in my judgment if it deserves to be commended it is more then justified for some practices that may be justified deserve no commendation yet there are none that deserve commendation but may be justified And now having said thus much by way of preparation I am next to tell you that in ancient times a debate hath risen and it is not yet resolved Whether Contemplation or Action be the chiefest thing wherin the happiness of a man doth most consist in this world Concerning which some have maintained their opinion of the first by saying That the nearer we Mortals come to God by way of imitation the more happy we are And that God injoyes himself only by Contemplation of his own Goodness Eternity Infiniteness and Power and the like and upon this ground many of them prefer Contemplation before Action and indeed many of the Fathers seem to approve this opinion as may appear in their Comments upon the words of our Saviour to * Martha And contrary to these others of equal Authority and credit have preferred Action to be chief as experiments in Physick and the application of it both for the ease and prolongation of mans life by which man is enabled to act and to do good to others And they say also That Action is not only Doctrinal but a maintainer of humane Society and for these and other reasons to be preferr'd before Contemplation Concerning which two opinions I shall forbear to add a third by declaring my own and rest my self contented in telling you my worthy friend that both these meet together and do most properly belong to the most honest ingenious harmless Art of Angling And first I shall tel you what some have observed and I have sound in my self That the very sitting by the Rivers side is not only the fittest place for but will invite the Anglers to Contemplation That it is the fittest place seems to be witnessed by the children of Israel * who having banish'd all mirth and Musick from their pensive hearts and having hung up their then mute Instruments upon the Willow trees growing by the Rivers of Babylon sate down upon those banks bemoaning the ruines of Sion and contemplating their own sad condition And an ingenuous Spaniard sayes That both Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery Element were created for wise men to contemplate and fools to pass by without consideration And though I am too wise to rank my self in the first number yet give me leave to free my self from the last by offering to thee a short contemplation first of Rivers and then of Fish concerning which I doubt not but to relate to you many things very considerable Concerning Rivers there be divers wonders reported of them by Authors of such credit that we need not deny them an Historical faith As of a River in Epirus that puts out any lighted Torch and kindles any Torch that was not lighted Of the River Selarus that in a few hours turns a rod or a wand into stone and our Camden mentions the like wonder in England that there is a River in Arabia of which all the Sheep that drink thereof have their Wool turned into a Vermilion colour And one of no less credit then Aristotle tels us of a merry River the River Elusina that dances at the noise of Musick that with Musick it bubbles dances and growes sandy but returns to a wonted calmness and clearness when the Musick ceases And lastly for I would not tire your patience Fosephus that learned Few tells us of a River in Fudea that runs and moves swiftly all the six dayes of the week and stands still and rests upon their Sabbath day But Sir lest this discourse may seem tedious I shall give it a sweet conclusion out of that holy Poet Mr. George Herbert his Divine Contemplation on Gods providence Lord who hath praise enough nay who hath any None can express thy works but he that knows them And none can know thy works they are so many And so complete but only he that owes them We all acknowledge both thy power and love To be exact transcendent and divine Who dost so strangely and so sweetly move Whilst all things have their end yet none but thine Wherefore most Sacred Spirit I here present For me and all my fellows praise to thee And just it is that I should pay the rent Because the benefit accrues to me And as concerning Fish in that Psalm wherein for height of Poetry and Wonders the Prophet David seems even to exceed himself how doth he there express himselfe in choice Metaphors even to the amazement of a contemplative Reader concerning the Sea the Rivers and the Fish therein contained And the great Naturallist Pliny sayes That Natures great and wonderful power is more demonstrated in the Sea then on the Land And this may appear by the numerous and various Creatures inhabiting both in and about that Element as to the Readers of Gesner Randelitius Pliny Aristotle and others is demonstrated But I will sweeten this discourse also out of a contemplation in Divine Dubartas who sayes God quickned in the Sea and in the Rivers So many fishes of so many features That in the waters we may see all Creatures Even all that on the earth is to be found As if the world were in deep waters drownd For seas as well as Skies have Sun Moon Stars As wel as air Swallows Rooks and Stares As wel as earth Vines Roses Nettles Melons Mushroms Pinks