THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 221 



I shall therefore conclude this direction for tak- 

 ing the eel, by telling you that in a warm day 

 in summer I have taken many a good eel by 

 sniggling, and have been much pleased with that 

 sport. 



And because you that are but a young angler 

 know not what sniggling is, I will now teach it to 

 you. You remember I told you that eels do not 

 usually stir in the daytime, for then they hide 

 themselves under some covert, or under boards or 

 planks about floodgates, or weirs, or mills, or in 

 holes in the river-banks ; so that you, observing 

 your time in a warm day, when the water is low- 

 est, may take a strong, small hook, tied to a 

 strong line, or to a string about a yard long, and 

 then into one of these holes, or between any 

 boards about a mill, or under any great stone or 

 plank, or any place where you think an eel may 

 hide or shelter herself, you may, with the help of 

 a short stick, put in your bait, but leisurely, and 

 as far as you may conveniently ; and it is scarce 

 to be doubted but that if there be an eel within 

 the sight of it, the eel will bite instantly, and as 

 certainly gorge it ; and you need not doubt to 

 have him if you pull him not out of the hole too 

 quickly, but pull him out by degrees, for he, lying 

 folded double in his hole, will, with the help of 

 his tail, break all, unless you give him time to be 

 wearied with pulling, and so get him out by de- 

 grees, not pulling too hard. 



And to commute for your patient hearing this 



