The Complete Angler 1653 Part 8

And the old _Salmon_, both the _Melter_ and _Sp.a.w.ner_, strive also to get into the _Sea_ before Winter; but being stopt that course, or lost; grow sick in fresh waters, and by degrees unseasonable, and kipper, that is, to have a bony gristle, to grow (not unlike a _Hauks_ beak) on one of his chaps, which hinders him from feeding, and then he pines and dies.

But if he gets to _Sea_, then that gristle wears away, or is cast off (as the _Eagle_ is said to cast his bill) and he recovers his strength, and comes next Summer to the same River, (if it be possible) to enjoy the former pleasures that there possest him; for (as one has wittily observed) he has (like some persons of Honour and Riches, which have both their winter and Summer houses) the fresh Rivers for Summer, and the salt water for winter to spend his life in; which is not (as Sir _Francis Bacon_ hath observed) [in his History of Life and Death] above ten years: And it is to be observed, that though they grow big in the _Sea_, yet they grow not fat but in fresh Rivers; and it is observed, that the farther they get from the _Sea_, the better they be.

And it is observed, that, to the end they may get far from the _Sea_, either to Sp.a.w.ne or to possess the pleasure that they then and there find, they will force themselves over the tops of _Weirs_, or _Hedges_, or _stops_ in the water, by taking their tails into their mouthes, and leaping over those places, even to a height beyond common belief: and sometimes by forcing themselves against the streame through Sluces and Floud-gates, beyond common credit. And 'tis observed by _Gesner_, that there is none bigger then in _England_, nor none better then in Thames.

And for the _Salmons_ sudden growth, it has been observed by tying a Ribon in the tail of some number of the young _Salmons_, which have been taken in _Weires_, as they swimm'd towards the salt water, and then by taking a part of them again with the same mark, at the same place, at their returne from the Sea, which is usually about six months after; and the like experiment hath been tried upon young _Swallows_, who have after six months absence, been observed to return to the same chimney, there to make their nests, and their habitations for the Summer following; which hath inclined many to think, that every _Salmon_ usually returns to the same River in which it was bred, as young _Pigeons_ taken out of the same Dove-cote, have also been observed to do.

And you are yet to observe further, that the He _Salmon_ is usually bigger then the Sp.a.w.ner, and that he is more kipper, & less able to endure a winter in the fresh water, then the She is; yet she is at that time of looking less kipper and better, as watry and as bad meat.

And yet you are to observe, that as there is no general rule without an exception, so there is some few Rivers in this Nation that have _Trouts_ and _Salmon_ in season in winter. But for the observations of that and many other things, I must in manners omit, because they wil prove too large for our narrow compa.s.s of time, and therefore I shall next fall upon my direction how to fish for the _Salmon_.

And for that, first, you shall observe, that usually he staies not long in a place (as _Trouts_ wil) but (as I said) covets still to go neerer the Spring head; and that he does not (as the _Trout_ and many other fish) lie neer the water side or bank, or roots of trees, but swims usually in the middle, and neer the ground; and that there you are to fish for him; and that he is to be caught as the _Trout_ is, with a _Worm_, a _Minnow_, (which some call a _Penke_) or with a _Fly_.

And you are to observe, that he is very, very seldom observed to bite at a _Minnow_ (yet sometime he will) and not oft at a _fly_, but more usually at a _Worm_, and then most usually at a _Lob_ or _Garden worm_, which should be wel scowred, that is to say, seven or eight dayes in Moss before you fish with them; and if you double your time of eight into sixteen, or more, into twenty or more days, it is still the better, for the worms will stil be clearer, tougher, and more lively, and continue so longer upon your hook.

