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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	acquaint_v	art_n	great_a	22	3	2.0729	3	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A34636	The compleat angler being instructions how to angle for a trout or grayling in a clear stream.	Cotton, Charles, 1630-1687.	1676 (1676)	Wing C6381; ESTC R22475	49,857	120

if no body come in to interrupt us for you must know besides the unfitness of the day that the afternoons so early in March signifie very little to Angling with a Flie though with a Minnow or a Worm something might I confess be done To begin then where I left off my Father Walton tells us but of 12 Artificial flies only to Angle with at the top and gives their names of which some are common with us here and I think I guess at most of them by his description and I believe they all breed and are taken in our Rivers though we do not make them either of the same Dubbing or fashion And it may be in the Rivers about London which I presume he has most frequented and where 't is likely he has done most execution there is not much notice taken of many more but we are acquainted with several others here though perhaps I may reckon some of his by other names too but if I do I shall make you amends by an addition to his Catalogue And although the forenamed great Master in the Art of Angling for so in truth he is tells you that no man should in honesty catch a Trout till the middle of March yet I hope he will give a Man leave sooner to take a Grayling which as I told you is in the dead Months in his best season and do assure you which I remember by a very remarkable token I did once take upon the sixt day of December one and only one of the biggest Graylings and the best in season that ever I yet saw or tasted and do usually take Trouts too and with a Flie not only before the middle of this Month but almost every year in February unless it be a very ill spring indeed and have sometimes in January so early as New-years-tide and in frost and snow taken Grayling in a warm sun-shine day for an hour or two about Noon and to fish for him with a Grub it is then the best time of all I shall therefore begin my Flie-fishing with that Month though I confess very few begin so soon and that such as are so fond of the sport as to embrace all opportunities can rarely in that Month find a day fit for their purpose and tell you that upon my knowledg these Flies in a warm sun for an hour or two in the day are certainly taken January 1. A red brown with wings of the Male of a Malard almost white the dubbing of the tail of a black long coated Cur such as they commonly make muffs of for the hair on the tail of such a Dog dies and turns to a red Brown but the hair of a smoth coated Dog of the same colour will not do because it will not dye but retains its natural colour and this flie is taken in a warm sun this whole Month thorough 2. There is also a very little bright Dun Gnat as little as can possibly be made so little as never to be fisht with with above one hair next the hook and this is to be made of a mixt dubbing of Martins fur and the white of a Hares scut with a very white and small wing and 't is no great matter how fine you fish for nothing will rise in this Month but a Grayling and of them I never at this season saw any taken with a Flie of above a foot long in my life but of little ones about the bigness of a smelt in a warm day and a glowing Sun you may take enough with these two Fishes and they are both taken the whole North through February 1. Where the Red-brown of the last Month ends another almost of the same colour begins with this saving that the dubbing of this must be of something a blacker colour and both of them warpt on with red silk the dubbing that should make this Flie and that is the truest colour is to be got of the black spot of a Hogs ear not that a black spot in any part of the Hog will not afford the same colour but that the hair in that place is by many degrees softer and more fit for the purpose his wing must be as the other and this kills all this Month and is call'd the lesser Red-brown 2. This Month also a plain Hackle or palmer-Flie made with a rough black body either of black Spaniels furr or the whirl of an Estridg feather and the red Hackle of a Capon over all will kill and if the weather be right make very good sport 3. Also a lesser Hackle with a black body also silver twist over that and a red feather over all will fill your pannier if the Month be open and not bound up in Ice and snow with very good Fish but in case of a frost and snow you are to Angle only with the smallest Gnats Browns and Duns you can make and with those are only to expect Graylings no bigger than sprats 4. In this Month upon a whirling round water we have a great Hackle the body black and wrapped with a red feather of a Capon untrim'd that is the whole length of the Hackle staring out for we sometimes barb the Hackle feather short all over sometimes barb it only a little and sometimes barb it close underneath leaving the whole length of the feather on the top or back of the Flie which makes it swim better and as occasion serves kills very great Fish 5. We make use also in this Month of another great Hackle the body black and rib'd over with Gold twist and a red feather over all which also does great execution 6. Also a great Dun made with Dun Bears Hair and the wings of the grey feather of a Mallard near unto his tail which is absolutely the best Flie can be thrown upon a River this Month and with which an Angler shall have admirable sport 7. We have also this Month the great blew Dun the dubbing of the bottom of Bears hair next to the roots mixt with a little blew Camlet the wings of the dark grey feather of a Mallard 8. We have also this Month a Dark-Brown the dubbing of the brown hair of the Flanck of a brended Cow and the wings of the grey-Drakes feather And note that these several Hackels or Palmer Flies are some for one Water and one Skye and some for another and according to the change of those we alter their size and colour and note also that both in this and all other Months of the Year when you do not certainly know what Flie is taken or cannot see any Fish to rise you are then to put on a small Hackle if the Water be clear or a bigger if something dark untill you have taken one and then thrusting your finger thorough his Guils to pull out his Gorge which being open'd with your knife you will then discover what Flie is taken and may fit your self accordingly For the making of a Hackle or Palmer Flie my Father Walton

