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pieces of bents and rushes, and straws, and water weeds, and I know not what; which are so knit together with condensed slime, that they stick about her husk, or case, not unlike the bristles of a hedgehog. These three cadises are commonly taken in the beginning of summer; and are good, indeed, to take any kind of fish with float or otherwise. I might tell you of many more, which as these do early, so those have their time also of turning to be flies later in summer; but I might lose myself, and tire you, by such a discourse: I shall therefore but remember you, that to know these and their several kinds, and to what flies every particular cadis turns, and then how to use them, first as they be cadis, and after as they be flies, is an art, and an art that every one that professes to be an angler has not leisure to search after, and, if he had, is not capable of learning.*

The several sorts of Phryganea, or cadews, in their nympha, or maggot state, thus house themselves: one sort in straws, called from thence strawworms; others, in two or more sticks, laid parallel to one another, creeping at the bottom of brooks; others, with a small bundle of pieces of rushes, duck-weed, sticks, &c. glued together, wherewith they float on the top, and can row themselves therein about the waters with the help of their feet both these are called cad-bait. Divers sorts there are, which the reader may see a summary of from Mr Willoughby, in Raii Method. Insect. p. 12. together with a good, though very brief, description of the fly that comes from the cad-bait cadew. It is a notable architectonic faculty, which all the variety of these animals have, to gather such bodies as are fittest for their purpose, and then to glue them together; some to be heavier than water, that the animal may remain at bottom, where its food is ; (for which purpose they use stones, together with sticks, rushes, &c.) and some to be lighter than water, to float on the top, and gather its food from thence. These little houses look coarse, and shew no great artifice outwardly; but are well tunnelled, and made within, with a hard tough paste, into which the hind part of the maggot is so fixed, that it can draw its cell after it any where, without danger of leaving it behind; as also thrust out his body to reach what it wanteth, or withdraw it into its cell to guard it against harms. - Physico Theology, 234.

Thus much of cadis in general, as an illustration of what our author has said on that subject. But to be more particular:

That which Walton calls the piper cadis I have never seen; but a very learned and ingenious friend of mine, who has for fifty years past been an angler, and a curious observer of aquatic productions, has furnished me with an account of that insect, which I shall give the reader in nearly his own words:

"The piper cadis I take to be the largest of the tribe, and that it takes its name not from any sound, but figure. I never met with it but in rivers running upon beds of limestone, or large pebbles; they are common in northern and Welsh streams. The cadew itself is about an inch long, and in some above. The case is straight and rough; the outward surface covered with gravel or sand; the fistula, or pipe, in which it is contained, seems to be a small stick, of which the pith was quite decayed, before the insect, in its state immediately succeeding the egg, lodged itself. Advanced to an aurelia, which is generally in April, or the beginning of May, it leaves its case and last covering, a sort of thin skin resembling a fish's bladder, (and this is likewise the method of the whole genus, as far as I could ever observe,) and immediately paddles upon the top of the water with its many legs. It seldom flies, though it has four wings; and of these wings it is to be observed, that in the infant state of the insect, namely, for a week or longer, they are shorter than the body, but afterward they grow to be full as long or longer. This is usully called by sportsmen, the stone-fly; in

I'll tell you, scholar; several countries have several kinds of cadises, that indeed differ as much as dogs do; that is to say, as much as a very cur and a greyhound do. These be usually bred in the very little rills, or ditches, that run into bigger rivers; and, I think, a more proper bait for those very rivers than any other. I know not how, or of what, this cadis receives life, or what coloured fly it turns to; but doubtless they are the death of many Trouts; and this is one killing way:

Take one, or more if need be, of these large yellow cadis : pull off his head, and with it pull out his black gut; put the body, as little bruised as is possible, on a very little hook, armed on with a red hair, which will shew like the cadis head; and a very little thin lead, so put upon the shank of the hook that it may sink presently. Throw this bait, thus ordered, which

Wales they name it the water cricket, the size and colour being like that insect."

As to the cock-spur, Bowlker expressly says, in his Art of Angling, p. 70, that it produces the May-fly, or yellow cadew, which I have ever understood to be the green drake.

That which Walton calls the straw-worm, or ruff-coat, though, by the way, he certainly errs in making these terms synonymous, aз will hereafter be made to appear, and which is described in Ray's Methodus Insectorum, p. 12, is, I take it, the most common of any, and is found in the river Colne, near Uxbridge; the New River, near London; the Wandle, which runs through Carshalton in Surrey; and in most other rivers. As to the straw-worm, I am assured, by my friend above mentioned, that it produces many and various flies; namely, that which is called, about London, the withy-fly, ash-coloured duns of several shapes and dimensions, as also light and dark browns, all of them affording great diversion in

northern streams.

