CHAPTER XII 



[Ubirfc 2>a] 



Pise. Angling in the middle, then, for a trout or grayling, 

 is of two sorts ; with a penk or minnow for a trout ; or 

 with a worm, grub, or cadis, for a grayling. 



For the first. It is with a minnow, half a foot or a foot 

 within the superficies of the water. And as to the rest 

 that concerns this sort of angling, I shall wholly refer you 

 to Mr. Walton's directions, who is undoubtedly the best 

 angler with a minnow in England ; only, in plain truth, 

 I do not approve of those baits he keeps in salt, unless 

 where the living ones are not possibly to be had (though 

 I know he frequently kills with them, and, peradventure, 

 more than with any other ; nay, I have seen him refuse 

 a living one for one of them) ; and much less of his artificial 

 one ; for though we do it with a counterfeit fly, methinks 

 it should hardly be expected that a man should deceive 

 a fish with a counterfeit fish.* Which having said, I shall 

 only add (and that out of my own experience), that I do 

 believe a bull-head, with his gill-fins cut off (at some times 

 of the year especially), to be a much better bait for a trout 

 than a minnow, and a loach much better than that : 

 to prove which I shall only tell you, that I have much 

 oftener taken trouts with a bull-head or a loach in their 

 throats, for there a trout has questionless his first digestion, 



* Counterfeit fish, or artificial fish-baits, are now so well made, 

 that in spinning I frequently use them in preference to the natural 

 fish-bait ; and in slightly discoloured water I always prefer them. 

 They spin better, and will take a great many fish before they are 

 injured, which is a great convenience, obviating the necessity of 

 constantly, after a run or a kill, putting on a fresh bait, which you 

 must do if you spin with the natural fish-bait. E. 



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