THE COMPLETE ANGLER. *ART I 



And the baits for this bold fish 



FIE ARCH. 



are not many: I mean, he will bite as well at some, or 

 at any, of these three> as at any, or all, others \vhatso* 

 ever : a WORM ; a MINNOW ; or a little FROG, of which 

 you may find many in hay-time. And of worms; the 

 dunghill-worm called a brandling, I take to be best, 

 being well scoured in moss or fennel : or, he will bite at 

 a worm, that lies under cow-dung, with a bluish head. 

 And if you rove for a Pearch with a minnow : then, it 

 is best to be alive ; you sticking your hook through his 

 back fin; or a minnow with the hook in his upper lip; 

 and letting him swim, up and down, about mid-water, 

 or a little lower, and you still keeping him to about 

 that depth by a cork, which ought not to be a very little 

 one : And the like way you are to fish for the Pearch, 

 with a small frog ; your hook being fastened through 

 the skin of his leg, towards the upper part of it. And, 

 lastly, I will give you but this advice ; that you give 

 the Pearch time enough when he bites ; for there was 

 scarce ever any angler that has given him too much*. 



i 



* Although Pearch, like Trout, delight in clear swift rivers, with peb- 

 bly, gravelly bottoms, they are often found in sandy clayey soils : they 

 love a moderately deep water; and frequent holes by the sides of, of 

 near, little streams, and, the hollows under banks. 



The Pearch spawns about the beginning of March : the best time of 

 the year to angle for him, is from the beginning of May till the end of 



