126 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [part i. 



or garden-worm, or rather two, which you are to 

 fish with in a place where the waters run somewhat 

 quietly, for in a stream the bait will not be so well 

 discerned. I say in a quiet or dead place near to 

 some swift, there draw your bait over the top of the 

 water, to and fro, and if there be a good Trout in 

 the hole, he will take it, especially if the night be 

 dark : for then he is bold and lies near the top of 

 the water, watching the motion of any frog or wa- 

 ter-rat or mouse that swims betwixt him and the 

 sky ; these he hunts after, if he sees the water but 

 wrinkle or move in one of these dead holes, where 

 these great old Trouts usually lie near to their 

 holds : for you are to note, that the great old Trout 

 is both subtle and fearful, and lies close all day, and 

 does not usually stir out of his hold, but lies in it 

 as close in the day, as the timorous hare does in 

 her form ; for the chief feeding of either is seldom 

 in the day, but usually in the night, and then the 

 great Trout feeds very boldly. 



And you must fish for him with a strong line, 

 and not a little hook ; and let him have time to gorge 

 your hook, for he does not usually forsake it, as he 

 oft will in the day-fishing. And if the night be not 

 dark, then fish so with an artificial-fly of a light 

 colour, and at the snap : nay, he will sometimes 

 rise at a dead mouse, or a piece of cloth, or any 

 thing that seems to swim cross the water, or to be in 

 motion. This is a choice way, but I have not oft used 

 it because it is void of the pleasures that such days 

 as these, that we two now enjoy, afford an Angler. 