And now I shall tell you, that which may be called a secret: I have been a fis.h.i.+ng with old _Oliver Henly_ (now with G.o.d) a noted Fisher, both for _Trout_ and _Salmon_, and have observed that he would usually take three or four worms out of his bag and put them into a little box in his pocket, where he would usually let them continue half an hour or more, before he would bait his hook with them; I have ask'd him his reason, and he has replied, _He did but pick the best out to be in a readiness against he baited his hook the next time_: But he has been observed both by others, and my self, to catch more fish then I or any other body, that has ever gone a fis.h.i.+ng with him, could do, especially _Salmons_; and I have been told lately by one of his most intimate and secret friends, that the box in which he put those worms was anointed with a drop, or two, or three of the Oil of _Ivy-berries_, made by expression or infusion, and that by the wormes remaining in that box an hour, or a like time, they had incorporated a kind of smel that was irresistibly attractive, enough to force any fish, within the smel of them, to bite. This I heard not long since from a friend, but have not tryed it; yet I grant it probable, and refer my Reader to Sir _Francis Bacons_ Natural History, where he proves fishes may hear; and I am certain _Gesner_ sayes, the _Otter_ can smell in the water, and know not that but fish may do so too: 'tis left for a lover of Angling, or any that desires to improve that Art, to try this conclusion.

I shall also impart another experiment (but not tryed by my selfe) which I wil deliver in the same words as it was by a friend, given me in writing.

_Take the stinking oil drawn out of_ Poly pody _of the_ Oak, _by a retort mixt with_ Turpentine, _and Hive-honey, and annoint your bait therewith, and it will doubtlesse draw the fish to it_.

But in these things I have no great faith, yet grant it probable, and have had from some chemical men (namely, from Sir _George Hastings_ and others) an affirmation of them to be very advantageous: but no more of these, especially not in this place.

I might here, before I take my leave of the _Salmon_, tell you, that there is more then one sort of them, as namely, a _Tecon_, and another called in some places a _Samlet_, or by some, a _Skegger_: but these (and others which I forbear to name) may be fish of another kind, and differ, as we know a _Herring_ and a _Pilcher_ do; but must by me be left to the disquisitions of men of more leisure and of greater abilities, then I profess myself to have.

And lastly, I am to borrow so much of your promised patience, as to tell you, that the _Trout_ or _Salmon_, being in season, have at their first taking out of the water (which continues during life) their bodies adorned, the one with such red spots, and the other with black or blackish spots, which gives them such an addition of natural beautie, as I (that yet am no enemy to it) think was never given to any woman by the Artificial Paint or Patches in which they so much pride themselves in this age. And so I shall leave them and proceed to some Observations of the _Pike_.

CHAP. VII.

_Pisc_. It is not to be doubted but that the _Luce_, or _Pikrell_, or _Pike_ breeds by Sp.a.w.ning; and yet _Gesner_ sayes, that some of them breed, where none ever was, out of a weed called _Pikrell-weed_, and other glutinous matter, which with the help of the Suns heat proves in some particular ponds (apted by nature for it) to become _Pikes_.

Sir _Francis Bacon_ [in his History of Life and Death] observes the _Pike_ to be the longest lived of any fresh water fish, and yet that his life is not usually above fortie years; and yet _Gesner_ mentions a _Pike_ taken in _Swedeland_ in the year 1449, with a Ring about his neck, declaring he was put into the Pond by _Frederick_ the second, more then two hundred years before he was last taken, as the Inscription of that Ring, being Greek, was interpreted by the then Bishop of _Worms_. But of this no more, but that it is observed that the old or very great _Pikes_ have in them more of state then goodness; the smaller or middle siz'd _Pikes_ being by the most and choicest palates observed to be the best meat; but contrary, the _Eele_ is observed to be the better for age and bigness.

All _Pikes_ that live long prove chargeable to their keepers, because their life is maintained by the death of so many other fish, even those of his owne kind, which has made him by some Writers to bee called the Tyrant of the Rivers, or the Fresh water-wolf, by reason of his bold, greedy, devouring disposition; which is so keen, as _Gesner_ relates, a man going to a Pond (where it seems a _Pike_ had devoured all the fish) to water his Mule, had a _Pike_ bit his Mule by the lips, to which the _Pike_ hung so fast, that the Mule drew him out of the water, and by that accident the owner of the Mule got the _Pike_; I tell you who relates it, and shall with it tel you what a wise man has observed, _it is a hard thing to perswade the belly, because it hath no ears_.

