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ami give it as m.ucli line us you cam. If it is a bream or car].', lie |will run to'the other side. 'Strike him' gently, and hold your rodat a beiid a little while, but do not pull, for then you will spoilall; but you must t re them before they can he landed, for theyare very shy. 1; there are any carp in the r.ver, it is an evenchance that you take one or more of them ; but if there are anypike or perch, they will be sure to visit the ground-bait, thoughthey will not touch it, being drawn togethei by the great resort ofthe small fi ll, and untd you remove them, it is in vain to think oftaking the bream or carp. In this case, bait one of your hookswith a small bleak, roach, or gudgeon, about two feet deep fromyour float, with a little red worm at the point of your hook, and ifa pike is there he will be sure to snap at it. This sport is goodtill nine o’clock in the morning, ami ill a gloomy day till night;but do not frequent the place too much, lest the fish grow'shy.
4. The carp. A person who angles for carp, must arm himselfwith abundance of patience, because of their extraordinary sub-tilty and shyness: they always choose to lie in the deepest placescither of ponds or rivers, where there is but a small runningstream. Further, observe, that they will seldom bite in cold wea-ther ; and you cannot be too early or too late at tin* sport in hot ,Weather ; yet if he hite you need not fear his hol'd, for lie is oneof those leajdier-nioulhed fish that have their teeth in the throat.Neither must you forget, in angling for him, to have a strong rodand line; and since he is so very warv, it will he proper to enticehim, by bailing the ground with a coarse paste. He seldom re-fuses the red worm in March, the caddis in June, or the grassnop-]>er in Jutv, April, and September. This lish, however, does notonly delight in worms, but also in sweet paste, of which there isgreat variety ; the best is made of honey and sugar mixed upWith flour, some veal minced line, and a little cotton or wlnteWool to make it adhere to the hook. Some of it ought to bethrown into the water a few hours before von begin to an-gle ; neither will small pellets thrown into the water two orthree days before be worse for this purpose, especially itchickens’ gut•, garbage, or blood mixed with bran and cow-dung, are also thrown in. If you fish with gentlps, anoint |them with honey. Honey and crumbs of wheat-bread, mix-Icd together, nuke also a very good pa-te; or pellets cfwheat-bread alone will answer very well. In taking a car]) either111 a pond or river, if tIre angler intends to add profit to h s plca-Sl| re, he must take a peck ot ale-grains, and a good quantity of•niy blood to mix with the grains ; baiting the ground witu it"here he intends to angle. This food will wonderfully attract thescale-lish, as carp, tench, roach, dace, and bream. Let him an-gle in a morning, plumbing bis ground, and angling for carp with«t strong hue: the bait mu-t be either paste ora knotted red worm:and by this n,ea ,; s lie will have sport enough.
5. l he pike is a vei v long-lived creature, and if we may crediti' r Francis Bacon , or (tein r, that (.minus naturalist, he. outlives
*.* °dier fish ; ami is a t vranl of the fresh-wateri, is the salmon is (lie' v| ng the.oof. The larger the pike, the courser the food, thejnialler being ever best; contrary to the nature of eels, whichimprove their goodness bv their bulk ami age. lie is a inelan-sfiolic lislp because be never swims in shoals, but rests himselfa lone ; and he is as bold as any fish whatever, if we may believer< ‘port, which informs us a pike hath been known to light with anotter tor a carp he had taken, and was carrying out of the water.Another bit a nude by the bp as he was dr.liking, anil stuckhereunto so fast, that by that means the owner of the mule tookhh- Another bit a maul by tin-loot as she was washing. He' * frequently devour his own kind; from whence we suppose lie'•'v obtain the name of a fresh-water wolf. As the pike is in na-hawk, a bird of prey, so lie is like tier in generation,Uner ot them,breeding but once a year: the pike spawns be-tli r*' n * ’’buiary and March. The best pikes are found in rivers,e wort in meres or (Kinds. 11is common food is either pickerele *“d, irogj, or what lish lie can proc ire. This pickerel weedfisp e S T’ ' 10 ^’ b eds and breeds them. There are two ways ofba't' n ^' ' l *' e l ,:, f ;i ‘• bv the ledger, secondly by the walking-f f be ledger-bait is fixed in one certain pi ice, w hilst thei'r*f ier " lsv * >f> ‘ibu nt ; and this mu-t be a living bait, either fishtle^m *'* bsh the best are a dace, roach, or perch : for frogs,la °w°st ar e the best. How to keep them alive on youro' f our i wn ingenuity will inform von. When you intend to,w b-'dger-bait, if it be a fish, stick yotir hook through lps up- j
l m m r , l iMj i gri ii i i a. . .». u ■■■.. rr . ■ . . .
