THE COMPLETE ANGLER. [PART I. 



have him called BLEAK, from his whitish color ; his back is of 

 a pleasant sad or sea-water-green, his belly white and shining 



as the mountain snow. And, doubtless, though he have the 

 fortune, which virtue has in poor people, to be neglected, yet 

 the Bleak ought to be much valued, though we want Allamot- 

 salt, and the skill that the Italians have to turn them into An- 

 chovies. This fish may be caught with a Pater-noster line ; 

 that is, six or eight very small hooks tied along the line, one 

 half a foot above the other : I have seen five caught thus at 

 one time, and the bait has been gentles, than which none is 

 better. 



Or this fish may be caught with a fine small artificial fly, 

 which is to be of a very sad brown color, and very small, and 

 the hook answerable. There is no better sport than whipping 

 for Bleaks in a boat, or on a bank in the swift water in a sum- 

 mer's evening, with a hazel top about five or six foot long, and 

 a line twice the length of the rod. I have heard Sir Henry 

 Wotton say, that there be many that in Italy will catch swal- 

 lows so, or especially martins, this bird-angler standing on the 

 top of a steeple to do it, and with a line twice so long as I 

 have spoken of: and let me tell you, Scholar, that both Mar- 

 tins and Bleaks be most excellent meat. 



And let me tell you, that I have known a Hern that did 

 constantly frequent one place caught with a hook baited with 

 a big minnow or a small gudgeon. The line and hook must 

 be strong, and tied to some loose staff, so big as she cannot fly 

 away with it, a line not exceeding two yards. 