Gilliflowers and many milions Of other plants more rare more strange then these As very fishes living in the seas And also Rams Calves Horses Hares and Hogs Wolves Urchins Lions Elephants and Dogs Yea Men and Maids and which I most admire The Mitred Bishop and the cowled Fryer Of which examples but a few years since Were shewn the Norway and Polonian Prince These seem to be wonders but have had so many confirmations from men of Learning and credit that you need not doubt them nor are the number nor the various shapes of fishes more strange or more fit for contemplation then their different natures inclinations and actions concerning which I shall beg your patient ear a little longer The Cuttle-fish wil cast a long gut out of her throat which like as an Angler does his line she sendeth forth and pulleth in again at her pleasure according as she sees some little fish come neer to her and the Cuttle-fish being then hid in the gravel lets the smaller fish nibble and bite the end of it at which time shee by little and little draws the smaller fish so neer to her that she may leap upon her and then catches and devours her and for this reason some have called this fish the SeaAngler There are also lustful and chaste fishes of which I shall also give you examples And first what Dubartas sayes of a fish called the Sargus which because none can express it better
after hee is come to his full growth he declines in his bodie but keeps his bigness or thrives in his head till his death And you are to know that he wil about especially before the time of his Spawning get almost miraculously through Weires and Floud-Gates against the stream even through such high and swift places as is almost incredible Next that the Trout usually Spawns about October or November but in some Rivers a little sooner or later which is the more observable because most other fish Spawne in the Spring or Summer when the Sun hath warmed both the earth and water and made it fit for generation And next you are to note that till the Sun gets to such a height as to warm the earth and the water the Trout is sick and lean and lowsie and unwholsome for you shall in winter find him to have a big head and then to be lank and thin lean at which time many of them have sticking on them Sugs or Trout lice which is a kind of a worm in shape like a Clove or a Pin with a big head and sticks close to him and sucks his moisture those I think the Trout breeds himselfe and never thrives til he free himself from them which is till warm weather comes and then as he growes stronger he gets from the dead still water into the sharp streames and the gravel and there rubs off these worms or lice and then as he grows stronger so he gets him into swifter and swifter streams and there lies at the watch for any flie or Minow that comes neer to him and he especially loves the May flie which is bred of the Cod-worm or Caddis and these make the Trout bold and lustie and he is usually fatter and better meat at the end of that month then at any time of the year Now you are to know that it is observed that usually the best Trouts are either red or yellow though some be white and yet good but that is not usual and it is a note observable that the female Trout hath usually a less head and a deeper body then the male Trout and a little head to any fish either Trout Salmon or other fish is a sign that that fish is in season But yet you are to note that as you see some Willows or Palm trees bud and blossome sooner then others do so some Trouts be in some Rivers sooner in season and as the Holly or Oak are longer before they cast their Leaves so are some Trouts in some Rivers longer before they go out of season CHAP. IV. AND having told you these Observations concerning Trouts I shall next tell you how to catch them which is usually with a Worm or a Minnow which some call a Penke or with a Flie either a natural or an artificial Flie Concerning which three I wil give you some Observations and Directions For Worms there be very many sorts some bred onely in the earth as the earth worm others amongst or of plants as the dug worm and others in the bodies of living creatures or some of dead flesh as the Magot or Gentle and others Now these be most of them particularly good for particular fishes but for the Trout the dew-worm which some also cal the Lob-worm and the Brandling are the chief and especially the first for a great Trout and the later for a lesse There be also of lob-worms some called squireltnils a worm which has a red head a streak down the back and a broad tail which are noted to be the best because they are the toughest and and most lively and live longest in the water for you are to know that a dead worm is but a dead bait and like to catch nothing compared to a lively quick stirring worm And for a Brandling hee is usually found in an old dunghil or some very rotten place neer to it but most usually in cow dung or hogs dung rather then horse dung which is somewhat too hot and dry for that worm There are also divers other kindes of worms which for colour and shape alter even as the ground out of which they are got as the marshworm the tag-tail the flag-worm the dock-worm the oake-worm the gilt-tail and too many to name even