It now remains to speak of the ruff-coat, which seems to answer so nearly to the description which Walton has given of the cock-spur, namely, "that the case, or house, in which it dwells is made of small husks, and gravel, and slime, most curiously;" that there is no accounting for his making the term synonymous with that of the straw-worm, which it does not in the least resemble: and yet, that the ruff-coat and the cock-spur produce different flies, notwithstanding their seeming resemblance, must be taken for granted, unless we will reject Bowlker's authority, when he says the cock-spur produces the May-fly, or yellow cadew, which I own I see no reason to do.

But that I may not mislead the reader, I must inform him, that I take the ruff-coat to be a species of cadis enclosed in a husk about an inch long, surrounded by bits of stone, flints, bits of tile, &c. very near equal in their sizes, and most curiously compacted together, like mosaic.

In the month of May, 1759, I took one of the insects last above described, which had been found in the river Wandle, in Surrey, and put it into a small box with sand at the bottom, and wetted it five or six times a-day, for five days; at the end whereof, to my great amazement, it produced a lovely large fly, nearly of the shape of, but less than a common white butterfly, with two pair of cloak-wings, and of a light cinnamon colour. This fly, upon inquiry, I find is called, in the north, the large light brown; in Ireland, and some other places, it has the name of the flame-coloured brown. And the method of making it is given in the Additional List of Flies, under September; (Appendix, No. 2.) where, from its smell, the reader will find it called the large fœtid light brown.

And there are many other kinds of these wonderful creatures, as may be seen in Mons. de Reaumur's Memoires pour servir a l'Histoire des Insectes, tome iii. See also the Appendix, No. 1.

will look very yellow, into any great still hole where a Trout is, and he will presently venture his life for it, it is not to be doubted, if you be not espied, and that the bait first touch the water before the line. And this will do best in the deepest, stillest water.

Next, let me tell you, I have been much pleased to walk quietly by a brook, with a little stick in my hand, with which I might easily take these, and consider the curiosity of their composure and if you shall ever like to do so, then note, that your stick must be a little hazel, or willow, cleft, or have a nick at one end of it, by which means you may, with ease, take many of them in that nick out of the water, before you have any occasion to use them. These, my honest scholar, are some observations, told to you as they now come suddenly into my memory, of which you may make some use: but for the practical part, it is that that makes an angler: it is diligence, and observation, and practice, and an ambition to be the best in the art, that must do it.* I will tell you, scholar, I once heard one

The author has now done describing the several kinds of fish, excep ting the few little ones that follow, with the methods of taking them; but has said little or nothing of float-fishing; it may therefore not be amiss here to lay down some rules about it.

Let the rod be light and stiff, and withal so smart in the spring, as to strike at the tip of the whalebone. From fourteen to fifteen feet is a good length.

In places where you sometimes meet with Barbel, as at Shepperton and Hampton in Middlesex, the fittest line is one of six or seven hairs at top, and so diminishing for two yards; let the rest be strong Indian grass, to within about half a yard of the hook, which may be whipped to a fine grass or silk-worm gut. And this line will kill a fish of six pounds weight.

But for mere Roach and Dace fishing, accustom yourself to a single hair line, with which an artist may kill a fish of a pound and a half weight.

For your float: In slow streams a neat round goose quill is proper; but for deep or rapid rivers, or in an eddy, the cork shaped like a pear, is indisputably the best, which should not in general exceed the size of a nutmeg; let not the quill which you put through it be more than half an inch above and below the cork and this float, though some prefer a swan's quill, has great advantage over a bare quill, for the quill being defended from the water by the cork, does not soften; and the cork enables you to lead your line so heavily, as that the hook sinks almost as soon as you put it into the water; whereas, when you lead but lightly, it does not go to the bottom till it is near the end of your swim. And in leading your lines, be careful to balance them so nicely, that a very small touch will sink them: some use for this purpose lead shaped like a barley corn; but there is nothing better to lead with than shot, which you must have ready cleft always with you; remembering, that when you fish fine, it is better to have on your line a great number of small, than a few large shot.

Whip the end of the quill round the plug with fine silk well waxed; this will keep the water out of your float, and preserve it greatly.

In fishing with a float, your line must be about a foot shorter than your rod; for, if it is longer, you cannot so well command your hook when you come to disengage your fish.

Perch and Chub are caught with a float, and also Gudgeons; and sometimes Barbel and Grayling.

For Carp and Tench, which are seldom caught but in ponds, use a very

say, "I envy not him that eats better meat than I do; nor him that is richer, or that wears better clothes than I do : I envy nobody but him, and him only, that catches more fish than I do." And such a man is like to prove an angler; and this noble emulation I wish to you, and all young anglers.

