204 THE COMPLETE AN GLEE. [PART I. 



one, that is, it must be more than half a yard, and should 

 be bigger. 



3?irst, open your pike at the gills, and, if need be, cut also 

 a little slit towards the belly. Out of these take his guts ; 

 and keep his liver, which you are to shred very small with 

 thyme, sweet marjoram, and a little winter-savory ; to these 

 put some pickled oysters, and some anchovies, two or three ; 

 both these last whole, for the anchovies will melt, and the 

 oysters should not ; to these you must add also a pound of 

 sweet butter, which you are to mix with the herbs that are 

 shred, and let them all be well salted. If the pike be more 

 than a yard long, then you may put into these herbs more 

 than a pound, or if he be less, then less butter will suffice. 

 These being thus mixed, with a blade or two of mace, must 

 be put into the pike's belly, and then his belly so sewed up, 

 as to keep all the butter in his belly if it be possible ; if not, 



As the pike spawns in March, and before that month rivers are seldom 

 in order for fishing, it will hardly be worth while to begin trolling till 

 April : after that, the weeds will be apt to be troublesome. But the prime 

 month in the year for trolling is October, when the pike are fattened by 

 their summer's feed, the weeds are rotted, and by the falling of the waters 

 the harbours of the fish are easily found. 



Choose to troll in clear and not muddy water, and in windy weather if 

 the wind be not easterly. 



Some use, in trolling and snapping, two or more swivels to their line, by 

 means whereof the twisting of the line is prevented, the bait plays more 

 freely, and, though dead, is made to appear as if alive, which, in rivers, is 

 doubtless an excellent way, but those who fish in ponds or still waters will 

 find very little occasion for more than one. 



THE PIKE is ALSO TO BE CAUGHT WITH A MINNOW, for which method take 

 the following directions : 



Get a single hook, slender, and long in the shank ; let it resemble the 

 shape of a shepherd's crook ; put lead upon it, as thick near the bent as 

 will go into the minnow's mouth ; place the point of the hook directly up 

 the face of the fish. Let the rod be as long as you can conveniently 

 manage, with a line of the same length. Cast up and down, and manage 

 it as when you troll with any other bait. If, when the pike .hath taken 

 your bait, he run to the end of the line, before he hath gorged it, do not 

 strike, but hold still only, and he will return back and swallow it. If 

 you use that bait with a troll, I prefer it to any bait that I know. 



The pike will not refuse a fly if it be large and gaudy, especially in a 

 warm wind that roughs the water. 



In landing a pike, great caution is necessary, for his bite is esteemed 

 venomous. The best and safest hold you can take of him is by the head, 

 in doing which, place your thumb and finger in his eyes. H. 



