CHAP. X.) THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



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 commons, 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 

 earthern 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 



made after this manner, 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 

 Pearch, who will assuredly visit your hooks, till they be taken 

 out, as I will show you afterwards, before either Carp or Bream 

 will come near to bite. Note also, that when the worm is well 

 baited, it will crawl up and down, as far as the lead will give 

 leave, which much enticeth the fish to bite without suspicion. 



3. Having thus prepared your baits, and fitted your tackling, 

 repair to the river, where you have seen them to swim in skuls 

 or shoals in the summer-time in a hot afternoon, about three or 

 four of the clock ; and watch their going forth of their deep 

 holes and returning, which you may well discern, for they re- 

 turn about four of the clock, most of them seeking food at the 

 bottom, yet one or two will lie on the top of the water, rolling 

 and tumbling themselves whilst the rest are under him at the 

 bottom ; and so you shall perceive him to keep sentinel : then 

 mark where he plays most, and stays longest, which commonly 



