CHAP. VIII.] THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 149 



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 mo- 

 tion. 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 Perch 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 



