited silk about the thickness of cotton, a fine gut ledger trace, and a No. 5 round-bend hook mounted on very fine gut. Old George had b...

Chapter XVI. Angling For Barbel

It is a curious fact that, although there are plenty of barbel in the Thames and some of its tributaries, it is rare for anglers to have good sport with this strong and handsome fish in such rivers as...

Chapter XVII. Angling For Roach

Some anglers cannot understand why fishing for roach should be such fascinating sport to so many anglers; there are probably a score of roach anglers for every one who prefers fishing for perch, chub,...

Angling For Roach. Continued

An excellent way of roach fishing is ledgering with float tackle and ground bait. The white paste bait with the hook in it is embedded in a bit of ground bait pressed round it; this is carefully and g...

Angling For The Rudd

I think the most beautiful rudd I have ever seen were fish of about 1¾ lbs. to over 2 lbs. in weight, which we caught in the Fleet, near Felixstowe Ferry. The scales were a clear golden yellow, the fi...

Chapter XVIII. Angling For Chub

The chub and dace have one great attraction for the fly fisher, they both delight in feeding on flies and other insects which float down on the surface. In shape the fish are very much alike, but are ...

Angling For The Dace

Where dace are plentiful and run to herring size -a pound dace is a rare fish-they give excellent sport to the young fly fisher, so most of the angling books tell us. My experience is that dace are of...

Chapter XIX. Angling For Tench

If tench would take the fly like other of the so-called coarse fish it would be introduced into waters all over the country, as it is a handsome, vigorous fish, which fights well for liberty when hook...

Chapter XX. Angling For Bream

In fishing for bream I have found the same kind of tackle and baits as referred to in my notes on tench fishing answer very well. It is quite a mistake to suppose that because bream grow to many pound...

Chapter XXI. The Eels (Anguillide)

The eel and the conger are the well-known British representatives of a large sub-order of Teleostean fishes, known as Apodes^ on account of the constant absence of the ventral or pelvic fins. It is, h...

Chapter XXII. Angling For Eels

In Shropshire and Herefordshire, when the Onny and the Lugg were coloured after a storm, I have had many a good day's sport fishing with wasp grub or worm for eels, although I confess I have never got...

Chapter XXIII. Eel Trapping

As is well known eels breed in the sea. The young eels-elvers, as they are called-ascend in April and May. The adult eels descend to the sea to breed from June to December. The elvers only run on spri...

Part III: Sea-Fishing

Chapter XXIV. British Sea Fish. The Grey Mullets (Mugii)

The fishes of this genus are easily recognised by their feebly compressed body and short, rounded head, both covered with large, strongly overlapping scales; the infcro-lateral eyes, better visible fr...

The Cod Family (Gadida)

The relations and systematic position of this group of fishes, so important from an economic point of view, have been, and are still, a subject of contention among ichthyologists. Having no spines to ...

The Coal-Fish (Gadus Virens)

Also called green cod, black pollack, saith, and sillock. The three dorsal fins are low, the second the longest at the base, but shorter than the first anal fin. The lower jaw projects a little beyond...

The Pollack (Gadus Pollachius)

This fish, which grows to a length of three feet, is recognisable among the species with the base of the anal fin considerably longer than that of the second dorsal, by its very prominent lower jaw, t...

The Sea-Bass And Sea-Perch (Serranida)

This family, one of the largest of the class Pisces, and formed almost exclusively of marine species, is very nearly related to the true perches; the characters on which they have been separated from ...

The Mackerel Family (Scombriae)

Acanthopterygians with non-protractile, beak-like upper jaw; fusiform body, without or with very small, smooth scales; a spinous dorsal fin of slender spines, folding into a sheath, and longer soft do...

The Tunny (Thunnus Thynnus)

Tunnies and bonitoes are closely related to the mackerels, differing in the presence of enlarged scales on the pectoral region, forming a corselet, and of a longitudinal keel on each side of the cauda...

The Sharks (Carchariida)

The class fishes is divided primarily into three sub-classes: Teleostomes (the bony fishes and sturgeons), Chondropterygians (sharks, rays, chimae-ras), and Cyclostomes (lampreys and hag-fish). All th...

