The Fisherman Author:John Cameron Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE BAIT TO USE. Next to the size of hook and line to be employed, the bait is all-important ; for the fish are just as great epicures, and ar... more »e as fond of a favourite dish, as " any odder man." It may as well be stated in the very outset, that all round, no bait equals prawns. There are few, if any, parts of the world where prawns will not answer as bait in salt water. The prawn to a fish is like bread to a man. It matters not whether the appetite is keen or not, the prawn will be taken readily; while meat, fish, and other baits will be disregarded, unless the fish are hungry. It would be difficult to name the edible fish that will not take the prawn—omitting, of course, the fish that do not take the bait at all. Next in importance to prawns is the mullet, which for deep sea fishing has the advantage over prawns in the being bigger, and perhaps, to big fish, more attractive on that account. Eugerra are also a good bait for Bay or river fishing, but none of them can compare with the prawn. The great difficulty the fisherman has to cope with is the bait. Generally, if he makes up his mind for a day's fishing, he can make all his arrangements to fit in nicely, bar the bait. If he has a difficulty to contend with, ninety-nine cases out of the hundred it will be—no bait to be got. A fresh in the river, a high wind, a thunderstorm, too late, all sold, or some other reason why all hisexpectations to get bait are dashed to the ground. When he gets it, there steps in the difficulty how to keep it. In regard to prawns, this has been the question of questions. In the summer months, three hours out of the water is sufficient to decompose prawns to such a stage of putrescence as to make them almost rotten ; and so offensive that a quart of them can disseminate an effluviu...« less