THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART I. 



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 a 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 bet- 

 ter meat at the end of that month than at any time of 

 the year. 



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

 the best TrouU 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 



