. 



234 NOBBS'S ART OF TROLLING. 



of the back and sides : for those fish that have full and 

 extended bellies, are often deceitful, and may be full 

 of spawn instead of fat : the male Pike is generally 

 firm and inviting to the eater, but the spawners or sow. 

 fish (as some call them) are out of season great part of 

 Summer ; for before and after they have spawned, they 

 are scarcely worth the Troller's labour. Some observe 

 that they multiply twice a year: at the beginning of 

 Spring, and again the latter end of Summer, which is 

 not improbable. 



There are many circumstances that conduce much 

 to the feeding of a Pike, as first a convenient harbour; 

 for they that lie among weeds and foggy places are 

 fattest; they are there secure from the assaults and dis. 

 turbance of enemies, and enjoy a more safe and con. 

 tented repose ; rest and quietness being as natural and 

 helpful to their feeding as to other creatures : there are 

 some waters that may be more feeding and nourishing 

 than others. A thicker sort of water, if not foul 

 and muddy, is of a better consistency, and the parts 

 better disposed and qualified for nutrition, than those 

 of a more thin and rarified substance : it is a rule in 

 philosophy, that no element that is pure and without 

 mixture? is consentaneous for nourishing ; so that they 

 have put it among their vulgar errors, that the camelion 

 cannot live by air alone, or the salamander by fire : so 

 we deny that fish can live by pure water, or by respira. 

 tion, or sucking in those slender particles of his beloved 

 element, without the concurrence and assistance of 

 some grosser and terrene qualities, which are inter. 

 mingled with those liquid bodies* This is the reason 

 why fish 'are the fattest, though not altogether the 

 sweetest, fed among weeds and thick fog; they live 

 and thrive with little more refreshment than what they 

 receive from that fatness which the soil imparts: if 

 there is great store of rubbish in the pond or river, 

 tjiere needs a less supply of adventitious food. 



It is a common observation, that after a glut of rain, 

 or some great showers, a Pike never bites well, because 

 he hath lately fed upon those fresh streams that come in 



