is best which should be 4 yards and 9 inches of Cane and a top of Hasle and Whalebone of one Yard and half or an Ell long at least the stiffness of the Cane is helped by the length and strength of the top the proportionable bending whereof preserves the Line chiefly having got a Hasle top an Ell long cut off 5 or 6 inches at the small end then piece neatly to the remaining part a small piece of round smooth and taper Whalebone and whip it to the Hasle with waxed Silk all which will make the Rod to be long gentle and not so apt to break let not the Whalebone be above 6 inches long and thereunto whip a narrow but strong noose of hair to put your Line to 3. If your Hook fasten on Wood or Stones in the water take out the top and instead thereof put a stick of Hasle which hath 2 grains and follow the line therewith until you come to the Hook the line running betwixt the grains and it will loosen the Hook then take out the stick and put in the top again Best Rod for sly and running line in cleer water 4. A Rod for fly Angling or running line in a cleer water for Trout or Grayling should be of Hazel 6 inches of Whale-bone 5 yards and half or 6 yards long the Hazel of several pieces taper and proportionably fitted to each other so neatly piec't together with sine wax thread below and silk above as to make it taper and rush-grown like a switch and ply with a true bent to the hand But the neatest Rod is thus made get a white Deal or Fir board that 's thick and free from knots and frets and ten foot long let the Arrow maker divide this with a Saw into several breadths then with his Planes let him shoot them smooth and rush-grown or taper-wise and one of these will be 10 foot of the bottom of your Rod all in one piece then piece to it a Hazel 5 foot long proportioned to the Fir yet rush-grown the Hazel may consist of one or two pieces then to the Hazel piece a piece of Yew 20 inches long and to the Yew a piece of small round smooth whale-bone 5 or 6 inches long this will be a curious Rod if artificially work't be sure that the Deal for bottom be strong now the whiteness of the Deal or Fir will scare away Fish but you must colour the Fir in this following manner To colour the Fir-stock viz. warm the Firr bottom at the fire when finished by the Arrowmaker then with a Feather dipt in Aqua Fortis stroak the Rod and with your hand chase it into the Fir and it will make it a pure Cinnamon colour Roch c. Rod. 5. Rods for Roch Dace Tench Bream and Carp c. should not have the top so gentle as one for fly therefore make their tops pretty stiff that so the Rod may exactly answer the motion of your hand for Roch and Dace only nibble and if you strike not just in that very moment especially if you Fish with Paste or any very tender bait you miss them because a slender top folds and bends a little with a sudden Jerk 6. In droughts steep your Rod in water a little before you begin to Angle 7. At top of the Rod or Fin fix with Shoomakers Wax and Silk a noose or loop of hair not large but strong and very streight to fix your Line to Rods length 8. Generally length of Rod is to be governed by the breadth of the River you Angle in but always use a Rod full as long as the River will bear and let the same be very well mounted I never use a Rod under 5 yards and a half long and I find more advantages by it than I need to trouble you with here by telling them and although I generally Angle in a small River yet I use one of that length constantly Running Line top 9. Your top for running line must be gentle that the Fish may more easily and to himself insensibly run away with the Bait and not be scared with the stiffness of the Rod and if you make your top of Yew and Whalebone as before is directed it will conduce much to this purpose the Yew though much bended will quickly return to its former standing To preserve Rods. 10. To preserve Hasles whether stocks or tops from Worm-eating or rotting twice or thrice in a year as you think fit rub them all over with Sallet Oyl Tallow or sweet Butter which was never salted and with much rubbing chase the same into them and keep your rod dry least it rot and not too near the Fire least it grow brittle CHAP. II. Of Hair and Lines What hairs to elect for lines 1. ELect your hair not from lean poor or diseas'd Jades but from a Stone-horse or Gelding at least that is sat strong and lusty and of 4 or 5 years old and that which groweth from the inmost and middle part of his Dock and so extendeth it self downwards to the ground are commonly the biggest and strongest hairs about the Horse and better than those upon the upper part of or setting on of the tail generally best Horses have the best hair Colour of hair for lines 2. Hair of a sorrel or Chess-nut colour is best for ground Angle especially in muddy waters that being the colour of Gravel or Sand. The white and gray or duskish white hair for the Fry and running line in clear Rivers The pale watery green but not a deep green for weedy Rivers in the Summer a black may do well for Rivers that immediately flow from Mosses and are thereby very black 3. Some although I never do dy their hair of what colour they please which for a Brown is thus done viz. Boil Walnut leaves and a few Marigolds in Chamber-ly or in stead thereof water and some Allum in it and when cold steep the hair therein Some say that the Inner bark of a Crab tree boild in water with some Allum makes a pure yellow Colour which is only if at any time good when the Weeds rot 4. If you 'l have a palewater green take a pint of strong Ale half a pound of soot a little quantity of juice of Walnut leaves an equal quantity of Allum put all together in a pot pan or pipkin boil them half an hour being cold put the hair into it and it will make the hair of a glass colour or pale green Colour the longer it lies the deeper's the colour but if you 'l have it rather a deeper green Take a Pottle of Allum water a large handful of Marigold leaves boil them till a yallow scum arise then take half a pound of green coperas as much Verdigrease beat them into sine pouder put those into the Allum water set all to cool then put in the hair and let it remain till its deep enough colored about 12 hours then take it out and lay it to dry