Chapter XXV. Sea-Fishing: Introductory

Little by little the sport of sea-fishing is attracting the attention in this country that has so long been accorded to its claims elsewhere. In almost every Mediterranean country long rods have for a...

Chapter XXVI. Section I. Sea-Fishing From Boats: Mackerel Fishing

It may be presumed, though the chronology and evolution of sea-fishing as a sport form no part of the scope of these remarks, that sea-fishing from boats came before sea-fishing from the shore. I neit...

Mackerel Fishing. Part 2

For mackerel fishing in this way from a rowing-boat I should strongly recommend the use of a rod, a 10-feet trout-rod for preference. It imparts an element of sport to what is otherwise a not very spo...

Mackerel Fishing. Part 3

Now, it will at once occur to the reader, particularly if he is an Irishman, that it may be necessary to catch your mackerel before you cut artistic baits out of the side of its tail. The float las...

Mackerel Fishing. Part 4

1 Since writing these lines. I find that my friend, the late Mr. J. C. Wilcocks, also asserts (in The Sea Fisherman, fourth edition, p. 126) this superiority of the left-hand float. As I always h...

Mackerel Fishing. Part 5

A little tide is essential for drift-line fishing, the principle of which is to anchor the boat in the tideway, and let the line and hook, without any lead to weigh it down, drift away on the tide. Th...

Chapter XXVII. Sea-Fishing From Boats: Pollack Fishing

Bass and pollack are, in fact, the other fish caught by the methods already recommended for mackerel, though with heavier tackle in proportion to their greater size and strength. In fishing for them w...

Pollack Fishing. Part 2

Well, it is my business to put the reader in possession of the most killing methods of taking the chief sporting fishes of our seas and not to quibble about names. Drift-lining is, in fact, also pr...

Pollack Fishing. Part 3

The behaviour of a pollack when hooked is entirely different from that of any of the other fishes so far mentioned, different indeed from any other familiar fish in our seas. If the action of a shark ...

Pollack Fishing. Part 4

I have just used the expression pollack grounds, from which it will be surmised that this fish has its favourite haunts, and that, in order to catch pollack it is first necessary to find them. The f...

Chapter XXVIII. Sea-Fishing From Boats: Whiting And Other Fish

There is a tackle, known as the sprawl or chopstick, of which some account must here be given. There are two rigs of this tackle, the Kentish and the Dartmouth. In the Kentish, the form seen al...

Whiting And Other Fish. Part 2

Conger fishing, another and distinct amusement, is also best practised from an anchored boat, though there are several piers and harbours from which moderately large conger are to be caught in August ...

Whiting And Other Fish. Part 3

I have here described conger fishing as a night sport, and so indeed it is as a rule, though there is no reason why congers, large enough to give the amateur sport, should not be caught in daylight. I...

Chapter XXIX. Sea-Fishing From Boats: Bass Fishing

And now we come to that calm-water fishing for bass and others of the fish already named, to which the attention of the seasick has been specially invited. It has just been said that the bass likes...

Bass Fishing. Part 2

1 I show a square hook here for the sake of variety, though the round bends have latterly given me greater satisfaction. 75.- Getting To Work 76.- Bass Caught In Alde. Such is bass fi...

Chapter XXX. Sea-Fishing From Boats: General Remarks

This, then, concludes what I have to say about fishing from boats, but I do not want to take leave of the subject without a few words of caution on the subject of general procedure and behaviour in su...

General Remarks On Sea-Fishing From Boats. Continued

Those who own small yachts, by the way, might do worse than invest in a correspondingly small trammel. The trammel is virtually a net wall, standing about six feet high, and doing its work in the dark...

Chapter XXXI. Section II. Sea-Fishing From Fixed Positions

A boat may, of course, be to all intents and purposes a fixed position, provided the boat be sufficiently large and the water sufficiently smooth. I have fished from a 6000-ton steamer in an Australia...

Chapter XXXII. Sea-Fishing From Fixed Positions: Fishing From Rocks

The most extraordinary rock-fishing-we will for convenience take our fixed positions in this order : rocky shores, sandy shores, and piers-that I ever took part in was on the coast of Australia. I...

