CHAP. III. 1 



THE THIRD DAY. 103 



stand close, be sure of a bite, but not sure to catch him, 

 for he is not a leather-mouthed fish. And after this manner 

 you may fish for him with almost any kind of live fly, but 

 especially with a. grasshopper. 



Ven. But before you go further, I pray, good master, 

 what mean you by a leather-mouthed fish ? 



Pise. By a leather-mouthed fish, I mean such as have their 

 teeth in their throat, as the chub or cheven ; and so the 

 barbel, the gudgeon, and carp, and divers others have. And 

 the hook being stuck into the leather^ or skin of the mouth of 

 such fish ; does very seldom or never lose its hold : but on 

 the contrary, a pike, a perch, or trout, and so some other 

 fish, which have not their teeth in their throats, but in their 

 mouths ; which you shall observe to be very full of bones, 

 and the skin very thin, and little of it ; I say, of these fish 

 the hook never takes so sure hold, but you often lose your 

 fish, unless he have gorged it. 



Ven. I thank you, good master, for this observation. But 

 now, what shall be done with my chub or cheven that I have 

 caught? 



Pise. Marry! sir, it shall be given away to some poor 

 body ; for I'll warrant you I'll give you a trout for your 

 supper : and it is a good beginning of your art to offer your 

 first-fruits to the poor, who will both thank you and Grod for 

 it, which I see by your silence you seem to consent to. And 

 for your willingness to part with it so charitably, I will also 

 teach more concerning chub-fishing : you are to note, that 

 in March and April he is usually taken with worms ; in May, 

 June, and July, he will bite at any fly, or at cherries, or 

 at beetles with their legs and wings cut off, or at any kind 

 of snail, or at a black bee, that breeds in clay walls. And 

 he never refuses a grasshopper, on the top of a swift stream; l 

 nor, at the bottom, the young humble bee that breeds in 

 long grass, and is ordinarily found by the mower of it. In 

 August, and in the cooler months, a yellow paste, made of 

 the strongest cheese, and pounded in a mortar, with a little 

 butter and saffron, so much of it as being beaten small will 



1 In the Thames, above Richmond, the best way of using the grass- 

 hopper for chub, is to fish with it as with an artificial fly ; the first joints of 

 the legs must be pinched off" ; and in this way when the weeds are rotten, 

 which is seldom till September the largest dace are taken. H. 



