The Compleat ^Angler 



above the middle, and out again a little below the middle ; having 

 so done, draw your worm above the arming of your hook : but note 

 that at the entering of your hook it must not be at the head-end of 

 the worm, but at the tail-end of him, that the point of your hook 

 may come out toward the head-end, and having drawn him above 

 the arming of your hook, then put the point of your hook again 

 into the very head of the worm, till it come near to the place where 

 the point of the hook first came out : and then draw back that part 

 of the worm that was above the shank or arming of your hook, and 

 so fish with it. And if you mean to fish with two worms, then put 

 the second on before you turn back the hook's-head of the first 

 worm : you cannot lose above two or three worms before you attain 

 to what I direct you ; and having attained it, you will find it very 

 useful, and thank me for it, for you will run on the ground without 

 tangling. 



Now for the Minnow or Penk : he is not easily found and caught 

 till March, or in April, for then he appears first in the river ; nature 

 having taught him to shelter and hide himself, in the winter, in 

 ditches that be near to the river ; and there both to hide, and keep 

 himself warm, in the mud, or in the weeds, which rot not so soon as 

 in a running river, in which place if he were in winter, the dis- 

 tempered floods that are usually in that season would suffer him to 

 take no rest, but carry him headlong to mills and weirs, to his 

 confusion. And of these minnows ; first you are to know that the 

 biggest size is not the best ; and next, that the middle size and the 

 whitest are the best ; and then you are to know, that your minnow 

 must be so put on your hook, that it must turn round when 'tis 

 drawn against the stream ; and, that it may turn nimbly, you must 

 put it on a big-sized hook, as I shall now direct you, which is thus : 

 put your hook in at his mouth, and out at his gill ; then, having 

 drawn your hook two or three inches beyond or through his gill, 

 put it again into his mouth, and the point and beard out at his tail ; 

 and then tie the hook and his tail about, very neatly, with a white 

 thread, which will make it the apter to turn quick in the water : that 

 done, pull back that part of your line which was slack when you did 

 put your hook into the minnow the second time ; I say, pull that 



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