But if this relation of _Gesners_ bee dis-believed, it is too evident to bee doubted that a _Pike_ will devoure a fish of his own kind, that shall be bigger then this belly or throat will receive; and swallow a part of him, and let the other part remaine in his mouth till the swallowed part be digested, and then swallow that other part that was in his mouth, and so put it over by degrees. And it is observed, that the _Pike_ will eat venemous things (as some kind of _Frogs_ are) and yet live without being harmed by them: for, as some say, he has in him a natural Balsome or Antidote against all Poison: and others, that he never eats a venemous _Frog_ till he hath first killed her, and then (as _Ducks_ are observed to do to _Frogs_ in Sp.a.w.ning time, at which time some _Frogs_ are observed to be venemous) so throughly washt her, by tumbling her up and down in the water, that he may devour her without danger. And _Gesner_ affirms, that a _Polonian_ Gentleman did faithfully a.s.sure him, he had seen two young Geese at one time in the belly of a _Pike_: and hee observes, that in _Spain_ there is no _Pikes_, and that the biggest are in the _Lake Thracimane_ in _Italy_, and the next, if not equal to them, are the _Pikes_ of _England_.

The _Pike_ is also observed to be a melancholly, and a bold fish: Melancholly, because he alwaies swims or rests himselfe alone, and never swims in sholes, or with company, as _Roach_, and _Dace_, and most other fish do: And bold, because he fears not a shadow, or to see or be seen of any body, as the _Trout_ and _Chub_, and all other fish do.

And it is observed by _Gesner_, that the bones, and hearts, & gals of _Pikes_ are very medicinable for several Diseases, as to stop bloud, to abate Fevers, to cure Agues, to oppose or expel the infection of the Plague, and to be many wayes medicinable and useful for the good of mankind; but that the biting of a _Pike_ is venemous and hard to be cured.

And it is observed, that the _Pike_ is a fish that breeds but once a year, and that other fish (as namely _Loaches_) do breed oftner; as we are certaine Pigeons do almost every month, and yet the Hawk, a bird of prey (as the _Pike_ is of fish) breeds but once in twelve months: and you are to note, that his time of breeding or Sp.a.w.ning is usually about the end of _February_; or somewhat later, in _March_, as the weather proves colder or warmer: and to note, that his manner of breeding is thus, a He and a She _Pike_ will usually go together out of a River into some ditch or creek, and that there the Sp.a.w.ner casts her eggs, and the Melter hovers over her all that time that she is casting her Sp.a.w.n, but touches her not. I might say more of this, but it might be thought curiosity or worse, and shall therefore forbear it, and take up so much of your attention as to tell you that the best of _Pikes_ are noted to be in Rivers, then those in great Ponds or Meres, and the worst in smal Ponds.

And now I shall proceed to give you some directions how to catch this _Pike_, which you have with so much patience heard me talk of.

[Ill.u.s.tration of a Pike]

His feeding is usually _fish_ or _frogs_, and sometime a weed of his owne, called _Pikrel-weed_, of which I told you some think some _Pikes_ are bred; for they have observed, that where no _Pikes_ have been put into a Pond, yet that there they have been found, and that there has been plenty of that weed in that Pond, and that that weed both breeds and feeds them; but whether those _Pikes_ so bred will ever breed by generation as the others do, I shall leave to the disquisitions of men of more curiosity and leisure then I profess my self to have; and shall proceed to tell you, that you may fish for a _Pike_, either with a ledger, or a walking-bait; and you are to note, that I call that a ledger which is fix'd, or made to rest in one certaine place when you shall be absent; and that I call that a walking bait, which you take with you, and have ever in motion. Concerning which two, I shall give you this direction, That your ledger bait is best to be a living bait, whether it be a fish or a Frog; and that you may make them live the longer, you may, or indeed you must take this course:

First, for your live bait of fish, a _Roch_ or _Dace_ is (I think) best and most tempting, and a _Pearch_ the longest liv'd on a hook; you must take your knife, (which cannot be too sharp) and betwixt the head and the fin on his back, cut or make an insition, or such a scar as you may put the arming wyer of your hook into it, with as little bruising or hurting the fish as Art and diligence will enable you to do, and so carrying your arming wyer along his back, unto, or neer the tail of your fish, betwixt the skin and the body of it, draw out that wyer or arming of your hook at another scar neer to his tail; then tye him about it with thred, but no harder then of necessitie you must to prevent hurting the fish; and the better to avoid hurting the fish, some have a kind of probe to open the way, for the more easie entrance and pa.s.sage of your wyer or arming: but as for these, time and a little experience will teach you better then I can by words; for of this I will for the present say no more, but come next to give you some directions how to bait your hook with a Frog.

