But though some do not, yet the French esteem this fish highly; and to
that end have this proverb "He that hath Breams in his pond, is able to
bid his friend welcome"; and it is noted, that the best part of a Bream
is his belly and head.
Some say, that Breams and Roaches will mix their eggs and melt together;
and so there is in many places a bastard breed of Breams, that never
come to be either large or good, but very numerous.
The baits good to catch this Bream are many. First, paste made of brown
bread and honey; gentles; or the brood of wasps that be young, and then
not unlike gentles, and should be hardened in an oven, or dried on a
tile before the fire to make them tough. Or, there is, at the root of
docks or flags or rushes, in watery places, a worm not unlike a maggot,
at which Tench will bite freely. Or he will bite at a grasshopper with
his legs nipt off, in June and July; or at several flies, under water,
which may be found on flags that grow near to the water-side. I doubt
not but that there be many other baits that are good; but I will turn
them all into this most excellent one, either for a Carp or Bream, in
any river or mere: it was given to me by a most honest and excellent
angler; and hoping you will prove both, I will impart it to you.
1. Let your bait be as big a red worm as you can find, without a knot:
get a pint or quart of them in an evening, in garden-walks, or chalky
commons, after a shower of rain; and put them with clean moss well
washed and picked, and the water squeezed out of the moss as dry as you
can, into an earthen pot or pipkin set dry; and change the moss fresh
every three or four days, for three weeks or a month together; then your
bait will be at the best, for it will be clear and lively.
2. Having thus prepared your baits, get your tackling ready and fitted
for this sport. Take three long angling-rods; and as many and more silk,
or silk and hair, lines; and as many large swan or goose-quill floats.
Then take a piece of lead, and fasten them to the low ends of your
lines: then fasten your link-hook also to the lead; and let there be
about a foot or ten inches between the lead and the hook: but be sure
the lead be heavy enough to sink the float or quill, a little under the
water; and not the quill to bear up the lead, for the lead must lie on
the ground. Note, that your link next the hook may be smaller than the
rest of your line, if you dare adventure, for fear of taking the Pike or
Perch, who will assuredly visit your hooks, till they be taken out, as I
will show you afterwards, before either Carp or Bream will come near to
bite. Note also, that when the worm is well baited, it will crawl up and
down as far as the lead will give leave, which much enticeth the fish to
bite without suspicion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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