On the east coast a long line, fitted with many hooks, is slung out as far as possible by means of a pole, and the home end either held in the hand of the fisher or fastened to the top of a flexible stick driven into the sand. The latter plan becomes necessary when more than one line is owned by the same individual, and he is made aware of the bite of a large fish--and a large fish only, since the hooks are placed beyond a heavy lead--by the bending of the stick. The naturalist, however, is as much interested in the small fish as the large ones, and, even for beach fishing, a rod and line, fitted with one or two hooks only, and a lead no heavier than is absolutely essential, will be preferable. A little practice will of course be necessary in order that one may become expert in the casting of the rod line, but with large rings on the rod, and a reel without a check, or a check that can be thrown off when desired, the necessary proficiency in casting ought to be acquired without much difficulty. In some of the sandy bays of the south-west, long lines with a heavy lead at both ends and baited hooks at short intervals throughout the whole length, are placed on the sand at low tide close to the water’s edge, and left unwatched until the next tide is out. As far as our observations go this primitive mode of fishing is usually anything but successful, the receding of the tide generally revealing a long row of clean hooks, with, perhaps, one or two dead or half-dead fish; and it is probable that most of the bait is devoured by crabs and other crustaceans before the water becomes sufficiently deep to allow the desired fishes to reach it. There is one other method of fishing on which we may make a few remarks, although it hardly comes under the heading of shore fishing. We refer to a method of catching surface fishes from a moving boat, which method is known as whiffing. The line is weighted with a lead which must be regulated according to the speed of the boat. If the boat is an ordinary rowing-boat, kept going at only a moderate speed, a few ounces of lead will be sufficient, but a whiffing line trailing behind a sailing boat travelling in a good breeze will require a pound or two of lead to keep the bait only a little below the surface. Beyond the lead we have three or four yards of gimp or strong gut, at the end of which is a single hook fitted with a spinner, or baited with some attractive natural or artificial bait. Whatever be the bait used, there will certainly be more or less spinning caused by the resistance offered by the water, hence it will be necessary to have a swivel beyond the lead.