196 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 



will look very yellow, into any great still hole where a Trout 

 is, and he will presently venture his life for it, it is not to be 

 doubted, if you be not espied, and that the bait first touch the 

 water before the line. And this will do best in the deepest, 

 stillest water. 



Next, let me tell you, I have been much pleased to walk 



?uietly by a brook, with a little stick in my hand, with which 

 might easily take these, and consider the curiosity of their 

 composure : and if you shall ever like to do so, then note, that 

 your stick must be a little hazel, or willow, cleft, or have a 

 nick at one end of it, by which means you may, with ease, take 

 many of them in that nick out of the water, before you have 

 any occasion to use them. These, my honest scholar, are some 

 observations, told to you as they now come suddenly into my 

 memory, of which you may make some use : but for the practical 

 part, it is that that makes an angler : it is diligence, and obser- 

 vation, and practice, and an ambition to be the best in the art, 

 that must do it.* I will tell you, scholar, I once heard one 



* The author has now done describing the several kinds of fish, excep- 

 ting the few little ones that follow, with the methods of taking them ; but 

 has said little or nothing of float- fishing j it may therefore not be amiss 

 here to lay down some rules about it. 



Let the rod be light and stiff, and withal so smart in the spring, as to 

 strike at the tip of the whalebone. From fourteen to fifteen feet is a good 

 length. 



In places where you sometimes meet with Barbel, as at Shepperton and 

 Hampton in Middlesex, the fittest line is one of six or seven hairs at top, 

 and so diminishing for two yards ; let the rest be strong Indian grass, to 

 within about half a yard of the hook, which may be whipped to a fine grass 

 or silk- worm gut. And this line will kill a fish of six pounds weight. 



But for mere Roach and Dace fishing, accustom yourself to a single hair 

 line, with which an artist may kill a fish of a pound and a half weight 



For your float : In slow streams a neat round goose quill is proper ; but 

 for deep or rapid rivers, or in an eddy, the cork shaped like a pear, is 

 indisputably the best, which should not in general exceed the size of a 

 nutmeg ; let not the quill which you put through it be more than half an 

 inch above and below the cork : and this float, though some prefer a 

 swan's quill, has great advantage over a bare quill, for the quill being 

 defended from the water by the cork, does not soften ; and the cork 

 enables you to lead your line so heavily, as that the hook sinks almost as 

 soon as you put it into the water ; whereas, when you lead but lightly, it 

 does not go to the bottom till it is near the end of your swim. And in 

 leading your lines, be careful to balance them so nii-.ely, that a very small 

 touch will sink them : some use for this purpose lead shaped like a barley 

 corn ; but there is nothing better to lead with than shot, which you must 

 have ready cleft always with you ; remembering, that when you fish 

 fine, it is better to have on your line a great number of small, than a few 

 large shot. 



Whip the end of the quill round the plug with fine silk well waxed ; 

 this will keep the water out of your float, and preserve it greatly. 



In fishing with a float, your line must be about a foot shorter than your 

 rod j for, if it is longer, you cannot so well command your hook when you 

 come to disengage your fish. 



Perch and Chub are caught with afloat, and also Gudgeons ; and some- 

 times Barbel and Grayling. 



For Carp and Tench, which are seldom caught but in ponds, use a very 



