64 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



other fishes recover strength, and grow sooner fat and in sea- 

 son than the trout doth. 



And next you are to note, that till the sun gets to such a 

 height as to warm the earth and the water, the trout is sick, 

 and lean, and lousy, and unwholesome : for you shall in winter 

 find him to have a big head, and then to be lank, and thin, 

 and lean : at which time many of them have sticking on them 

 sugs, or trout-lice, which is a kind of worm, in shape like a 

 clove or pin, with a big head, and sticks close to him and 

 sucks his moisture ; those, I think, the trout breeds himself, 

 and never thrives till he free himself from them, which is 

 when warm weather comes ; and then, as he grows stronger, 

 he gets from the dead, still water, into the sharp streams, and 

 the gravel, and there rubs off these worms or lice ; and then, 

 as he grows stronger, so he gets him into swifter and swifter 

 streams, and there lies at the watch for any fly or minnow 

 that comes near to him ; and he especially loves the May-fly, 

 which is bred of the cod-worm or cadis ; and these make the 

 trout bold and lusty, and he is usually fatter and better meat at 

 that end of that month [May] than at any time of the year. 



Now you are to know that it is observed, that usually the 

 best trouts are either red or yellow ; though some (as the 

 Fordidge trout) be white and yet good ; but that is not usual : 

 and it is a note observable, that the female trout hath usually 

 a less head, and a deeper body than the male trout, and is 

 usually the better meat. And note, that a hog-back and a 

 little head to either trout, salmon, or any other fish, is a sign 

 that that fish is in season. 



But yet you are to note, that as you see some willows or 

 palm-trees bud and blossom sooner than others do, so some 

 trouts be, in rivers, sooner in season : and as some hollies or 

 oaks are longer before they cast their leaves, so are some 

 trouts in rivers longer before they go out of season. 



And you are to note, that there are several kinds of trouts : 

 but these several kinds are not considered but by very few 

 men ; for they go under the general name of trouts : just as 

 pigeons do, in most places ; though, it is certain, there are 

 tame and wild pigeons ; and of the tame, there be helmets 

 and runfe, and carriers and cropers, and indeed too many to 

 name. Nay, the Royal Society have found and published 

 lately, that there be thirty and three kinds of spiders; and yet 

 all, for aught I know, go under that one general name of 

 spider. And it is so with many kinds of fish, and of trouts 