and cut open the round Stalk you 'l also find a Worm like the former in the husk but tougher and in that respect better both these Worms are to be kept in bran and baited on the bristled book as the Ash-grub and when you Angle for Grayling with them use a Float and the smallest Lines and the bait to be 5 or 6 inches from ground A Trout rarely takes either Ash-grub or Flag-worm Gentles or Maggots 16. Are kept with dead Flesh beasts Liver or Suet or which is better keep cleanse or seour them in Meal or Wheat-bran You may breed them by pricking a beasts Liver full of Holes hang it in the Sun in Summer time and set under an old course barrel or small Ferkin with Clay and Bran in it into which they will drop and therein cleanse themselves and be always ready for use and thus Gentles may be created until Michaelmas but if you would fish with them from Michaelmas to May-Day then get a dead Cat Kite or other Carrion at the letter end of September and let it be Fly-blown and when the Gentles begin to be alive stir or creep then bury it and then in soft moist Earth deep in the ground that the Frost kill them not and they 'l serve to use till March or April following about which time they 'l turn to be Flies Gentiles are sometimes added to a Worm and sometimes put on the point of a Dub-fly Hook for Salmon Smelts but most commonly they are used by themselves when you go to Fish with Gentles put them in a Horn wherein are small holes bored to let in air with some Wheat-bran only And some shave some of a Barbers Sweet Wash-ball into the bran Others anoint the Horn wherein the Gentles are in bran with Honey and others persume the Horn wherein they are kept with Musk and Civet you may imitate a Gentle with white Jersey Wooll if you be mindful to joyn it to another bait or fly for Salmon-Smelts Gentles are very good baits for Roch Dace Chub Carp Tench Barbel and Bleak Sheeps Blood 17. Dry it in the Air upon a board or trencher till it become pretty hard then cut it into small pieces proportioned for the fize of the Hook some add a little Salt to it which keeps it from growing black and say it makes it not worse but better it s a good bait for Chub Roch and Dace if rightly ordered Grain Wheat Malt. 18. When you use Grain as Malt Wheat c. boyl it soft in milk or which is liked better in sweet Wort and peel off the outward rind which is the bran and then use it or if you will you may then fry it in Honey and Milk or steep it in some strong scented Oyls as Amber Spike Polypody Ivy Annise Turpentine c. For Fish can smell else Nature had bestowed Nostrils in vain on them which were ridiculous to think Grain is a good bait either in Winter or Summer for Chub Roch Dace and Bleak Ant-Fly 19. When the Ant-fly is plentifullest which is in the end of June July August and most of September go to the Ant-Hills where they breed take a great handful of the Earth with as much of the root of the Grass that groweth on those Hillocks put all into a large glass bottle then gather a great quantity of the blackest Ant-flies their bodies and wings unbruised put them into a Bottle or Firkin if you would keep them long first washed with Honey or Water and Honey these in any stream and cleer Water are a deadly bait for Roch Dace and Chub and you must Angle with them under the Water no less than a handful from the bottom Take an Ant-fly or May-fly sink him with a little Lead to the bottom near to the Piles posts of a bridge Post of a Weir or any deep places where Roches lye quietly and then pull your Fly up very leisurely and usually a Roch will follow your bait to the very top of the water and gaze on it there and run at it and take it least the Fly escape him An t fly may be kept alive as is directed two or three Months Young brood of Wasps Hornets and Humble-Bees 20. Dry them upon a Fire-shovel or Tilestone or in an Oven cooling after baking lest they burn and to avoid that lay them on a thin board or chip and cover them with another so supported as not to crush them or else clap two cakes together this way they will keep long and stick on the Hook well if you boyl them a minute or two in water or milk they grow black in a few days but are good for present use these are singular good baits for Roch Dace and Chub and you may try them for Carp Tench and Bream which I fancy will scarce refuse them Salmon Spawn 21. Is a very good bait for Chub. Take the Spawn and boil it so hard as to stick on the Hook and then use it or not boiled at all is used by some others take the Spawn and put good store of Salt to it and hang the same in a Linnen bag in the Kitchen but far off the Fire and it will be hard and then they steep it the night before it is used in Strong Waters Some exspert Anglers preserve Salmon-Spawn from pineing with Salt