You are to know, there is night as well as day fishing for a Trout; and
that, in the night, the best Trouts come out of their holes. And the
manner of taking them is on the top of the water with a great lob or
garden-worm, or rather two, which you are to fish with in a stream where
the waters run somewhat quietly, for in a stream the bait will not be so
well discerned. I say, in a quiet or dead place, near to some swift,
there draw your bait over the top of the water, to and fro, and if there
be a good Trout in the hole, he will take it, especially if the night be
dark, for then he is bold, and lies near the top of the water, watching
the motion of any frog or water-rat, or mouse, that swims betwixt him
and the sky; these he hunts after, if he sees the water but wrinkle or
move in one of these dead holes, where these great old Trouts usually
lie, near to their holds; for you are to note, that the great old Trout
is both subtle and fearful, and lies close all day, and does not usually
stir out of his hold, but lies in it as close in the day as the timorous
hare does in her form; for the chief feeding of either is seldom in the
day, but usually in the night, and then the great Trout feeds very
boldly.
And you must fish for him with a strong line, and not a little hook; and
let him have time to gorge your hook, for he does not usually forsake
it, as he oft will in the day-fishing. And if the night be not dark,
then fish so with an artificial fly of a light colour, and at the snap:
nay, he will sometimes rise at a dead mouse, or a piece of cloth, or
anything that seems to swim across the water, or to be in motion. This
is a choice way, but I have not oft used it, because it is void of the
pleasures that such days as these, that we two now enjoy, afford an
angler.
And you are to know, that in Hampshire, which I think exceeds all
England for swift, shallow, clear, pleasant brooks, and store of Trouts,
they used to catch Trouts in the night, by the light of a torch or
straw, which, when they have discovered, they strike with a Trout-spear,
or other ways. This kind of way they catch very many: but I would not
believe it till I was an eye-witness of it, nor do I like it now I have
seen it.
Venator. But, master, do not Trouts see us in the night?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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