128 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



say, kept seven or eight days in moss before you fish with them : 

 and if you double your time of eight into sixteen, twenty, or 

 more days, it is still the better; for the worms will still be 

 clearer, tougher, and more lively, and continue so longer upon 

 your hook. And they may be kept longer by keeping them 

 cool, and in fresh moss; and some advise to put camphor 

 into it.* 



Note also, that many use to fish for a Salmon with a ring 

 of wire on the top of their rod, through which the line may run 

 to as great a length as is needful, when he is hooked. And to 

 that end some use a wheel about the middle of their rod, or 

 near their hand, which is to be observed better by seeing one of 

 them, than by a large demonstration of words. 



And now I shall tell you that which may be called a secret. 

 I have been a-fishing with old Oliver Henley, now with God, a 

 noted fisher both for Trout and Salmon ; and have observed, 

 that he would usually take three or four worms out of his bag 1 , 

 and put them into a little box in his pocket, where he would 

 usually let them continue half an hour or more, before he would 

 bait his hook with them. I have asked him his reason, and he 

 has replied, " He did but pick the best out to be in readiness 

 against he baited his hook the next time : " but he has been 

 observed, both by others and myself, to catch more fish than I, 

 or any other body that has ever gone a-fishing with him could 

 do, and especially Salmons. And I have been told lately, by 

 one of his most intimate and secret friends, that the box in 

 which he put those worms was anointed with a drop, or two or 

 three, of the oil of ivy -berries, made by expression or infusion ; 

 and told, that by the worms remaining in that box an hour, or a 

 like time, they had incorporated a kind of smell that was irre- 

 sistibly attractive, enough to force any fish within the smell of 

 them to bite. This I heard not long since from a friend, but 

 have not tried it ; yet I grant it probable, and refer my reader 

 to Sir Francis Bacon's Natural History, where he proves fishes 

 may hear, and, doubtless, can more probably smell ; and I am 

 certain Gesner says, the Otter can smell in the water ; and I 

 know not but that fish may do so too. It is left for a lover of 



* Baits for Salmon are: Lob- worms, for the ground ; smaller Worms and 

 Bobs, cad bait, and, indeed, most of the baits taken by the Trout, at the 

 top of the water. And as to Flies, remember to make them of the most 

 crsiiidy colours, and very large. There is a Fly called the Horse-leech fly, 

 which he is very fond of : they are of various colours, have great heads, 

 large bodies, very long- tails, and two pairs of wings, placed behind each 

 other. In imitating- this Fly, behind each pair of wings whip the body about 

 with gold or silver twist, or both ; and do the same by the head. Fish with 

 it at length, as for Trout and Grayling. If you dib, do it with two or three 

 Butterflies of different colours, or with some of the most glaring small Flies 

 you can find. 



