For the _Minnow_ or _Penke_, he is easily found and caught in April,
for then hee appears in the Rivers: but Nature hath taught him to
shelter and hide himself in the Winter in ditches that be neer to the
River, and there both to hide and keep himself warm in the weeds, which
rot not so soon as in a running River in which place if hee were in
Winter, the distempered Floods that are usually in that season, would
suffer him to have no rest, but carry him headlong to Mils and Weires
to his confusion. And of these _Minnows_, first you are to know, that
the biggest size is not the best; and next, that the middle size and
the whitest are the best: and then you are to know, that I cannot well
teach in words, but must shew you how to put it on your hook, that it
may turn the better: And you are also to know, that it is impossible it
should turn too quick: And you are yet to know, that in case you want a
_Minnow_, then a small _Loch_, or a _Sticklebag_, or any other small
Fish will serve as wel: And you are yet to know, that you may salt, and
by that means keep them fit for use three or four dayes or longer; and
that of salt, bay salt is the best.
Now for _Flies_, which is the third bait wherewith _Trouts_ are usually
taken. You are to know, that there are as many sorts of Flies as there
be of Fruits: I will name you but some of them: as the _dun flie_, the
_stone flie_, the _red flie_, the _moor flie_, the _tawny flie_, the
_shel flie_, the _cloudy_ or blackish _flie_: there be of Flies,
_Caterpillars_, and _Canker flies_, and _Bear flies_; and indeed, too
many either for mee to name, or for you to remember: and their breeding
is so various and wonderful, that I might easily amaze my self, and
tire you in a relation of them.
And yet I wil exercise your promised patience by saying a little of the
_Caterpillar_, or the _Palmer flie_ or _worm_; that by them you may
guess what a work it were in a Discourse but to run over those very
many _flies, worms_, and little living creatures with which the Sun and
Summer adorn and beautifie the river banks and meadows; both for the
recreation and contemplation of the Angler: and which (I think) I
myself enjoy more then any other man that is not of my profession.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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