as many sorts as some think there be of severall kinds of birds in the air of which I shall say no more but tell you that what worms soever you fish with are the better for being long kept before they be used and in case you have not been so provident then the way to cleanse and scoure them quickly is to put them all night in water if they be Lob-worms and then put them into your bag with fennel but you must not put your Brandling above an hour in water and then put them into fennel for sudden use but if you have time and purpose to keep them long then they be best preserved in an earthen pot with good store of mosse which is to be fresh every week or eight dayes or at least taken from them and clean wash'd and wrung betwixt your hands till it be dry and then put it to them again And for Moss you are to note that there be divers kindes of it which I could name to you but wil onely tel you that that which is likest a Bucks horn is the best except it be white Moss which grows on some heaths and is hard to be found For the Minnow or Penke he is easily found and caught in April for then hee appears in the Rivers but Nature hath taught him to shelter and hide himself in the Winter in ditches that be neer to the River and there both to hide and keep himself warm in the weeds which rot not so soon as in a running River in which place if hee were in Winter the distempered Floods that are usually in that season would suffer him to have no rest but carry him headlong to Mils and Weires to his confusion And of these Minnows first you are to know that the biggest size is not the best and next that the middle size and the whitest are the best and then you are to know that I cannot well teach in words but must shew you how to put it on your hook that it may turn the better And you are also to know that it is impossible it should turn too quick And you are yet to know that in case you want a Minnow then a small Loch or a Sticklebag or any other small Fish will serve as wel And you are yet to know that you may salt and by that means keep them fit for use three or four dayes or longer and that of salt bay salt is the best Now for Flies which is the third bait wherewith Trouts are usually taken You are to know that there are as many sorts of Flies as there be of Fruits I will name you but some of them as the dun flie the stone flie the red flie the moor
seen two young Geese at one time in the belly of a Pike and hee observes that in Spain there is no Pikes and that the biggest are in the Lake Thracimane in Italy and the next if not equal to them are the Pikes of England The Pike is also observed to be a melancholly and a bold fish Melancholly because he alwaies swims or rests himselfe alone and never swims in sholes or with company as Roach and Dace and most other fish do And bold because he fears not a shadow or to see or be seen of any body as the Trout and Chub and all other fish do And it is observed by Gesner that the bones and hearts gals of Pikes are very medicinable for several Diseases as to stop bloud to abate Fevers to cure Agues to oppose or expel the infection of the Plague and to be many wayes medicinable and useful for the good of mankind but that the biting of a Pike is venemous and hard to be cured And it is observed that the Pike is a fish that breeds but once a year and that other fish as namely Loaches do breed oftner as we are certaine Pigeons do almost every month and yet the Hawk a bird of prey as the Pike is of fish breeds but once in twelve months and you are to note that his time of breeding or Spawning is usually about the end of February or somewhat later in March as the weather proves colder or warmer and to note that his manner of breeding is thus a He and a She Pike will usually go together out of a River into some ditch or creek and that there the Spawner casts her eggs and the Melter hovers over her all that time that she is casting her Spawn but touches her not I might say more of this but it might be thought curiosity or worse and shall therefore forbear it and take up so much of your attention as to tell you that the best of Pikes are noted to be in Rivers then those in great Ponds or Meres and the worst in smal Ponds His feeding is usually fish or frogs and sometime a weed of his owne called Pikrel-weed of which I told you some think some Pikes are bred for they have observed that where no Pikes have been put into a Pond yet that there they have been found and that there has been plenty of that weed in that Pond and that that weed both breeds and feeds them but whether those Pikes so bred will ever breed by generation as the others do I shall leave to the disquisitions of men of more curiosity and leisure then I profess my self to have and shall proceed to tell you that you may fish for a Pike either with a ledger or a walking bait and you are to note that I call that a ledger which is fix'd or made to rest in one certaine place when you shall be absent and that I call that a walking bait which you take with you and have ever in motion Concerning which two I shall give you this direction That your ledger bait is best to be a living bait whether it be a fish or a Frog and that you may make them live the longer you may or indeed