138 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



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 motion. 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 be too sharp, and between the head and the fin. 

 on the back, cut or make an incision, or such a scar, as you 

 may put the arm ing- wire of your hook into it, with as little 

 bruising or hurting the fish as art and diligence will enable 

 you to do ; and so carrying your arming-wire along his back, 

 unto or near the tail of your fish, between the skin and the 

 body of it, draw out that wire or arming of your hook at 

 another scar near to his tail : then tie him about it with 

 thread, but no harder than of necessity to prevent hurting 

 the fish ; and the better to avoid hurting the fish, some have 

 a kind of probe to open the way, for the more easy entrance 

 and passage of your wire or arming : but as for these, time 

 and a little experience will teach you better than I can by 

 words ; therefore I will for the present say no more of this, 

 but come next to give you some directions how to bait your 

 hook with a frog. 



YEN. But, good Master, did you not say even now, that 

 some frogs are venomous, and is it not dangerous to touch 

 them 1 



Pise. Yes ; but I will give you some rules or cautions con- 

 cerning them. And first, you are to note, that there are two 

 kinds of frogs ; that is to say, if I may so express myself, a 

 flesh and a fish-frog : by fiesh-frogs, I mean frogs that breed 

 and live on the land ; and of these there be several sorts also, 

 and of several colours, some being speckled, some greenish, 

 some blackish or brown : the green frog, which is a small 

 one, is by Topsell taken to be venomous, and so is the 

 padock or frog padock, which usually keeps or breeds on the 

 land, and is very large, and bony and big, especially the she- 