_Viat_. But, good Master, did not you say even now, that some _Frogs_ were venemous, and is it not dangerous to touch them?

_Pisc_. Yes, but I wil give you some Rules or Cautions concerning them: And first, you are to note, there is two kinds of _Frogs_; that is to say, (if I may so express my self) a _flesh_ and _a fish-frog_: by flesh _frogs_, I mean, _frogs_ that breed and live on the land; and of these there be several sorts and colours, some being peckled, some greenish, some blackish, or brown: the green _Frog_, which is a smal one, is by _Topsell_ taken to be venemous; and so is the _Padock_, or _Frog-Padock_, which usually keeps or breeds on the land, and is very large and bony, and big, especially the She _frog_ of that kind; yet these wil sometime come into the water, but it is not often; and the land _frogs_ are some of them observed by him, to breed by laying eggs, and others to breed of the slime and dust of the earth, and that in winter they turn to slime again, and that the next Summer that very slime returns to be a living creature; this is the opinion of _Pliny_: and [in his 16th Book De subtil. ex.] _Carda.n.u.s_ undertakes to give reason for the raining of _Frogs_; but if it were in my power, it should rain none but water _Frogs_, for those I think are not venemous, especially the right water _Frog_, which about _February_ or _March_ breeds in ditches by slime and blackish eggs in that slime, about which time of breeding the He and She _frog_ are observed to use divers simber salts, and to croke and make a noise, which the land _frog_, or _Padock frog_ never does. Now of these water _Frogs_, you are to chuse the yellowest that you can get, for that the _Pike_ ever likes best.

And thus use your _Frog_, that he may continue long alive:

Put your hook into his mouth, which you may easily do from about the middle of _April_ till _August_, and then the _Frogs_ mouth grows up and he continues so for at least six months without eating, but is sustained, none, but he whose name is Wonderful, knows how. I say, put your hook, I mean the arming wire, through his mouth and out at his gills, and then with a fine needle and Silk sow the upper part of his leg with only one st.i.tch to the armed wire of your hook, or tie the _frogs_ leg above the upper joint to the armed wire, and in so doing use him as though you loved him, that is, harme him as little as you may possibly, that he may live the longer.

And now, having given you this direction for the baiting your ledger hook with a live _fish_ or _frog_, my next must be to tell you, how your hook thus baited must or may be used; and it is thus: Having fastned your hook to a line, which if it be not fourteen yards long, should not be less then twelve; you are to fasten that line to any bow neer to a hole where a _Pike_ is, or is likely to lye, or to have a haunt, and then wind your line on any forked stick, all your line, except a half yard of it, or rather more, and split that forked stick with such a nick or notch at one end of it, as may keep the line from any more of it ravelling from about the stick, then so much of it as you intended; and chuse your forked stick to be of that bigness as may keep the _fish_ or _frog_ from pulling the forked stick under the water till the _Pike_ bites, and then the _Pike_ having pulled the line forth of the clift or nick in which it was gently fastened, will have line enough to go to his hold and powch the bait: and if you would have this ledger bait to keep at a fixt place, undisturbed by wind or other accidents which may drive it to the sh.o.a.re side (for you are to note that it is likeliest to catch a _Pike_ in the midst of the water) then hang a small Plummet of lead, a stone, or piece of tyle, or a turfe in a string, and cast it into the water, with the forked stick to hang upon the ground, to be as an Anchor to keep the forked stick from moving out of your intended place till the _Pike_ come. This I take to be a very good way, to use so many ledger baits as you intend to make tryal of.

Or if you bait your hooks thus, with live fish or Frogs, and in a windy day fasten them thus to a bow or bundle of straw, and by the help of that wind can get them to move cross a _Pond_ or _Mere_, you are like to stand still on the sh.o.a.r and see sport, if there be any store of _Pikes_; or these live baits may make sport, being tied about the body or wings of a _Goose_ or _Duck_, and she chased over a Pond: and the like may be done with turning three or four live baits thus fastened to bladders, or boughs, or bottles of hay, or flags, to swim down a River, whilst you walk quietly on the sh.o.r.e along with them, and are still in expectation of sport. The rest must be taught you by practice, for time will not alow me to say more of this kind of fis.h.i.+ng with live baits.

