THE COMPLETE ANGLER 211 



grow big, they will fall into the barrel and scour them- 

 selves, and be always ready for use whensoever you 

 incline to fish ; and these gentles may be thus created 

 till after Michaelmas. But if you desire to keep gentles 

 to fish with all the year, then get a dead cat, or a kite, 

 and let it be fly-blown ; and when the gentles begin to be 

 alive and to stir, then bury it and them in soft 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 will last till March, and about that time turn to be 

 flies. 



But if you will be nice to foul your fingers, which 

 good anglers seldom are, then take this bait : get a 

 handful of well-made malt, and put into a dish of water ; 

 and then wash and rub it betwixt your hands till you 

 make it clean, and as free from husks as you can ; then 

 put that water from it, and put a small quantity 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 inward 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 white 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 float swims. 



And to take the roach and dace, a good bait is the 

 young brood of wasps or bees, if you dip their heads 



