And now I shall tell you that which may be called a secret. I have been
a-fishing with old Oliver Henly, now with God, a noted fisher both for
Trout and Salmon; and have observed, that he would usually take three or
four worms out of his bag, and put them into a little box in his pocket,
where he would usually let them continue half an hour or more, before he
would bait his hook with them. I have asked him his reason, and he has
replied, "He did but pick the best out to be in readiness against he
baited his hook the next time": but he has been observed, both by
others and myself, to catch more fish than I, or any other body that has
ever gone a-fishing with him, could do, and especially Salmons. And I
have been told lately, by one of his most intimate and secret friends,
that the box in which he put those worms was anointed with a drop, or
two or three, of the oil of ivy-berries, made by expression or infusion;
and told, that by the worms remaining in that box an hour, or a like
time, they had incorporated a kind of smell that was irresistibly
attractive, enough to force any fish within the smell of them to bite.
This I heard not long since from a friend, but have not tried it; yet I
grant it probable, and refer my reader to Sir Francis Bacon's Natural
history, where he proves fishes may hear, and, doubtless, can more
probably smell: and I am certain Gesner says, the Otter can smell in the
water; and I know not but that fish may do so too. 'Tis left for a lover
of angling, or any that desires to improve that art, to try this
conclusion.
I shall also impart two other experiments, but not tried by myself,
which I will deliver in the same words that they were given me by an
excellent angler and a very friend, in writing: he told me the latter
was too good to be told, but in a learned language, lest it should be
made common.
"Take the stinking oil drawn out of polypody of the oak by a retort,
mixed with turpentine and hive-honey, and anoint your bait therewith,
and it will doubtless draw the fish to it."
The other is this: "Vulnera hederae grandissimae inflicta sudant
balsamum oleo gelato, albicantique persimile, odoris vero longe
suavissimi".
"'Tis supremely sweet to any fish, and yet assa foetida may do the
like."
But in these I have no great faith; yet grant it probable; and have had
from some chymical men, namely, from Sir George Hastings and others, an
affirmation of them to be very advantageous. But no more of these;
especially not in this place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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