i2 4 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART i. 



Some say that breams and roaches will mix their eggs and 

 melt together, and so there is in many places a bastard breed 

 of breams, that never come to be either large or good, but very 

 numerous. 



The baits good to catch this Bream are many. I. Paste made 

 of brown bread and honey, gentles, or the brood of wasps that 

 be young, and then not unlike gentles, and should be hardened 

 in an oven, or dried on a tile before the fire, to make them 

 tough ; or there is at the root of docks or flags, or rushes in 

 watery places, a worm not unlike a maggot, at which tench will 

 bite freely. Or he will bite at a grasshopper with his legs 

 nipped off, in June or July, or at several flies under water, which 

 may be found on flags that grow near to the water-side. I doubt 

 not but that there be many other baits that are good ; but I will 

 turn them all into this excellent one, either for a carp or bream, 

 in any river or mere : it was given to me by a most honest and 

 excellent angler; and hoping you will prove both, I will impart 

 it to you. 



1. Let your bait be as big a red worm as you can find, without 

 a knot ; get a pint or quart of them in an evening in garden 

 walks, or chalky common, after a shower of rain, and put them 

 with clean moss well washed and picked, and the water squeezed 

 out of the moss as dry as you can, into an earthen pot or pipkin 

 set dry, and change the moss fresh every three or four days, 

 for three weeks or a month together; then your bait will be at 

 the best, for it will be clear and lively. 



2. Having thus prepared your baits, get your tackling ready 

 and fitted for this sport. Take three long angling rods, and as 

 many and more silk, or silk and hair lines, and as many large 

 swan or goose-quill floats. Then take a piece of lead, and fasten 

 them to the low ends of your lines ; then fasten your link-hook 

 also to the lead, and let there be about a foot or ten inches 

 between the lead and the hook ; but be sure the lead be heavy 

 enough to sink the float or quill a little under the water, and not 

 the quill to bear up the lead, for the lead must lie on the ground. 

 Note, that your link next the hook may be smaller than the rest 

 of your line, if you dare adventure, for fear of taking the pike or 



