BRITISH SPORT PAST AND PRESENT 



The perch is commended by Walton as a ' bold biting fish ' : 

 for ' if there be twenty or forty in a hole they may be, at one 

 standing, all catched one after another. They being . . . 

 like the wicked of the world, not afraid though their fellows 

 and companions perish in their sight.' 



The chub we ever remember as the fish which afforded 

 Walton opportunity of displaying his knowledge of fish life 

 and his skill in applying it. 



' The worst fish that swims,' exclaims Venator. ' I had 

 hoped for a Trout to my dinner.' 



' Though a Chub be by you and many others reckoned the 

 worst of fish, yet you shall see I '11 make it a good fish by 

 dressing it.' 



' Why, how will you dress him ? ' asks the pupil. 



' I '11 tell you by and bye when I 've caught him,' responds 

 Piscator the cautious. 



But Walton knew his chub : he bids Venator mark, among 

 a number, one with a white mark on his tail : ' that very 

 chub I mean to put into your hands presently.' And the 

 ' fearfuUest of fishes ' is caught with a grasshopper as promised. 

 Walton preferred the grasshopper above all baits for chub. 



' Our forefathers,' says Daniel, ' were wont to pursue even 

 their amusements with great formality. An angler a century 

 and a half back must have his Fishing Coat, which, if not black, 

 was at least of a very dark colour, a black velvet cap like those 

 which jockeys now wear, only larger, and a Rod with a stick 

 as long as a Halbert : thus equipped he stalked forth followed 

 by the eyes of a whole neighbourhood : but in these days bag- 

 rods have been invented, which the Angler may easily convey, 

 so as not to proclaim to every one he meets where he is going.' 



The bag or case may have been an invention of Daniel's 

 age, but ' angle rods of many pieces ' with brass sockets and 

 ferrules were in use when Gervase Markham wrote in 1614. 

 Such were ' approved ' ; but there is every reason to suppose 

 that the spliced rod was by far the most generally used. 



Markham anticipated Walton in advising the beginner to 



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