162 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART i. 



little, a very little Lamprey, which some call a Pride, and may, 

 in the hot months, be found many of them in the river Thames, 

 and in many mud-heaps in other rivers ; yea, almost as usually as 

 one finds worms in a dunghill. 



Next note, that the Eel seldom stirs in the day, but then hides 

 himself; and therefore he is usually caught by night, with one of 

 these baits of which I have spoken ; and may be then caught by 

 laying hooks, which you are to fasten to the bank, or twigs of a 

 tree ; or by throwing a string cross the stream, with many hooks 

 at it, and those baited with the aforesaid baits ; and a cloth, or 

 plummet, or stone, thrown into the river with this line, that so you 

 may in the morning find it near to some fixed place ; and then 

 take it up with a drag-hook, or otherwise. But these things are, 

 indeed, too common to be spoken of; and an hour's fishing with 

 any angler will teach you better, both for these and many other 

 common things in the practical part of angling, than a week's dis- 

 course. I shall therefore conclude this direction for taking the 

 Eel, by telling you, that in a warm day in summer, I have taken 

 many a good Eel by Snigling, and have been much pleased with 

 that sport. 



And because you, that are but a young angler, know not what 

 Snigling 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 on the river-banks ; 

 so that you, observing your time in a warm day, when the water 

 is lowest, 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 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 

 degrees, not pulling too hard.* 



* There is also another mode of Eel-fishing, termed Bobbing, which is most com- 

 monly practised in rivers where the tide runs. The fisherman having procured a num- 

 ber of red or lob worms well scoured, strings them separately (by running them through 

 from head to tail with a needle) on worsted. When a sufficient number are strung, he 



