The Compleat Angler 



place when you shall be absent from it ; and I call that a walking- 

 bait which you take with you, and have ever in motion. Concerning 

 which two, I shall give you this direction, that your ledger-bait is 

 best to be a living bait, though a dead one may catch, whether it be 

 a fish or a frog ; and that you may make them live the longer, you 

 may, or indeed you must, take this course : 



First, for your live-bait of fish, a roach or dace is, I think, best 

 and most tempting and a perch is the longest lived on a hook ; and 

 having cut off his fin on his back, which may be done without 

 hurting him, you must take your knife (which cannot be too sharp) 

 and betwixt the head and the fin on the back, cut or make an 

 incision, or such a scar, as you may put the arming-wire of your 

 hook into it, with as little bruising or hurting the fish as art and 

 diligence will enable you to do ; and so carrying your arming-wire 

 along his back, unto or near the tail of your fish, betwixt the skin 

 and the body of it, draw out that wire or arming of your hook at 

 another scar near to his tail : then tie him about it with thread, but 

 no harder than of necessity to prevent hurting the fish ; and the 

 better to avoid hurting the fish, some have a kind of probe to open 

 the way, for the more easy entrance and passage of your wire or 

 arming ; but as for these, time and a little experience will teach you 

 better than I can by words ; therefore I will for the present say no 

 more of this, but come next to give you some directions how to bait 

 your hook with a frog. 



VEN. But, good master, did you not say even now that some 

 frogs are venomous, and is it not dangerous to touch them ? 



Pise. Yes ; but I will give you some rules or cautions concerning 

 them. And first, you are to note, that there are two kinds of frogs ; 

 that is to say (if I may so express myself) a flesh and a fish-frog : 

 by flesh-frogs, I mean frogs that breed and live on the land ; and of 

 these there be several sorts also, and of several colours, some being 

 speckled, some greenish, some blackish or brown : the green frog, 

 which is a small one, is by Topsel taken to be venomous, and so is 

 the paddock or frog paddock, which usually keeps or breeds on the 

 land, and is very large and bony and big, especially the she-frog of 

 that kind ; yet these will sometimes come into the water, but it is 



'55 



