ANGLING. 



167 



anil fishing. Tn the United States of America, angl- 

 ing, like all other kinds of sport, is free to every body. 

 In a rude state of society, angling was resorted 

 to from necessity. This occupation soon became 

 an amusement for those who had leisure enough 

 to spend time in it, as it affords to most people 

 much pleasure. We find occasional allusions to 

 this pursuit among the Greek writers, and through- 

 out the most ancient books of the Bible. Plu- 

 tarch mentions an amusing anecdote of Antony's 

 unsuccessful angling in the presence of Cleo- 

 patra, and a fine trick which she played him. It 

 is said that angling came into repute in England 

 alx)ut the period of the reformation, when botn the 

 secular and regular clergy, being prohibited by the 

 common law from the amusements of hunting, hawk- 

 ing, and fowling, directed their attention to this re- 

 creation. The invention of printing aided in drawing 

 attention to this subject, and made known its impor- 

 tance " to cause the helthe of your body, and specy- 

 ally of your soul," as the first treatise concludes. 

 Wynkin de Worde gave the world, in 1496, a small 

 folio republication of the celebrated Book of St 

 Albans. It contained, for the first time, a curious 

 tract, entitled the Treatyse of Fyshinge icyth an 

 Angle, embellished with a wood-cut of the angler. 

 This treatise is ascribed to dame Juliana Berners 

 or Barnes, prioress of a nunnery near St Alban's. 

 " The Angler," she observes, " atte the leest, hath 

 his holsoni walke and mery at his ease, a swete ayre 

 of the swete sauoure of the meede floures that maky th 

 him hungry ; he hereth the melodyous armony of the 

 fowlls, he seeth the yonge swannes, heerons, duckes, 

 cotes and many other fowles, with their brodes, 

 whych me seemyth better than alle the noyse of 

 honndys, the blastes of hornys, and the scrye of 

 fowles, that hunters, fawkeners and foulers can make. 

 And if angler take fysshe, surely thenne is there noo 

 man merier than he is in his spyryte." Walton's ini- 

 mitable discourse on angling was first printed in 1653, 

 in an elegant duodecimo, with plates of the most 

 considerable fish cut in steel. This edition and three 

 subsequent ones consisted wholly of what is now 

 called part the first of the Complete Angler, being 

 Walton's individual portion of the work. For the 

 Ix-nefit of young sportsmen, we shall here lay 

 before him, 1. A short general description of 

 the tackle he will require ; 2. A detailed list or 

 account of the fish usually taken by anglers in 

 Great Britain ; and, 3. A table, which forms a sum- 

 mary of the art, and in which various baits are in- 

 cluded, not mentioned in the list. Tackle for Angl- 

 ing. In the choice of his rod the angler will gener- 

 ally be directed by local circumstances. The cane 

 rods are lightest ; and where fishing-tackle are sold, 

 they most commonly have the preference ; but in 

 retired country places, the rod is often of the angler's 

 own manufacture, and he should, at any rate, be 

 capable of supplying himself with one upon an emer- 

 gency. No wood, as a whole, is better adapted for 

 tliis purpose than the common hazel ; and if to this 

 he can add a sound ash stock, or butt-end, and a 

 whalebone top, he is as well furnished with materials 

 as he need desire to be. Salmon rods are sometimes 

 wholly made of ash, with a whalebone top. Other 

 rods may be fonned thus : a yellow deal joint of 

 seven feet ; a straight hazel joint of six feet ; a piece 

 of fine grained yew, tapered to a whalebone top, and 

 measuring together about two feet. Always carry a 

 jointed rod, when not in use, tightly looped up. The 

 line, like the rod, should gradually diminish toward 

 the further extremity ; and no materials exceed strong 

 clear horse hair. If you make it yourself, the hairs 

 from the middle of the tail are best, and those of a 

 young, and healthy, grey, or white stallion ; sort 



them well, that the hair at every link may be of equal 

 size with each other ; and if you wash them, do not 

 dry them too rapidly. For ground fishing, brown or 

 dark hairs are best, as resembling the colour of the 

 bottom. Silk lines are more showy than useful. 

 They soon rot and catch weeds. Your hook should 

 readily bend without breaking, and yet retain a sharp 

 point, which may be occasionally renewed by a whet- 

 stone. It should be long in the shank and deep in 

 the bed.; the point straight, and true to the level of 

 the shank ; and the barb long. From the difficulty 

 of tempering and making them, few anglers ever 

 undertake tne task. Be careful to provide yourself 

 with a variety accordingly. Their sizes and sorts 

 must, of course, entirely depend on the kind of fish for 

 which you mean to angle. Floats are formed of 

 cork, porcupine quills, goose and swan quills, &c. 

 For heavy fish, or strong streams, use a cork float ; 

 in slow water, and for lighter fish, quill floats. To 

 make the former, take a sound common cork, and 

 bore it with a small red hot iron through the centre, 

 length ways ; then taper it down across the grain, 

 about two-thirds of the length, and round the top, 

 forming it, as a whole, into the shape of a pear. Load 

 your floats so as just to sink them short of the top. 

 Fish, usually taken by anglers in Great Britain. The 

 Barbel, so called from its four barbs, two of which 

 are at the corners of its mouth, and the others at the 

 end of its snout, is a heavy, dull, fish, and gives very 

 inferior sport to the angler, in proportion to his size 

 and strength. They begin to shed their spawn about 

 the middle of April, and come in season about a 

 month or six weeks after. In their usual haunts, 

 among weeds, &c., they are fond of rooting with their 

 nose like the pig. In summer, they frequent the 

 most powerful and rapid currents, and settle among 

 logs of wood, piles, and weeds, where they remain 

 for a long time apparently immovable ; during the 

 winter time, they return to deep bottoms. The most 

 killing baits for the barbel are the spawn of trout, 

 salmon, or indeed of any other fish, especially if it be 

 fresh, respecting which, the barbel is very cunning ; 

 the pastes that imitate it must, therefore, be well 

 made, and of fresh flavour. It is also an advisable 

 plan to bait the water over night, by spawn or a 

 quantity of cut worms. The barbel will also bite 

 well at the cobworm, gentles, and cheese, soaked in 

 honey. The rod and line, with which you fish for 

 barbel, must both be extremely long, with a running 

 plummet attached to the latter, as they swim very 

 close to the bottom. By a gentle inclination of the 

 rod, you may easily ascertain when there is a bite j 

 immediately upon which the fish should be struck, 

 and seldom escapes, unless he break the line. The 

 Bleak, or Blay, is a common river fish, so called from 

 its bleak or white appearance, that spawns in March ; 

 and is fond of many of the baits for trout. It is usu- 

 ally caught with a small artificial fly of a brown col- 

 our ; and the hook should be suited in size to the fly. 

 The bleak seldom exceeds six inches in length ; its 

 flesh is highly valued by epicures, and beads are 

 made of its scales. Bream shed their spawn about 

 midsummer, and although they are occasionally met 

 with in slow running rivers, are reckoned a pond 

 fish, where they will uirive in the greatest perfection ; 

 and have been known to weigh from 8 to 10 Ibs. In 

 fishing for them, the angler should be very silent, 

 and take all possible care to keep concealed from the 

 fish, which are angled for near the bottom. His 

 tackle also must be strong. This fish, according to 

 Dr Shaw, is a native of many parts of Europe, inha- 

 biting the still lakes and rivers, and sometimes found 

 even in the Caspian sea. Bull head, or Miller's 

 thumb, is a small ugly fish, which hides itself in 

 brooks and rivers under a gravelly bottom. They 



