I3O THE COMPLETE ANGLER. (PART I 



the Salmon, which I purpose shall be next, and then of the 

 Pike or Luce. 



You are to know, there is night as well as day fishing for a 

 Trout, and that in the night the best Trouts come out of their 

 holes ; and the manner of taking them is, on the top of the 

 water with a great lob or garden-worm, or rather two, which 

 you are to fish with in a place where the waters run somewhat 

 quietly, for in a stream the bait will not be so well discerned. 

 I say in a quiet or dead place near to some swift, there draw 

 your bait over the top of the water, to and fro, and if there be 

 a good Trout in the hole, he will take it, especially if the 

 night be dark : for then he is bold and lies near the top of the 

 water, watching the motion of any frog or water-rat or mouse 

 that swims betwixt him and the sky ; these he hunts after, if 

 he sees the water but wrinkle or move in one of these dead 

 holes, where these great old Trouts usually lie near to their 

 holds : for you are to note, that the great old Trout is both 

 subtle and fearful, and lies close all day, and does not usually 

 stir out of his hold, but lies in it as close in the day as the 

 timorous Hare does in her form ; for the chief feeding of either 

 is seldom in the day, but usually in the night, and then the 

 great Trout feeds very boldly. 



And you must fish for him with a strong line, and not a lit- 

 tle hook ; and let him have time to gorge your hook, for he 

 does not usually forsake it, as he oft will in the day fishing. 

 And if the night be not dark, then fish so with an artificial fly 

 of a light color, and at the snap : nay, he will sometimes rise 

 at a dead mouse, or a piece of cloth, or anything that seems to 

 swim cross the water, or to be in motion. This is a choice 

 way, but I have not oft used it, because it is void of the pleas- 

 ures that such days as these, that we two now enjoy, afford an 

 Angler. 



And you are to know, that in Hampshire, which I think tx- 

 ceeds all England for swift, shallow, clear, pleasant brooks, and 

 store of Trouts, they use to catch Trouts in the night by the 