CHAPTER XVIII.

OF THE MINNOW, OR PENK; OF THE LOACH; OF THE BULL-HEAD, OR MILLER'S THUMB; AND OF THE STICKLEBAG.

Piscator. THERE be also three or four other little fish that I had almost forgot, that are all without scales, and may, for excellency of meat, be compared to any fish of greatest value and largest size. They be usually full of eggs, or spawn, all the months of summer; for they breed often, as it is observed mice and many of the smaller four-footed creatures of the earth do; and as those, so these come quickly to their full growth and perfection. And it is needful that they breed both often and numerously; for they be, besides other accidents of ruin, both a prey and baits for other fish. And first I shall tell you of the Minnow, or Penk.

The Minnow hath, when he is in perfect season and not sick, which is only presently after spawning, a kind of dappled, or waved colour, like to a panther, on his sides, inclining to a greenish and sky colour; his belly being milk white; and his back almost black, or blackish. He is a sharp biter at a small worm, and in hot weather makes excellent sport for young anglers, or boys, or women, that love that recreation. And in the spring they make of them excellent Minnow-tansies; for being washed well in salt, and their heads and tails cut off, and their guts taken out, and not washed after, they prove excellent for that use; that is, being fried with yolks of eggs, the flowers of cowslips and of primroses, and a little tansy; thus used, they make a dainty dish of meat.

The Loach is, as I told you, a most dainty fish: he breeds and feeds in little and clear swift brooks, or rills, and lives there upon the gravel, and in the sharpest streams; he grows not to be above a finger long, and no thicker than is suitable to

small goose or a duck-quill float: and for ground bait throw in, every now and then, a bit of chewed bread.

For Barbel, the place should be baited the night before you fish, with graves, which are the sediment of melted tallow, and may be had at the tallow chandler's. Use the same ground bait while you are fishing, as

for Roach and Dace.

In fishing with a float for Chub, in warm weather, fish at mid-water; in cool, lower; and in cold, at the ground.

that length. This Loach is not unlike the shape of the Eel: he has a beard, or wattles, like a Barbel. He has two fins at his sides, four at his belly, and one at his tail; he is dappled with many black, or brown spots; his mouth is Barbel-like under his nose. This fish is usually full of eggs, or spawn; and is by Gesner and other learned physicians, commended for great nourishment, and to be very grateful, both to the palate and stomach of sick persons. He is to be fished for with a very small worm, at the bottom; for he very seldom, or never, rises above the gravel, on which I told you he usually gets his living.

The Miller's-thumb, or Bull-head, is a fish of no pleasing shape. He is by Gesner compared to the sea Toadfish, for his similitude and shape. It has a head big and flat, much greater than suitable to his body; a mouth very wide, and usually gaping; he is without teeth, but his lips are very rough, much like to a file. He hath two fins near to his gills, which be roundish or crested; two fins also under the belly, two on the back, one below the vent, and the fin of his tail is round. Nature hath painted the body of this fish with whitish, blackish, and brownish spots. They be usually full of eggs, or spawn, all the summer, I mean the females; and those eggs swell their vents almost into the form of a dug. They begin to spawn about April, and, as I told you, spawn several months in the summer. And in the winter, the Minnow, and Loach, and Bull-head, dwell in the mud, as the Eel doth; or we know not where, no more than we know where the cuckoo and swallow, and other half-year birds, which first appear to us in April, spend their six cold, winter, melancholy months. This Bull-head does usually dwell, and hide himself, in holes, or amongst stones in clear water; and in very hot days will lie a long time very still, and sun himself, and will be easy to be seen upon any flat stone, or any gravel; at which time he will suffer an angler to put a hook, baited with a small worm, very near unto his very mouth : and he never refuses to bite, nor, indeed, to be caught with the worst of anglers. Matthiolus commends him much more for his taste and nourishment, than for his shape or beauty.*

* Since Walton wrote, there has been brought into England, from Germany, a species of small fish, resembling Carp in shape and colour, called Crusians, with which many ponds are now plentifully stocked.

There have also been brought hither from China, those beautiful creatures, gold and silver fish: the first are of an orange colour, with very shining scales, and finely variegated with black and dark brown; the silver fish are of the colour of silver tissue, with scarlet fins, with which colour they are curiously marked in several parts of the body.

These fish are usually kept in ponds, basins, and small reservoirs of water, to which they are a delightful ornament. And it is now a very common practice to keep them in a large glass vessel like a punch bowl, with fine gravel strewed at the bottom, frequently changing the water, and feeding them with bread and gentles. Those who can take more pleasure in angling for, than in beholding them, which I confess I could never do, may catch them with gentles; but though costly, they are but coarse food.

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