And for your dead bait for a _Pike_, for that you may be taught by one dayes going a fis.h.i.+ng with me or any other body that fishes for him, for the baiting your hook with a dead _Gudgion_ or a _Roch_, and moving it up and down the water, is too easie a thing to take up any time to direct you to do it; and yet, because I cut you short in that, I will commute for it, by telling you that that was told me for a secret: it is this:

_Dissolve_ Gum of Ivie _in Oyle of_ Spike, _and therewith annoint your dead bait for a_ Pike, _and then cast it into a likely place, and when it has layen a short time at the bottom, draw it towards the top of the water, and so up the stream, and it is more then likely that you have a_ Pike _follow you with more then common eagerness_.

This has not been tryed by me, but told me by a friend of note, that pretended to do me a courtesie: but if this direction to catch a _Pike_ thus do you no good, I am certaine this direction how to roste him when he is caught, is choicely good, for I have tryed it, and it is somewhat the better for not being common; but with my direction you must take this Caution, that your Pike must not be a smal one.

_First open your_ Pike _at the gills, and if need be, cut also a little slit towards his belly; out of these, take his guts, and keep his liver, which you are to shred very small with_ Time, Sweet Margerom, _and a little_ Winter-Savoury; _to these put some pickled_ Oysters, _and some_ Anchovis, _both these last whole (for the_ Anchovis _will melt, and the_ Oysters _should not) to these you must add also a pound of sweet_ b.u.t.ter, _which you are to mix with the herbs that are shred, and let them all be well salted (if the_ Pike _be more then a yard long, then you may put into these herbs more then a pound, or if he be less, then less_ b.u.t.ter _will suffice:) these being thus mixt, with a blade or two of Mace, must be put into the_ Pikes _belly, and then his belly sowed up; then you are to thrust the spit through his mouth out at his tail; and then with four, or five, or six split sticks or very thin laths, and a convenient quant.i.tie of tape or filiting, these laths are to be tyed roundabout the_ Pikes _body, from his head to his tail, and the tape tied somewhat thick to prevent his breaking or falling off from the spit; let him be rosted very leisurely, and often basted with Claret wine, and Anchovis, and b.u.t.ter mixt together, and also with what moisture falls from him into the pan: when you have rosted him sufficiently, you are to hold under him (when you unwind or cut the tape that ties him) such a dish as you purpose to eat him out of, and let him fall into it with the sawce that is rosted in his belly; and by this means the_ Pike _will be kept unbroken and complete; then to the sawce, which was within him, and also in the pan, you are to add a fit quant.i.ty of the best b.u.t.ter, and to squeeze the juice of three or four Oranges: lastly, you may either put into the_ Pike _with the_ Oysters, _two cloves of Garlick, and take it whole out when the_ Pike _is cut off the spit, or to give the sawce a hogoe, let the dish (into which you let the_ Pike _fall) be rubed with it; the using or not using of this Garlick is left to your discretion. This dish of meat is too good for any but Anglers or honest men; and, I trust, you wil prove both, and therefore I have trusted you with this Secret. And now I shall proceed to give you some Observations concerning the _Carp_.

CHAP. VIII.

_Pisc_. The _Carp_ is a stately, a good, and a subtle fish, a fish that hath not (as it is said) been long in _England_, but said to be by one Mr. _Mascall_ (a Gentleman then living at _Plumsted_ in _Suss.e.x_) brought into this Nation: and for the better confirmation of this, you are to remember I told you that _Gesner_ sayes, there is not a _Pike_ in _Spain_, and that except the _Eele_, which lives longest out of the water, there is none that will endure more hardness, or live longer then a _Carp_ will out of it, and so the report of his being brought out of a forrain Nation into this, is the more probable.

_Carps_ and _Loches_ are observed to breed several months in one year, which most other fish do not, and it is the rather believed, because you shall scarce or never take a Male _Carp_ without a _Melt_, or a _Female_ without a _Roe_ or _Sp.a.w.n_; and for the most part very much, and especially all the Summer season; and it is observed, that they breed more naturally in Ponds then in running waters, and that those that live in Rivers are taken by men of the best palates to be much the better meat.

