126 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



of your hook again into the very head of the 

 worm, till it come near to the place where the 

 point of the hook first came out ; and then draw 

 back that of the worm that was above the shank 

 or arming of your hook, and so fish with it. And 

 if you mean to fish with two worms, then put the 

 second on before you turn back the hook's head 

 of the first worm. You cannot lose above two or 

 three worms before you attain to what I direct 

 you ; and having attained it, you will find it very 

 useful, and thank me for it, for you will run on the 

 ground without tangling. 



Now for the minnow, or penk. He is not easily 

 found and caught till March or in April, for then 

 he appears first in the river ; Nature having taught 

 him to shelter and hide himself in the winter in 

 ditches that be near to the river, and there both 

 to hide and keep himself warm in the mud or in 

 the weeds, which rot not so soon as in a running 

 river, in which place if he were in winter, the dis- 

 tempered floods that are usually in that season 

 would suffer him to take no rest, but carry him 

 headlong to mills and weirs, to his confusion. 

 And of these minnows, first, you are to know that 

 the biggest size is not the best ; and next, that the 

 middle size and the whitest are the best; and 

 then you are to know that your minnow must be 

 so put on your hook that it must turn round 

 when 't is drawn against the stream, and that it 

 may turn nimbly, you must put it on a big-sized 

 hook, as I shall now direct you, which is thus : 