you must take this course First for your live bait of fi 〈…〉 h a Roch or Dace is I think best and most tempting and a Pearch the longest liv'd on a hook you must take your knife which cannot be too sharp and betwixt the head and the fin on his back cut or make an insition or such a scar as you may put the arming wyer of your hook into it with as little bruising or hurting the fish as Art and diligence will enable you to do and so carrying your arming wyer along his back unto or neer the tail of your fish betwixt the skin and the body of it draw out that wyer or arming of your hook at another scar neer to his tail then tye him about it with thred but no harder then of necessitie you must to prevent hurting the fish and the better to avoid hurting the fish some have a kind of probe to open the way for the more easie entrance and passage of your wyer or arming but as for these time and a little experience will teach you better than I can by words for of this I will for the present say no more but come next to give you some directions how to bait your hook with a Frog Viat But good Master did not you say even now that some Frogs were venomous and is it not dangerous to touch them Pisc. Yes but I wil give you some Rules or Cautions concerning them And first you are to note there is two kinds of Frogs that is to say if I may so express my self a flesh and a fish-frog by flesh Frogs I mean frogs that breed and live on the land and of these there be several sorts and colours some being peckled some greenish some blackish or brown the green Frog which is a smal one is by Topsell taken to be venomous and so is the Padock or Frog-Padock which usually keeps or breeds on the land and is very large and bony and big especially the She frog of that kind yet these will sometime come into the water but it is not often and the land frogs are some of them observed by him to breed by laying eggs and others to breed of the slime and dust of the earth and that in winter they turn to slime again and that the next Summer that very slime returns to be a living creature this is the opinion of Pliny and * Cardanas undertakes to give reason for the raining of Frogs but if it were in my power it should rain none but water Frogs for those I think are not venemous especially the right water Frog which about February or March breeds in ditches by slime and blackish eggs in that slime about which time of breeding the He and She frog are observed to use divers simber salts and to croke and make a noise which the land frog or Padock frog never does Now of these water Frogs you are to chuse the yellowest that you can get for that the Pike ever likes best And thus use your Frog that he may continue long alive Put your hook into his mouth which you may easily do from about the middle of April till August and then the Frogs mouth grows up and he continues so for at least six months without eating but is sustained none but he whose name is Wonderful knows how I say put your hook I mean the arming wire through his mouth and out at his gills and then with a fine needle and Silk sow the upper part of his leg with only one stitch to the armed wire of your hook or tie the frogs leg above the upper joint to the armed wire and in so doing use him as though you loved him that is harme him as little as you may possibly that he may
a Carp will out of it and so the report of his being brought out of a forrain Nation into this is the more probable Carps and Loches are observed to breed several months in one year which most other fish do not and it is the rather believed because you shall scarce or never take a Male Carp without a Melt or a Female without a Roe or Spawn and for the most part very much and especially all the Summer season and it is observed that they breed more naturally in Ponds then in running waters and that those that live in Rivers are taken by men of the best palates to be much the better meat And it is observed that in some Ponds Carps will not breed especially in cold Ponds but where they will breed they breed innumerably if there be no Pikes nor Pearch to devour their Spawn when it is cast upon grass or flags or weeds where it lies ten or twelve dayes before it be enlivened The Carp if he have water room and good feed will grow to a very great bigness and length I have heard to above a yard long though I never saw one above thirty three inches which was a very great and goodly fish Now as the increase of Carps is wonderful for their number so there is not a reason found out I think by any why the should breed in some Ponds and not in others of the same nature for soil and all other circumstances and as their breeding so are their decayes also very mysterious I have both read it and been told by a Gentleman of tryed honestie that he has knowne sixtie or more large Carps put into several Ponds neer to a house where by reason of the stakes in the Ponds and the Owners constant being neer to them it was impossible they should be stole away from him and that when he has after three or four years emptied the Pond and expected an increase from them by breeding young ones for that they might do so he had as the rule is put in three Melters for one Spawner he has I say after three or