down the River as the wind serves and to angle as near as you can to the bank of the same side whereon you stand though where you see a Fish rise near you you may guide your quick Flie over him whether in the middle or on the contrary side and if you are pretty well out of sight either by kneeling or the Interposition of a bank or bush you may almost be sure to raise and take him too if it be presently done the Fish will otherwise peradventure be remov'd to some other place if it be in the still deeps where he is always in motion and roving up and down to look for prey though in a stream you may alwaies almost especially if there be a good stone near find him in the same place Your Line ought in this Case to be three good hairs next the hook both by reason you are in this kind of angling to expect the biggest Fish and also that wanting length to give him Line after he is struck you must be forc't to tugg for 't to which I will also add that not an Inch of your Line being to be suffered to touch the water in dibbling it may be allow'd to be the stronger I should now give you a Description of those Flies their shape and colour and then give you an account of their breeding and withal shew you how to keep and use them but shall defer that to their proper place and season Viat In earnest Sir you discourse very rationally of this affair and I am glad to find my self mistaken in you for in plain truth I did not expect so much from you Pisc. Nay Sir I can tell you a great deal more than this and will conceal nothing from you But I must now come to the second way of angling at the top which is with an artificial Flie which also I will shew you how to make before I have done but first shall acquaint you that with this you are to angle with a Line longer by a yard and a half or sometimes two yards than your Rod and with both this and the other in a still day in the streams in a breeze that curles the water in the still deeps where excepting in May and June that the best Trouts will lye in shallow streams to watch for prey and even then too you are like to hit the best Fish For the length of your Rod you are always to be govern'd by the breadth of the River you shall chuse to angle at and for a Trout River one of five or six yards long is commonly enough and longer though never so neatly and artificially made it ought not to be if you intend to Fish at ease and if otherwise where lies the sport Of these the best that ever I saw are made in York-shire which are all of one piece that is to say of several six eight ten or twelve pieces so neatly piec't and ty'd together with fine thred below and Silk above as to make it taper like a switch and to ply with a true bent to your hand and these are too light being made of Fir wood for two or three lengths nearest to the hand and of other wood nearer to the top that a Man might very easily manage the longest of them that ever I saw with one hand and these when you have given over Angling for a season being taken to pieces and laid up in some dry place may afterwards be set together again in their former postures and will be as strait sound and good as the first hour they were made and being laid in Oyl and colour according to your Master Waltons direction will last many years The length of your line to a Man that knows how to handle his Rod and to cast it is no manner of encumbrance excepting in woody places and in landing of a Fish which every one that can afford to Angle for pleasure has some body to do for him and the length of line is a mighty advantage to the fishing at distance and to fish fine and far off is the first and principal Rule for Trout Angling Your Line in this case should never be less nor ever exceed two hairs next to the hook for one though some I know will pretend to more Art than their fellows is indeed too few the least accident with the finest hand being sufficient to break it but he that cannot kill a Trout of twenty inches long with two in a River clear of wood and weeds as this and some others of ours are deserves not the name of an Angler Now to have your whole line as it ought to be two of the first lengths nearest the hook should be of two hairs a piece the next three lengths above them of three the next three above them of four and so of five and six and seven to the very top by which means your Rod and tackle will in a manner be taper from your very hand to your hook your line will fall much better and straiter and cast your Flie to any certain place to which the hand and eye shall direct it with less weight and violence that would otherwise circle the water and fright away the fish In casting your line do it always before you and so that your flie may first fall upon the water and as little of your line with it as is possible though if the vvind be stiff you will then of necessity be compell'd to drown a good part of your line to keep your flie in the water and in casting your flie you must aim at the further or nearer Bank as the wind serves your turn which also vvill be with and against you on the same side several times in an hour as the River vvinds in its course and you will be forc't to Angle up and down by turns accordingly but are to endeavour as much as you can to have the wind evermore on your back and always be sure to stand as far off the Bank as your length will give you leave when you throw to the contrary side though when the wind will not permit you so to do and that you are constrain'd to Angle on the same side whereon you stand you must then stand on the very brink of the River and cast your Flie at the utmost length of your Rod and Line up or down the River as the gale serves It only remains touching your Line to enquire whether your two hairs next to the hook are better twisted or open and for that I should declare that I think the open way the better because it makes less shew in the water but that I have found an inconvenience or two or three that have made me almost weary of that way of which one is that without dispute they are not so strong twisted as open another that they are not easily to be fastned of so exact an equal length in the arming that the one will not cause the other to bagge by