Sea-Fishing From Fixed Positions: Fishing From Rocks. Part 2

Where there is a sandy bottom immediately within the rock-angler's reach, a leger-tackle for flat-fish or whiting will perhaps be found to answer best, but as the principle and management of this tack...

Sea-Fishing From Fixed Positions: Fishing From Rocks. Part 3

The rapidity with which, particularly during the second half of the flood-i.e. often the best time for prawning-the sea may come swirling round those rocks and cut off the careless and absorbed prawne...

Chapter XXXIII. Sea-Fishing From Fixed Positions: Fishing From Sandy Shores

Fishing from a sandy shore is practised under quite different conditions. In the first place it may for the most part be regarded as an autumn and winter, and not as a summer, pastime. The fish caught...

Sea-Fishing From Fixed Positions: Fishing From Sandy Shores. Continued

Thus, the setting, or shooting, as it is generally called, of a long line-variously known as trot, spiller, or bulter-might conceivably afford sport to some, and it is to the sandy coast that...

Chapter XXXIV. Sea-Fishing From Fixed Positions: Fishing From Piers And Harbours

Fishing from piers and harbours is an almost distinct branch of the sport, so many little modifications are necessary under the altered conditions. Much depends, in the first place, on whether the pie...

Fishing From Piers And Harbours. Part 2

When there are large mackerel round a pier, as sometimes occurs in hot summers at Bournemouth and elsewhere on the south coast, the drift-line is a killing method of fishing, but it is essential to fi...

Fishing From Piers And Harbours. Part 3

There is a method of fishing from harbours or quays on tidal rivers that is distinct from anything that has previously been described in these sea-fishing notes. It will be more or less welcomed by th...

Fishing From Piers And Harbours. Part 4

The grey mullet, about the most difficult fish to catch in British seas, is essentially the property of the harbour-fisher, for this fish delights in the soft food to be found alongside quays and dock...

Chapter XXXV. Some Notes On Baits

It seems desirable that a few notes should here be given on one or two of the more uncommon natural baits, of which the sea-angler from time to time avails himself. Every form of fishing has its own p...

Chapter XXXVI. Fishery Laws

For some mysterious reason the law on all sporting matters is complicated and difficult of clear statement, but the worst of all is the law of fishing. The number of the Acts of Parliament, the abomin...

Fishery Laws. Part 2

With the second the confusion begins; it is called a free fishery. Naturally persons have considered this means a fishery where any one could fish, but the meaning is very different. What the precise ...

Fishery Laws. Part 3

There are also provisions forbidding taking salmon out of season, or even in season if in an unfit state to be taken, technically called unclean, or of young salmon before they have migrated to the ...

Fishery Laws. Part 4

These are the main statutory provisions of the Fishery Acts. There are also certain matters in other Acts that should be noticed. By the Larceny Law Consolidation Act, 1861 (24 and 25 Vict., c. 96), i...

Fishery Laws. Part 5

In prosecutions before justices, which are the usual form that fishery litigation takes, the prosecutor, if he is the tenant, must remember that, unless he has a lease of the fishing rights by a deed,...

Fishery Laws. Part 6

Where no figures are inserted no licences are issued. The figures are the maximum. By-laws have also been made as to the annual close time for trout and char in certain districts. When the district...

Fishery Laws. Part 7

Another rule of the Scotch law of great practical importance is that to use any new or unusual mode of catching fish is illegal. It is not illegal to use net and coble so constantly as practically to ...

Fishery Laws. Part 8

The rules as to fixed engines, bag nets, and weirs are much the same as those in England. No fixed engine that was not in use in 1862, and no bag net not in use in July 1863, can be legally used. All ...

Appendix. (1) Agreement For Angling

An Agreement made and entered into this day of 19 , between A B of (hereinafter called the lessor), of the one part, and C D of (hereinafter called the tenant), of the other part If the agreement i...

(2) Agreement For Letting Fishing Rights

An Agreement made and entered into the day of 19 , , between A B of (hereinafter called the lessor), of the one part, and CD of [or C D , E F , and G H , members of and on behalf of the Society] (here...

(3) Lease Of Fishing Rights

This Indenture, made this day of , 19 , between A B , of (hereinafter called the lessor), of the one part, and C D , of [or E F , G H , etc., of , members of, and on behalf of, the Fishery Society], (...