180 THE COMPLETE ANGLER. PART I. 



the shallows, in the heat of summer : but in autumn, when 

 the weeds begin to grow sour and rot, and the weather 

 colder, then they gather together, and get into the deeper 

 parts of the water; and are to be fished for there, with your 

 hook always touching the ground, if you fish for him 

 with a float, or with a cork. But many will fish for the 

 Gudgeon by hand, with a running line upon the ground, 

 without a cork, as a Trout is fished for ; and it is an excel- 

 lent way, if you have a gentle rod, and as gentle a hand. 1 



There is also another fish called a POPE, and by some 

 a RUFFE ; a fish that is not known to be in some rivers : 

 he is much like the Pearch for his shape, and taken to be 

 better than the Pearch ; but will not grow to be bigger than 

 a Gudgeon. He is an excellent fish ; no fish that swims 

 is of a pleasanter taste. And he is also excellent to enter 

 a young angler, for he is a greedy biter ; and they will 

 usually lie, abundance of them together, in one reserved 

 place, where the water is deep and runs quietly; and an 

 easy angler, if he has found where they lie, may catch 

 forty or fifty, or sometimes twice so many, at a standing. 



Yon must fish for him with a small red worm ; and if 

 you bait the ground with earth, it is excellent. 



There is also a Bleak, or fresh-water Sprat; a fish that 

 is ever in motion, and therefore called by some the river- 

 swallow ; for just as you shall observe the Swallow to be, 

 most evenings in summer, ever in motion, making short 

 and quick turns when he flies to catch flies, in the air, by 

 which he lives ; so does the Bleak at the top of the water. 

 Ausonius would have him called Bleak, from his whitish 

 colour : his back is of a pleasant sad or sea-water-green ; 

 his belly, white and shining as the mountain snow. And 

 doubtless, though he have the fortune, which virtue has 



(I) ! fahiag for GvdfeoM. hare rk ; and every quarter of M boor rtke 

 tbe bottom of Uw river, and UM fish will flock thither in ho*li. 