per lip; and then fastening it to a strong line at least twelve orfourteen yards in length ; tie (he other end of the line either fd‘some stake in the ground, or to some bough of a tree near thepike’s usual haunt, or where you think it is likely he may come.Then wind your line on a forked stick, (big enough to keep thebait from drawing it under water) all except about half a yard orsomewhat m re ; anti your stick having a small cleft at the end,fasten your line therein; but so, that when the pike comes, hemay easily draw it foith, and have line enough to go to his holdand pouch. If your bait be a frog, put the arming-wire in at hismouth, and out at his gills; and then with a fine needle and silksow the upper part of Ins leg with one stitch only to your arming-wire, or tie his leg above the upper joint to the wire; but asgently as you can, le-t you hurt him. Kxcellent sport is madewith living bails tied about the bodies of two or three couple ofducks, driven over a place- where sto-e of pikes have frequented.The pike is oflen ob.erve-.l to strkc so violently at the living bait,that being hung be bath drawn the duck clear under water. Thelike may be done with such baits tied to bladders, suffering themto float down ilie river, whilst you mind vour sport walking on itsbanks, 'File next way of angling for a pike is with a trow l with awinch to wind it up withal. As this fish is very strong, so inproportion must be your tackle ;' and your rod must not be veryslender, where mud be placed a ring for v-mr line to run through.Your line nitist be composed of silk two yards and aquarter next the hook, which must be double, and strongly armedwith a wire about seven inches: the re-tot your line may hestrong shoeinakers-thrend. Upon the shank of the hook fastensome smooth lead ; and having placed your hook in the mouth ofa minnow, dace, or roach; with your lead sink your ball with Idshead downward. Having so dime, cast your bait up and down :ii you feci him at the hook, give him length enough to run awaywith the bait and pouch it; wlvch when you Ihink lie hath dene,strike Inin with a smart jerk, and so continue your sport with himas long as you shall ihink. lit. A [like will bite at all baits, ex-cepting the tly, and bites best about three in the afternoon in clearwater with a gentle gale, from the middle of summer to the end ofautumn ; lie then lutes best in still places or a gentle stream : butill winter he bites all the day long. In the latter end, and begin-ning of the spring, he bites mod eagerly early in the morning, andlate in the evening. ,
(i. Salmon and trout fishing are nearly alike. The trout iscaught w ith a worm, a minnow, or ally; but the only elegantsport of this kind is that with the artificial fly.
7. Tne gudgeon is a small fish, of very delicious taste. It,spawns three or four times in the summer season, and feeds instreams, slighting all kinds of flies, but is easily taken with a smallred worm, fishing near the ground ; and being a leather-mouthedlish, will not easily get off the hook when struck. The gudgeonnun be cither fished w ith a float, the h<K>k being Oil the ground,or iiy ha d, with a miming line on the ground wdhont coik orfloat, lie will lute well at wasps, gentles, and cadqorms ; and aper-'oii may fish \v;th two or three hooks at the same time. Beforeyou angle for gudgeons, dir iij: the sand or gravel with a longpole, "which will make them gather to the place, ami lii'e thefaster.
ft. 'The tench is a fine fresh-water fish, having very small scales,but large smooth tins, with a red circle about the eye®, and a lit-tle barb hanging at each corner ot the mouth. It takes more de-light among weeds in pond; than in cle ir river-;, and loves to trpdiii’ fcul water. H ; s slime is said to have a healing quality forwounded li>h, upon which he is called the fishes’ physician.When carp, pike, ike. are hurt, it is said they find relict by rub-bing themselves against the tench. The season for catching thisfish'is June, July' and August, very e.u.-ly and late, or even altnight, in the still’ part of the rivers. The bait i; a large red w crin,at which lie bit“3 eagerly, especially if dipped in tar. ii; de-lights in all sorts of paste made of strong-scented oib, or t..r, or apaste of browii-bi-'-ad and honey ; nor does he refuse the cad-worm, lobworm, llagworm, green gentles, cod bait, or sok boiledbread-grain,
9. Smelts are caught at high-tide during the summer ami an*',tumn months, with a hook and fine, about L':n;>:hau-;e ami Popiar. ■They fish with about ten hooks on the same lino, at dithrmtdepths, each hailed with a small piece of smelt, and sometimes tv .0or thvtjc are caught at once,.