CHAP, xvii.] THE FIFTH DA Y. 187 



tell you, that camphire, put with moss into your worm- bag with 

 your worms, makes them, if many anglers be not very much mis- 

 taken, a tempting bait, and the angler more fortunate. But I 

 stepped by chance into this discourse of oils, and fishes smelling ; 

 and though there might be more said, both of it and of baits for 

 Roach and Dace and other float-fish, yet I will forbear it at this 

 time,* and tell you, in the next place, how you are to prepare 

 your tackling : concerning which, I will, for sport-sake, give you 

 an old rhyme out of an old fish-book ; which will prove a part, 

 and but a part, of what you are to provide. 



My rod and my line, my float and my lead, 



My hook and my plummet, my whetstone and knife, 



My basket, my baits, both living and dead, 

 My net, and my meat, for that is the chief: 



Then I must have thread, and hairs green* and small, 



With mine angling purse : and so you have all. 



But you must have all these tackling, and twice so many more,t 



VARIATION.] * great. ist edit. 



principinm inentiri, medium laborare, et finis mendicare." An art without art ; whose 

 beginning is lying, whose middle is labour, and whose end is beggary. E. 



* ROACH delight in gravelly or sandy bottoms : their haunts, especially as winter 

 approaches, are in clear, deep and still waters ; and at other times, they lie in and near 

 weeds, and under the shade of boughs : they spawn about the latter end of May, when 

 they are scabby and unwholesome : but are again in order in about three weeks. The 

 largest are taken after Michaelmas ; and their prime season is in February or March. 

 The baits for Roach, not already mentioned, are, cad-bait and oak-worms, for the spring ; 

 in May, ant's eggs ; and paste made of the crumb of a new roll, both white, and tinged 

 with red, which is done by putting vermilion into the water wherewith you moisten it ; 

 this paste will do for the winter also. 



The haunts of DACE are, gravelly, sandy, and clayey bottoms ; deep holes that are 

 shaded ; water-lily leaves ; and under the foam caused by an eddy : in hot weather, they 

 are to be found on the shallows. They spawn about the latter end of March : and are 

 in season about three weeks after: they are not very good till about Michaelmas, and 

 are best in February. Baits for Dace, other than those mentioned by Walton, are, the 

 oak-worm, red-worm, brandling, gilt-tail ; and indeed any worm, bred on trees or bushes, 

 that is not too big for his mouth ; almost a'l kinds of flies and caterpillars. 



Though Dace are often caught with a float, as Roach, yet they are to be taken with 

 an artificial gnat, or ant-fly, or indeed almost any other small fly in its season ; but in the 

 Thames, above Richmond, the largest are caught with a green or dun grasshopper, and 

 sometimes with gentles ; with both of which you are to fish as with an artificial fly. 

 They are not to be come at till about September, when the weeds begin to rot : but 

 when you have found where they lie, which, in a warm day, is generally on the shallows, 

 'tis incredible what havoc you may make : pinch off the first joint of the grasshopper's 

 legs, put the point of the hook in at the head, and bring it out at the tail ; and in this 

 wav of fishing you will catch Chub, especially if you throw under the boughs. 



But this can be done only in a boat ; for the management whereof, be provided with a 

 staff, and a heavy stone fastened to a strong rope of four or five yards in length : fasten 

 the rope to the head of the boat, and drive down with the stream : when you come to a 

 place where the fish are likely to lie, drop the stone, and standing in the stern, throw 

 down the stream, and a little to the right and left : after trying a place, push the boat 

 lower down, and throw again. Use a common fly-line, about ten yards long, with a 

 strong single hair next the hook. It is true there is less certainty of catching in this way 

 than with a float or ground bait : for which reason, I would recommend it only to those 

 who can command a boat for that purpose, and can take advantage of a still, warm, 

 gloomy day ; to such it will afford much more diversion than the ordinary inartificial 

 method of fishing in the deeps for Roach and Dace. H. 



t I have heard that the tackling hath been priced at fifty pounds, in the inventory of aa 

 angler. Note by Walton, 



