ISO THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



leave to the disquisition of men of more curiosity 

 and leisure than I profess myself to have ; and 

 shall proceed to tell you that you may fish for 

 pike either with a ledger or a walking bait. And 

 you are to note that I call that a ledger-bait 

 which is fixed or made to rest in one certain place 

 when you shall be absent from it ; and I call that 

 a walking-bait which you take with you and have 

 ever in motion. Concerning which two I shall 

 give you this direction, that your ledger-bait is 

 best to be a living bait, though a dead one may 

 catch, whether it be a fish or a frog ; and that you 

 may make them live the longer, you may, or in- 

 deed you must, take this course. 



First, for your live bait. Of a fish, a roach or 

 dace is, I think, best and most tempting, and a 

 perch is the longest lived on a hook ; and having 

 cut off his fin on his back, which may be done 

 without hurting him, you must take your knife, 

 which cannot be too sharp, and betwixt the head 

 and the fin on the back, cut or make an incision, 

 or such a scar as you may put the arming wire of 

 your hook into it, with as little bruising or hurting 

 the fish as art and diligence will enable you to do ; 

 and so carrying your arming-wire along his 

 back, unto or near the tail of your fish, betwixt 

 the skin and the body of it, draw out that wire or 

 arming of your hook at another scar near to his 

 tail, then tie him about it with thread, but no 

 harder than of necessity to prevent hurting the 

 fish ; and the better to avoid hurting the fish, 



