OBSERVATIONS OF THE LUCE OR PIKE 



eggs, which become young snakes, in some old dunghill, or a 

 like hot place ; but the Water-snake, which is not venomous, 

 and as I have been assured by a great observer of such secrets, 

 does not hatch but breed her young alive, which she does not 

 then forsake, but bides with them, and in case of danger will 

 take them all into her mouth, and swim away from any appre- 

 hended danger, and then let them out again when she thinks 

 all danger to be past ; these be accidents that we Anglers 

 sometimes see, and often talk of. 



But whither am I going? I had almost lost myself by 

 remembering the discourse of Dubravius. I will therefore stop 

 here, and tell you according to my promise how to catch this 

 Pike. 



His feeding is usually of fish or frogs, and sometimes a weed 

 of his own called Pickerel-weed. Of which I told you some 

 think some Pikes are bred ; for they have observed, that where 

 none have been put into ponds, yet they have there found 

 many : and that there has been plenty of that weed in those 

 ponds, and that that weed both breeds and feeds them ; but 

 whether those Pikes so bred will ever breed by generation as 

 the others do, I shall leave to the disquisitions of men of more 

 curiosity and leisure than I profess myself to have ; and shall 

 proceed to tell you that you may fish for a Pike, either with a 

 Ledger or a Walking-bait ; and you are to note, that I call that 

 a Ledger-bait, which is fixed or made to rest in one certain 

 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 Pearch 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 

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