four years found neither a young nor old Carp remaining And the like I have known of one that has almost watched his Pond and at a like distance of time at the fishing of a Pond found of seventy or eighty large Carps not above five or six and that he had forborn longer to fish the said Pond but that he saw in a hot day in Summer a large Carp swim neer to the top of the water with a Frog upon his head and that he upon that occasion caused his Pond to be let dry and I say of seventie or eighty Carps only found five or six in the said Pond and those very sick and lean and with every one a Frog sticking so fast on the head of the said Carps that the Frog would not bee got off without extreme force or killing and the Gentleman that did affirm this to me told me he saw it and did declare his belief to be and I also believe the same that he thought the other Carps that were so strangely lost were so killed by Frogs and then devoured But I am faln into this discourse by accident of which I might say more but it has proved longer then I intended and possibly may not to you be considerable I shall therefore give you three or four more short observations of the Carp and then fall upon some directions how you shall fish for him The age of Carps is by S. Francis Bacon in his History of Life and Death observed to be but ten years yet others think they live longer but most conclude that contrary to the Pike or Luce all Carps are the better for age and bigness the tongues of Carps are noted to be choice and costly meat especially to them that buy them but Gesner sayes Carps have no tongues like other fish but a piece of flesh-like-fish in their mouth like to a tongue and may be so called but it is certain it is choicely good and that the Carp is to be reckoned amongst those leather mouthed fish which I told you have their teeth in their throat and for that reason he is very seldome lost by breaking his hold if your hook bee once stuck into his chaps I told you that Sir Francis Bacon thinks that the Carp lives but ten years but Janus Dubravius a Germane as I think has writ a book in Latine of Fish and Fish Ponds in which he sayes that Carps begin to Spawn at the age of three yeers and continue to do so till thirty he sayes also that in the time of their breeding which is in Summer when the Sun hath warmed both the earth and water and so apted them also for generation that then three or four Male Carps will follow a Female and that then she putting on a seeming coyness they force her through weeds and flags where she lets fall her eggs or Spawn which sticks fast to the weeds and then they let fall their Melt upon it and so it becomes in a short time to be a living fish and as I told you it is thought the Carp does this several months in the yeer and most believe that most fish breed after this manner except the Eeles and it is thought that all Carps are not bred by generation but that some breed otherwayes as some Pikes do And my first direction is that if you will fish for a Carp you must put on a very large measure of patience especially to fish for a River Carp I have knowne a very good Fisher angle diligently four or six hours in a day for three or four dayes together for a River Carp and not have a bite and you are to note that in some Ponds it is as hard to catch a Carp as in a River that is to say where they have store of feed the water is of a clayish colour but you are to remember that I have told you there is no rule without an exception and therefore being possest with that hope and patience which I wish to all Fishers especially to the CarpAngler I shall tell you with what bait to fish for him but that must be either early or ate and let me tell you that in hot weather for he will seldome bite in cold you cannot bee too early or too late at it The Carp bites either at wormes or at Paste and of worms I think the blewish Marsh or Meadow worm is best but possibly another worm not too big may do as well and so may a Gentle and as for Pastes there are almost as many sorts as there are Medicines for the Tooth-ach but doubtless sweet Pastes are best I mean Pastes mixt with honey or with Sugar which that you may the better beguile this crafty fish should be thrown into the Pond or place in which you fish for him some hours before you undertake your tryal of skil by the Angle-Rod and
And so Hostis here 's your mony we Anglers are all beholding to you it wil not be long ere I le see you again And now brother Piscator I wish you and my brother your Scholer a fair day and good fortune Come Coridon this is our way CHAP. XII Viat GOod Master as we go now towards London be still so courteous as to give me more instructions for I have several boxes in my memory in which I will keep them all very safe there shall not one of them be lost Pisc. Well Scholer that I will and I will hide nothing from you that I can remember and may help you forward towards a perfection in this Art and because we have so much time and I have said so little of Roch and Dace I will give you some directions concerning some several kinds of baits with which they be usually taken they will bite almost at any flies but especially at Ant-flies concerning which take this direction for it is very