The Compleat ^Angler 



And the baits for this bold fish are not many : I 

 mean, he will bite as well at some or at any of these three, 

 as at any or all others whatsoever : 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 a cow- 

 turd, with a bluish head. And if you 

 rove for a perch 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 perch, 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 perch time 

 enough when he bites, for there was 

 scarce ever any angler that has given him 

 too much. And now I think best to 

 rest myself, for I have almost spent my 

 spirits with talking so long. 



VEN. Nay, good master, one fish 

 more, for you see it rains still, and you 

 know our angles are like money put to 

 usury, they may thrive, though we sit 

 still and do nothing but talk and enjoy 

 one another. Come, come, the other fish, good master. 



Pise. But, scholar, have you nothing to mix with this discourse, 

 which now grows both tedious and tiresome ? Shall I have nothing 



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