CHAP. VIII. THE COMPLETE ANGLER. 133 



by remembering the discourse of Dubravius. I will 

 therefore stop here ; and tell you, according to my pro- 

 mise, how to catch the Pike. 



His feeding is usually of fish or frogs ; and sometimes 

 a weed of his own, called pickerel-weed, of which I told 

 you some think Pikes are bred ; for they have observed, 

 that where none have been put into ponds, yet they have 

 there found many ; and that there has been plenty of that 

 weed in those ponds, and [they think] that that weed 

 both breeds and feeds them : but whether those Pikes 

 so bred will ever breed by generation as the others do, 

 I shall leave to the disquisitions of men of more curiosity 

 and leisure than I profess myself to have : and shall pro- 

 ceed 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. Offish, a roach or dace 

 is, I think, best and most tempting; and a pearch 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 betwixt the head and the fin on the back, cut 

 or make an incision, or such a scar, as you may put the 

 arming 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, betwixt the skin and 

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



