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Piscator. Well, scholar, now that we are sate down and are at ease,
I
shall tell you a little more of Trout-fishing, before I speak of
the
Salmon, which I purpose shall be next, and then of the Pike or Luce.
You are to know, there is night as well as day fishing for a
Trout; and
that, in the night, the best Trouts come out of their holes. And
the
manner of taking them is on the top of the water with a great
lob or
garden-worm, or rather two, which you are to fish with in a stream
where the waters run somewhat quietly, for in a stream the bait
will not
be so well discerned. I say, in a quiet or dead place, near to
some swift,
there draw your bait over the top of the water, to and fro, and
if there be
a good Trout in the hole, he will take it, especially if the night
be dark,
for then he is bold, and lies near the top of the water, watching
the
motion of any frog or water-rat, or mouse, that swims betwixt
him and
the sky; these he hunts after, if he sees the water but wrinkle
or move in
one of these dead holes, where these great old Trouts usually
lie, near
to their holds; for you are to note, that the great old Trout
is both subtle
and fearful, and lies close all day, and does not usually stir
out of his
hold, but lies in it as close in the day as the timorous hare
does in her
form; for the chief feeding of either is seldom in the day, but
usually in
the night, and then the great Trout feeds very boldly.
And you must fish for him with a strong line, and not a little
hook; and
let him have time to gorge your hook, for he does not usually
forsake it,
as he oft will in the day-fishing. And if the night be not dark,
then fish
so with an artificial fly of a light colour, and at the snap:
nay, he will
sometimes rise at a dead mouse, or a piece of cloth, or anything
that
seems to swim across the water, or to be in motion. This is a
choice
way, but I have not oft used it, because it is void of the pleasures
that
such days as these, that we two now enjoy, afford an angler.
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