And having told you these Observations concerning _Trouts_, I shall
next tell you how to catch them: which is usually with a _Worm_, or a
_Minnow_ (which some call a _Penke_;) or with a _Flie_, either a
_natural_ or an _artificial_ Flie: Concerning which three I wil give
you some Observations and Directions.
For Worms, there be very many sorts; some bred onely in the earth, as
the _earth worm_; others amongst or of plants, as the _dug-worm_; and
others in the bodies of living creatures; or some of dead flesh, as the
_Magot_ or _Gentle_, and others.
Now these be most of them particularly good for particular fishes: but
for the _Trout_ the _dew-worm_, (which some also cal the _Lob-worm_)
and the _Brandling_ are the chief; and especially the first for a great
_Trout_, and the later for a lesse. There be also of _lob-worms_, some
called _squirel-tails_ (a worm which has a red head, a streak down the
back, and a broad tail) which are noted to be the best, because they
are the toughest, and most lively, and live longest in the water: for
you are to know, that a dead worm is but a dead bait, and like to catch
nothing, compared to a lively, quick, stirring worm: And for a
_Brandling_, hee is usually found in an old dunghil, or some very
rotten place neer to it; but most usually in cow dung, or hogs dung,
rather then horse dung, which is somewhat too hot and dry for that
worm.
There are also divers other kindes of worms, which for colour and
shape alter even as the ground out of which they are got: as the
_marsh-worm_, the _tag-tail_, the _flag-worm_, the _dock-worm_, the
_oake-worm_, the _gilt-tail_, and too many to name, even as many sorts,
as some think there be of severall kinds of birds in the air: of which
I shall say no more, but tell you, that what worms soever you fish
with, are the better for being long kept before they be used; and in
case you have not been so provident, then the way to cleanse and
scoure them quickly, is to put them all night in water, if they be
_Lob-worms_, and then put them into your bag with fennel: but you must
not put your _Brandling_ above an hour in water, and then put them into
fennel for sudden use: but if you have time, and purpose to keep them
long, then they be best preserved in an earthen pot with good store of
_mosse_, which is to be fresh every week or eight dayes; or at least
taken from them, and clean wash'd, and wrung betwixt your hands till it
be dry, and then put it to them again: And for Moss you are to note,
that there be divers kindes of it which I could name to you, but wil
onely tel you, that that which is likest a _Bucks horn_ is the best;
except it be _white_ Moss, which grows on some heaths, and is hard to
be found.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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