And it is observed, that in some Ponds _Carps_ will not breed, especially in cold Ponds; but where they will breed, they breed innumerably, if there be no _Pikes_ nor _Pearch_ to devour their Sp.a.w.n, when it is cast upon gra.s.s, or flags, or weeds, where it lies ten or twelve dayes before it be enlivened.

The _Carp_, if he have water room and good feed, will grow to a very great bigness and length: I have heard, to above a yard long; though I never saw one above thirty three inches, which was a very great and goodly fish.

Now as the increase of _Carps_ is wonderful for their number; so there is not a reason found out, I think, by any, why the should breed in some Ponds, and not in others of the same nature, for soil and all other circ.u.mstances; and as their breeding, so are their decayes also very mysterious; I have both read it, and been told by a Gentleman of tryed honestie, that he has knowne sixtie or more large _Carps_ put into several Ponds neer to a house, where by reason of the stakes in the Ponds, and the Owners constant being neer to them, it was impossible they should be stole away from him, and that when he has after three or four years emptied the Pond, and expected an increase from them by breeding young ones (for that they might do so, he had, as the rule is, put in three Melters for one Sp.a.w.ner) he has, I say, after three or four years found neither a young nor old _Carp_ remaining: And the like I have known of one that has almost watched his Pond, and at a like distance of time at the fis.h.i.+ng of a Pond, found of seventy or eighty large _Carps_, not above five or six: and that he had forborn longer to fish the said Pond, but that he saw in a hot day in Summer, a large _Carp_ swim neer to the top of the water with a _Frog_ upon his head, and that he upon that occasion caused his Pond to be let dry: and I say, of seventie or eighty _Carps_, only found five or six in the said Pond, and those very sick and lean, and with every one a Frog sticking so fast on the head of the said _Carps_, that the Frog would not bee got off without extreme force or killing, and the Gentleman that did affirm this to me he saw it, and did declare his belief to be (and I also believe the same) that he thought the other _Carps_ that were so strangely lost, were so killed by _Frogs_, and then devoured.

But I am faln into this discourse by accident, of which I might say more, but it has proved longer then I intended, and possibly may not to you be considerable; I shall therefore give you three or four more short observations of the _Carp_, and then fall upon some directions how you shall fish for him.

The age of _Carps_ is by S. _Francis Bacon_ (in his History of Life and Death) observed to be but ten years; yet others think they live longer: but most conclude, that (contrary to the _Pike_ or _Luce_) all _Carps_ are the better for age and bigness; the tongues of _Carps_ are noted to be choice and costly meat, especially to them that buy them; but _Gesner_ sayes, _Carps_ have no tongues like other fish, but a piece of flesh-like-fish in their mouth like to a tongue, and may be so called, but it is certain it is choicely good, and that the _Carp_ is to be reckoned amongst those leather mouthed fish, which I told you have their teeth in their throat, and for that reason he is very seldome lost by breaking his hold, if your hook bee once stuck into his chaps.

I told you, that Sir _Francis Bacon_ thinks that the _Carp_ lives but ten years; but _Ja.n.u.s Dubravius_ (a _Germane_ as I think) has writ a book in Latine of Fish and Fish Ponds, in which he sayes, that _Carps_ begin to Sp.a.w.n at the age of three yeers, and continue to do so till thirty; he sayes also, that in the time of their breeding, which is in Summer when the Sun hath warmed both the earth and water, and so apted them also for generation, that then three or four Male _Carps_ will follow a Female, and that then she putting on a seeming coyness, they force her through weeds and flags, where she lets fall her eggs or Sp.a.w.n, which sticks fast to the weeds, and then they let fall their Melt upon it, and so it becomes in a short time to be a living fish; and, as I told you, it is thought the _Carp_ does this several months in the yeer, and most believe that most fish breed after this manner, except the _Eele_: and it is thought that all _Carps_ are not bred by generation, but that some breed otherwayes, as some _Pikes_ do.

Much more might be said out of him, and out of _Aristotle_, which Dubravius often quotes in his Discourse, but it might rather perplex then satisfie you, and therefore I shall rather chuse to direct you how to catch, then spend more time discoursing either of the nature or the breeding of this _Carp_, or of any more circ.u.mstances concerning him, but yet I shall remember you of what I told you before, that he is a very subtle fish and hard to be caught.