4 BEST'S AIIT OF ANGLING. 



strong line, with gut at bottom, the hook No. 4 ; 

 and throw in the place you intend to angle for 

 him, a ground-bait made of malt, grains, bran, 

 felood, and clay, the night before ; and you may 

 fish with two or three lines, plumbed to different 

 depths, and follow the method which is laid down 

 for the carp. 



The French esteem this fish highly, and hava 

 this proverb concerning him, that he rcho has 

 breams in his pond, is able to bid his friend welcome. 

 The best part of a bream is his belly and head. 



THE PIKE. 



The pike is a very long-lived fish, according to 

 Lord Bacon and Gesner, who say he out-lives all 

 others. He is called the tyrant of the waters, and 

 will almost seize upon any thing, nay unnaturally 

 devour his own kind. He spawns in February or 

 March : the best pike are those that are found in 

 rivers, those in ponds are not near so good : the 

 larger he is, the coarser the food, and so vice versa. 

 He feeds on small fishes and frogs, and on a weed 

 called pickerel, from which some asseit he derives 

 his being : he is a solitary, melancholy, and bold 

 fish, always being by himself, and never swim- 

 ming in shoals, or in company with other fishes. 

 There are two ways of angling for the pike, by 

 the ledger-bait and the walking-bait. First, the 

 ledger-bait is that fixed in one certain place, and 

 which the angler may leave, and angle for other 

 fish : of this kind, the best is some living bait, as a 

 dace, gudgeon, roach, or live frog. To apply it, 

 if a fibh, stick the hook through his upper lip, ojr 

 back-fin, then fastening it to a strong line, ten or 

 twelve yards long, tie the other end to some stake 



