PIKE AND OTHER FISHING 



devote himself to the ' Goodgin,' Says Izaak : ' He is an 

 excellent fish to enter a young angler, being easy to be taken 

 with a small red worm, on or very near the ground. He is one 

 of those leather mouthed fish that has his teeth in his throat 

 and will hardly be lost off the hook if he be once stricken. 

 They be usually scattered up and down every river in the 

 shallows, in the heat of summer : but in autumn, when the 

 weeds begin to grow sour and rot, and the weather colder, then 

 they gather together, and get into the deepest parts of the 

 water : and are to be fished for there, with your hook always 

 touching the ground, if you fish for him with a float or with 

 a cork. But many will fish for the Gudgeon by hand with a 

 running line vipon the ground without a cork as a Trout is 

 fished for : and it is an excellent way if you have a gentle rod 

 and as gentle a hand.' 



The roach and dace were in Walton's esteem ' inferior fish 

 which make the angler excellent sport, for you know there is 

 more pleasure in hunting the hare than in eating her.' Par- 

 ticularly does he commend the ' great Roaches about London, 

 where I think there be the best Roach anglers.' 



Concerning pike, Markham has not much to say beyond 

 telling us that ' your best Anglers use most commonly a chaulke 

 line,^ hair not being strong enough.' Walton's advice on the 

 subject of catching the ' mighty Luce or Pike, the tyrant of the 

 fresh waters,' is minute in its detail, and bears out the belief 

 that this was the most desired among coarse fish. 



' 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-bait, which 

 is fixed or made to rest in one certain place when you shall be 

 absent from it ; and I call that a W^alking-bait, which you take 

 with you, and have ever in motion. . . . 



' First, for your Live-Bait. Of fish, a roach or dace is, 

 I think, best and most tempting ; and a perch is the longest 

 lived on a hook, and having cut off his fin on his back, which 

 may be done without hurting him, you must take your knife, 



' 'Chalk line' as used by carpenters (?). 



2c 201 