good Take the blackish Ant-fly out of the Mole-hill or Ant-hil in which place you shall find them in the Months of June or if that be too early in the yeer then doubtless you may find them in July August and most of September gather them alive with both their wings and then put them into a glass that will hold a quart or a pottle but first put into the glass a handful or more of the moist earth out of which you gather them and as much of the roots of the grass of the said Hillock and then put in the flies gently that they lose not their wings and so many as are put into the glass without bruising will live there a month or more and be alwaies in a readiness for you to fish with but if you would have them keep longer then get any great earthen pot or barrel of three or four gallons which is better then wash your barrel with water and honey and having put into it a quantitie of earth and grass roots then put in your flies and cover it and they will live a quarter of a year these in any stream and clear water are a deadly bait for Roch or Dace or for a Chub and your rule is to fish not less then a handful from the bottom I shall next tell you a winter bait for a Roch a Dace or Chub and it is choicely good About All-hollantide and so till Frost comes when you see men ploughing up heath-ground or sandy ground or greenswards then follow the plough and you shall find a white worm as big as two Magots and it hath a red head you may observe in what ground most are for there the Crows will be very watchful and follow the Plough very close it is all soft and full of whitish guts a worm that is in Norfolk and some other Countries called a Grub and is bred of the spawn or eggs of a Beetle which she leaves in holes that she digs in the ground under Cow or Horse-dung and there rests all Winter and in March or April comes to be first a red and then a black Beetle gather a thousand or two of these and put them with a peck or two of their own earth into some tub or firkin and cover and keep them so warm that the frost or cold air or winds kill them not and you may keep them all winter and kill fish with them at any time and if you put some of them into a little earth and honey a day before you use them you will find them an excellent baite for Breame or Carp And after this manner you may also keep Gentles all winter which is a good bait then and much the better for being lively and tuffe or you may breed and keep Gentle thus Take a piece of beasts liver and with a cross stick hang it in some corner over a pot or barrel half full of dry clay and as the Gentles grow big they wil fall into the barrel and scowre themselves and be alwayes ready for use whensoever you incline to fish and these Gentles may be thus made til after Michaelmas But if you desire to keep Gentles to fish with all the yeer then get a dead Cat or a Kite and let it be fly-blowne and when the Gentles begin to be alive and to stir then bury it and them in moist earth but as free from frost as you can and these you may dig up at any time when you intend to use them these wil last till March and about that time turn to be flies But if you be nice to fowl your fingers which good Anglers seldome are then take this bait Get a handful of well made Mault and put it into a dish of water and then wash and rub it betwixt your hands til you make in cleane and as free from husks as you can then put that water from it and put a smal quantitie of fresh water to it and set it in something that is fit for that purpose over the fire where it is not to boil apace but leisurely and very softly until it become somewhat soft which you may try by feeling it betwixt your finger and thumb and when it is soft then put your water from it and then take a sharp knife and turning the sprout end of the corn upward with the point of your knife take the back part of the husk off from it and yet leaving a kind of husk on the corn or else it is marr'd and then cut off that sprouted end I mean a little of it that the vvhite may appear and so pull off the husk on the cloven side as I directed you and then cutting off a very little of the other end that so your hook may enter and if your hook be small and good you will find this to be a very choice bait either for Winter or Summer you sometimes casting a little of it into the place where your flote swims And to take the Roch and Dace a good bait is the young brood of Wasps or Bees baked or hardned in their husks in an Oven after the bread is taken out of it or on a fire-shovel and so also is the thick blood of Sheep being halfe dryed on a trencher that you may cut it into such pieces as may best fit the size of your hook and a little salt keeps it from growing black and makes it not the worse but better this is taken to be a choice bait if rightly ordered There be several Oiles of a strong smel that I have been told of and to be excellent to tempt fish to bite of which I could say much but I remember I once carried a small bottle from Sir George Hastings to Sir Henry Wotton they were both chimical men as a great present but upon enquiry I found it did not answer the expectation of Sir Henry which with the help of other circumstances makes me have little belief in such things as many men