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There are also divers other kinds 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 oak-worm,
the
gilt-tail, the twachel or lob-worm, which of all others is the most
excellent bait for a salmon, and too many to name, even as many
sorts
as some think there be of several herbs or shrubs, or of several
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 well scoured,
that
is, long kept before they be used: and in case you have not been
so
provident, then the way to cleanse and scour 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 brandlings 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 moss, which is to be fresh
every
three or four days in summer, and every week or eight days in winter;
or, at least, the moss taken from them, and clean washed, and wrung
betwixt your hands till it be dry, and then put it to them again.
And
when your worms, especially the brandling, begins to be sick and
lose
of his bigness, then you may recover him, by putting a little milk
or
cream, about a spoonful in a day, into them, by drops on the moss;
and
if there be added to the cream an egg beaten and boiled in it, then
it will
both fatten and preserve them long. And note, that when the knot,
which is near to the middle of the brandling, begins to swell, then
he is
sick; and, if he be not well looked to, is near dying. And for moss,
you
are to note, that there be divers kinds of it, which I could name
to you,
but I will only tell you that that which is likest a buck's-horn
is the best,
except it be soft white moss, which grows on some heaths, and is
hard
to be found. And note, that in a very dry time, when you are put
to an
extremity for worms, walnut-tree leaves squeezed into water, or
salt in
water, to make it bitter or salt, and then that water poured on
the ground
where you shall see worms are used to rise in the night, will make
them
to appear above ground presently. And you may take notice, some
say
that camphire put into your bag with your moss and worms gives them
a strong and so tempting a smell, that the fish fare the worse and
you
the better for it.
And now, I shall shew you how to bait your hook with a worm so
as
shall prevent you from much trouble, and the loss of many a hook,
too,
when you fish for a Trout with a running line; that is to say,
when you
fish for him by hand at the ground. I will direct you in this
as plainly as
I can, that you may not mistake.
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