58 The Complete Angler 



PlSCATOR. By a leather-mouthed fish, I mean 

 such as have their teeth in their throat, as the Chub 

 or Cheven: and so the Barbel, the Gudgeon, and 

 Carp, and divers others have. And the hook being 

 stuck into the leather, or skin, of the mouth of such 

 fish, does very seldom or never lose its hold : but 

 on the contrary, a Pike, a Perch, or Trout, and so 

 some other fish, which have not their teeth in their 

 throats, but in their mouths, which you shall observe 

 to be very full of bones, and the skin very thin, and 

 little of it. I say, of these fish the hook never takes 

 so sure hold but you often lose your fish, unless he 

 have gorged it. 



VENATOR. I thank you, good master, for this 

 observation. But now what shall be done with my 

 Chub or Cheven that I have caught ? 



PlSCATOR. Marry, Sir, it shall be given away to 

 some poor body ; for I'll warrant you I'll give you 

 a Trout for your supper : and it is a good beginning 

 of your art to offer your first-fruits to the poor, who 

 will both thank you and God for it, which I see by 

 your silence you seem to consent to. And for your 

 willingness to part with it so charitably, I will also 

 teach more concerning Chub-fishing. You are to 

 note, that in March and April he is usually taken 

 with worms ; in May, June, and July, he will bite 

 at any fly, or at cherries, or at beetles with their 

 legs and wings cut off, or at any kind of snail, or at 

 the black bee that breeds in clay walls. And he 

 never refuses a grasshopper, on the top of a swift 

 stream, nor, at the bottom, the young humble bee 

 that breeds in long grass, and is ordinarily found by 

 the mower of it. In August, and in the cooler 

 months, a yellow paste, made of the strongest 

 cheese, and pounded in a mortar, with a little butter 

 and saffron, so much of it as, being beaten small, 

 will turn it to a lemon colour. And some make a 



