other fish ordinarily caught in the Bay, and you'll “light” upon a school of schnapper, and if you have good tackle, haul them up "hand over fist." You go to the same spot every day thereafter for a whole week, and don't catch one. They are a very migratory and gregarious fish, and that may account for the fact of their seldom being caught in a miscellaneous way, like most other kinds of fish that "pair off." Even at their regular haunts, they are irregular; not because they are scarce, but because when you are trying to catch them at the Flat Rock, they have shifted their camp to say, Smith's Rock; you shift there, and you catch as you like.

Whiting, Gar-fish, Sole, Diamond-fish.

The whiting is the most numerous, and decidedly the best eating of all the small fish caught in the Bay. There are three distinct kinds caught at Southport; the bright, shining, silver-scaled, which are caught on the outer beach; the light brown, tinted with a yellowish grey, generally hooked in the Broadwater and little bays; and the blackbacks, so named from their backs being a blackish brown, and the whole fish being of a darker colour than the other two varieties; it is also a much larger and heavier fish, turning the scales at times with weights up to 2 lbs., the average being about 1 lb.; and generally found up the Nerang and other rivers with purely sandy bottoms, and which empty into the Bay or ocean. The ordinary kinds can be caught in every part of the Bay, along the shores, and in and all about the sandy banks that crop up in any spot in the middle of the Bay; but they do not run larger than 5 oz. on an average. Their flesh is as white as snow, specially firm, and deliciously delicate to the palate; while unquestionably the greatest favourite of all small fish in the

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estimation of the mass of fish-eaters. The bait parexcellence for catching the whiting is the prawn; but it must be put on neatly, and not too much of it, or the fish will get the dinner, and not the fisherman. They are a specially bright and plucky little fish, and die gamely to the last gasp. The novice will have to be on the alert to strike, at the first decided running tug of the fish. The whiting seldom nibble; if they do you may be sure it is some little invalid of the family that is not worth catching. It is generally a pick-up and run-off kind of bite, as much as to say, "I mean business, catch me if you can ;" and sometimes it takes skill to do the thing neatly. The main thing to secure success, is to have the right tackle and bait. If your line is too heavy, and your hook too large, you might just as well try to whitewash the moon as to catch whiting.

The aborigines resort to a practice in whiting fishing that is very peculiar, and is certainly efficacious, as the writer has tried and proved it to be so a hundred or more times; and that is, to strike the water with a stick or paddle if the fish are not biting, and if there are any within sight or hearing, they rush to the spot at once, and give you a chance to hook them, as they then see your bait. The feature of being attracted by a splash and noise on the water is so great, that it happens frequently, if one of a party occupying a seat in a boat has a rather heavier sinker than the others, and makes more splash and noise in casting in, that he gets more bites and fish (if his hooks and line are the right size) than his friends alongside him.

The best method of cooking whiting is to fry them in olive oil. They are good if boiled; but it is a barbarous way of preparing such a glorious little table-fish. They are at their best for use if cleaned and put on the table

within the hour of being caught; but if that is not convenient, have them cleaned as soon as possible, some coarse salt sprinkled in the inside and about the gills, tie them with a string by the tails, hang them in a cool shady place, not huddled together in a dish, and when you want to use them, they will be firm and appetising. They are to be caught ten months out of the twelve; the best months for making big hauls being from December to May, except in Raby Bay, where a small kind are very numerous in winter. Sandworms, euggera, and cockles are the next best bait to prawns. The same bait, but lighter tackle, with a No. 12 hook will answer for catching gar, sole, flounder, and diamond-fish. To secure the gar-fish, you want no sinker, and attach a small piece of cork to within a couple of inches of the hook, so as to keep it on the surface; you also require a light bamboo rod with fine top. If you get among a good school it affords really fine sport, as you have to be expert to hook the little rogues. All four of these fish require skill to catch them, as they are noted thieves, and display an amount of dexterity in picking the bait off a hook that would open the eyes of any novice set to catch them. As a highly trained artistic thief, however, the diamond-fish claims, and is awarded, by all who have had an encounter with him, the first place. Never, even if you are an expert fisherman, try a "bout" with him, if your tackle is the slighest shade too large; if you do, be sure you'll get the worst of the tussle. The whole of these little fish are remarkably good for the table, but they are rarely caught with the hook in quantities. They are caught now and again in the rivers, but the best spots, however, are to be found along the patches of sandy beach in the Bay; and they will take any shellfish as bait.

Bream.

The black bream surpasses, in the estimation of the fisherman, all other fish in the waters of Southern Queensland, for the reason that he can be caught all the year round. In the Bay, in the shallow waters; on the sandy beach bordering the shores of the Pacific; in the biggest rivers and smallest creeks that empty themselves into the Bay or Ocean; in any hole or corner where a living is to be made, no matter what difficulties he may have to encounter to get there, you'll find him hard at work; and never too "full" to negotiate the bait offered him by the fisherman, always providing it is of the right sort. He is the most industrious, "high-spirited," and pluckiest fish to be had in Australian waters. Nothing daunts him; and, when he is caught, and lying on the grass, or in the boat, you see, as he heaves his sides in the effort of making the last gasp, his eye glisten as it shoots forth the parting electric spark of defiance, and he dies like a Gladiator.

"Yet low'ring on his enemy,

As if the hour that seal'd his fate,
Surviving left his quenchless hate.”

There are several kinds of bream; the black, silverybrown, red, bony, and the silver-bream, also some other varieties; but the three first-named are the choicest and most commonly caught with the line, and best known to fishermen. The black and silvery-brown bream are caught in the rivers, creeks and bays alike; but the red is seldom caught out of the Bay or ocean, except at the mouths of the streams communicating with either the one or the other. They are all agreed on one head, and that is their partiality to rocks. Wherever find a clump of rocks, whether in the rivers or Bay, be sure it

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