The Compleat ^Angler 



trout usually spawns about October or November, but in some rivers 

 a little sooner or later : which is the more observable, because most 

 other fish spawn in the spring or summer, when the sun hath warmed 

 both the earth and the water, and made it fit for generation. And 

 you are to note that he continues many months out of season ; 

 for it may be observed of the trout, that he is like the buck or the 

 ox, that he will not be fat in many months, though he go in the 

 very same pasture that horses do, which will be fat in one month : 

 and so you may observe that most other fishes recover strength, and 

 grow sooner fat and in season than the trout doth. 



And next you are to note, that till the sun gets to such a height 

 as to warm the earth and the water, the trout is sick, and lean, and 

 lousy, and unwholesome : for you shall in winter find him to have a 

 big head, and then to be lank, and thin, and lean : at which time 

 many of them have sticking on them sugs, or trout-lice, which is a 

 kind of worm, in shape like a clove or pin, with a big head, and 

 sticks close to him and sucks his moisture ; those, I think, the trout 

 breeds himself, and never thrives till he free himself from them, 

 which is when warm weather comes ; and then, as he grows stronger, 

 he gets from the dead, still water, into the sharp streams, and the 

 gravel, and there rubs off" these worms or lice ; and then, as he 

 grows stronger, so he gets him into swifter and swifter streams, and 

 there lies at the watch for any fly or minnow that comes near to 

 him ; and he especially loves the May-fly, which is bred of the cod- 

 worm or cadis ; and these, make the trout bold and lusty, and he is 

 usually fatter and better meat at the end of that month than at any 

 time of the year. 



Now you are to know that it is observed, that usually the best 

 trouts are either red or yellow; though some (as the Fordidge trout) 

 be white and yet good ; but that is not usual : and it is a note 

 observable, that the female trout hath usually a less head, and a 

 deeper body than the male trout, and is usually the better meat. And 

 note, that a hog-back and a little head to either trout, salmon, or 

 any other fish, is a sign that that fish is in season. 



But yet you are to note, that as you see some willows or palm- 

 trees bud and blossom sooner than others do, so some trouts be, in 



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