156 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



great lob 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 water-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 usu- 

 ally 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 long 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 color, and at the snap. Nay, he will some- 

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

 anything that seems to swim across the water or 

 be in motion. This is a choice way ; but I have 

 not oft used it, because it is void of the pleasures 



