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i . I L I j , I I . . . . , , ; ; ; ; , DONEGAL POLLACK FISHING Great Day with Game Sea Pish in Irish Waters. Bis Game of the Briny Deep Alway Numerous and Full of Fighting Triek. It is of u day of days which calls loudly to be told of that I will write, a day. with the un-j sophisticated pollack, the boldest biter and toughest fighter for its weight the sea has to offer, writes Philip Geen of Donegal, Ireland, in tlie English Anglers News. Before the blackbirds had finished hailing the morn a boat had been manned, anil my son and I were paying out our Hue ill a sea which resembled a gently heaving mass of molten metal that had a silver fringe which encircled the feet of rocks, the heads of which were as yet hidden in the inorn-, ing mists. The ring of gold on the horizon changed to streaks of red and gold that lit up the head-: lands far and near and partially cleared away the shroud which hid their vast proportions. Then, wlule thoughts were busy witli Natures changes, ihere came n discordant noise, which told that the hitherto regular flow of extended lines had met a check, and with such violence as told of vigorous tugging life. Until now I had been in Wonderland. The soft breeze that moved the sea and the warm splendor blazing in the east gave the water a lovely glory of pink and azure, shading first to n lighter blue, and in tlie farther distance to a glittering silver brightness, which was so dazzling that the eyes had to seek elsewhere for rest. We had had but the faintest thought of fish", and their sudden coming with such rude handshakes was quite a- shock to two wee spectators at one of Natures early morning transformation scenes. Everything seemed unreal and dreamlike, yet so unliinitcdly great as to make dreams mere peep-shows and dreamers petty atoms. All this and more I saw while the rod lay on my knees, and I was toying with tlie -winch unmindful of Its check. The dumb winch protested against sucli unwarrantable neglect by paring a nail with its handle so closely that my finger bled; but the fight was on, and all my thoughts were needed to overcome the difficulties of a line, tlie loosened rings of which were tangle.d. PLENTY OF FIGHTING FISH. Several times my fish turned in time to save the break, but the fourth wild rush was too long drawn-out, and the expected and richly deserved loss occurred. The bait, trace, lead and forty-yards of line disappeared, leaving me a tangled mass of line and a much vexed temper to straighten out. while my companion got his fish and fished on witli the steady nerve of the shooter whose first shot has been successful. Fortunately, I bethought me of Shakespeares words, "Angels and ministers of grace defend us!" and of my morning pipe, and I set myself more firmly on my seat, determined to smooth my temper first, after which no doubt tlie other ills would grow less and less. The shepherds first smoke on mountain top could, be no sweeter than mine soon grew" to.be. Kirk is not the least observant of my block of sons, but he is quite the most silent. I had uttered no word that could have betrayed my inward perturbation beyond the above quotation, but he knew, and I was allowed to smoke in silence, excepting only when he had a fi?h on which, judging by its weighty rush, might be the monster of his dreams, and then only, "Ive got him this time, dad." The broken fingernail was lost to thought in wreaths of smoke, the line-clogged wheel seemed easily put right, and by tlie time all too quickly the squirtlike spluttering of the exhausted pipe said "finis," I was as I ought to have been when first we started, and then there would have been no mishap. LANDING A SIXTEEN-POUNDER. I was ready at Dundawoona Point, where. Paddys "Divil youll hould him here if theyre in their usual timper," was either meant for encouragement for me to begin or a sly knock at my failure. Billy, noticing a look of Inquiry on my face, felt called upm to siipimrt Jits mate by saying "Itll be. a great bargain entirely between the divils nnd the gear;" ... Up to now I had no fish, and yet there were a dozeii at least flopping about the boat, so I was in a hurry to let my line out among the monsters that were to play havoc with our tackle; but Kirks line was out. and lie was into n fish that roused him to say, "The divils on, Billy, and the gear has him." It was evidently a big one; so I wound In what I had let out and handled the gaff. It was a long tussle witli a grand fish, upward of sixteen pounds, which when laid beside his other captives, made .1 show of which he ought to have been proud; perhaps he was. for lie kept his eyes on them until my line was out and I was into one. Soon after we were both busy with troublesome fish that mixed our lines in a sad way. The getting of these into the boat and the disentangling of the mess tliey had made gave the boatmen a chance to quench their thirst. Paddy is a short man; yet his was the longest drink I ever saw. He was only in tin: middle of it when Billy, unable to control himself, exclaimed, "Arrah, be aisy, Paddy; its meself Hints on fire within aud without." FINE FISHING OFF MUCKR0SS POINT. Tlie rocky promontory called, Muckross" Point is of horizontally laid stones that form steps upward Into -the clear sky and downward into the blue sea. They spread out from the topmost step, bow-shaped, in an ever-increasing length, so far as the eye can peer; but of the bottom steps from which the pollack came there can le no account, other than that the fisli from off them were boisterously hungry and in such numbers as told of weedy car- .. pets on them. So hungry were they that-they came i from great depths, took our baits, and then dived straight down. It was tlte length of line they took in their return that enabled us to measure the depth from which they came. Kirk is quite an adept in discovering the height to which they will rise. His method is to let out gently a few yards, and then recover a little of it to show the fisli that the rubler worm is frightened and fleeing from them. Then another few yards and a similar recovery, and so on and on, until the temptation is too great and the fish comes up at it. He often got his fisli much closer to the boat than I did. and consequently had u better chance of keeping it from the bottom and could bring it quicker to the gaff. Kirks isuecess was always pleasing to our boatman Pat. At times my methods succeeded best, and then Billy would look at me with pride, while Pat seemed as if on the point of losing something bets, perhaps. If Billy could only guess how I have striven to teach all I know of games and sports, to all my boys, and how they have bettered their poor instructors teachings, he would have put his money on the other horse. Tlie photo of our catch proved a failure, so you must guess of it by my telling that wo were kept busy from the rising of tlie sun to its settings which vied in splendor with its rise.