or discolouring with moisture by laying it upon Wooll in a pot one layr of Spawn and another of Wooll to the silling of the Pot and t is a lovely bait for the Winter and Spring especially if used where Salmons use to Spawn for thither the Fish are gathered and there expect it Minnow Loach and Bull-Head 22. Are baits for Pike Pearch Chub Eel and great Trout The Trout takes these baits about a Foot within water and sometimes lower in the deeps in March April and September when the Wind is in the South or Southwest and bloweth strongly curling the Waters and raising high waves in Summer-months he takes them not in the day time unless the day be dark and the Wind high and then you must add some Lead to the Line and sink these baits to the bottom for the Trout will not take them at mid-water in a cleer water in Summer and although these baits are only taken by Pike and Trout in a cleer water in the day time yet you may bait night Hooks with them and they are an excellent bait either for Chub Pike Trout or Eel in the night Minnows of a middle size and whitish are the best tho the Minnow is a very good bait for Jack Pearch and Trout yet Experience tells me that a small Loach or Bull-Head his guil fins being cut off are better than Minnows by many degrees When you Angle with Minnow small Loach or Bull head for Trout be sure the bait turn quick and be always in motion Lamprey Pride or Seaven Eyes 23. Are all one and like unto small Eels no thicker than a straw and may be found in sandy
often enforc't to take up his quarters at such places for the conveniences of the River he Angles at as renders by their ill Dressing the most dilicate Fish not onely ingrateful to the Palate but even nauseous to the Stomach to obviate which inconvenience I will here furnish the Angler out of Mr. Walton ingenious Mr. Cotton and others what the easiest and best ways of dressing fresh water Fish so that upon such stress he may direct his Landlady so well as if shee 'l observe him neither to shame her self nor spoil a good Dish of Fish and I will first teach you how to dress the Chub he being a Fish that has lost much reputation for want of good dressing How to dress a Chub. 1. First scale him and then wash him clean and take out his Guts and to that end make the hole little and as near to his Guils you may conveniently and especially make clean his Throat from Grass and Weeds that are usual in it for if that be not clean it will make him tast sowr having so done put some sweet herbs into his Belly and then tye him with a or 3 splinters to a Spit and roast him basted often with Vinegar or rather Verjuice and Butter with good store of Salt mixt with it This way drys up the fluid watry humor with which all Chubs do abound A Tench may be thus drest like wise Another way to dress a Chub. 2. When you have scaled the Chub and cut of his Tail and Fins and washed him very clean then chine or slit him through the middle as a Salt Fish is usually cut then give him 3 or 4 cuts or scotches on the back with your Knife and broil him on Charcoal Wood-coal or Coal that are free from Smoak and all the time he 's broiling bast him with best sweet Butter and good store of Salt mixt with it and to this add a little Thyme cut exceeding small or bruised into the Butter Drest in this manner the watry tast is taken away for which many except against him they are to be eaten the same day they are caught and forget not to wash his Throat very clean and his Body must not be washed after gutted as indeed no Fish should be but wiped clean with a linnen cloath After this manner you may dress other Fish as Trouts Barbels c. Another way to dress a Chub. 3. Set a Kettle over the fire with some Beer Vinegar and Water so much as will cover the Fish and therein put Fennel and good store of Salt and when the water boils put in the Chub he being first scald gutted and throat made clean and when boil'd enough take him out and lay him on a board for the water to run from him having so rested one hour pick all the Fish from the Bones and lay it on a Pewter dish which set on a Chafing-dish of Coals and put good store of Butter to it which when the Fish is very well hot serve it up and eat it as minced Veal To dress Trouts the common way 4. First with a Knife gently scrape all the slime off them then wash them in Salt and Water then gut them and wipe them very clean with a linnen cloth then flower them with Wheat-flower and fry them very well in Sweet-butter until they be brown and crisp then take them out of the frying-pan and lay them on a pewter dish very well heated before then Fire then pour off the Batter the Trouts were fryed in into the Grease-pot and not on the Fish then fry good store of Parsly and young Sage in other Sweet-butter until they be crisp then take out the Herbs and lay them on the Fish but put not any of the Butter wherein the Herbs were fried on the Fish Then beat up some Sweet-butter with three or four spoonfuls of boiling hot spring-water an Anchovis being first therein dissolved if you can easily have them and pour it on the Fish and serve it up garnishing your dish with Straw-berry or other green leaves Graylings Pearches small Pikes or Jakes Roch Eel Gudgeon to fry This is the way to fry Trouts or Salmon Smelts under a Foot-long or Graylings Roches Dates Breams or Gudgeons their Scales first scraped off and you may thus fry small Eels after they are flead gutted wiped clean and cut into pieces of four or five Inches long You may also fry this way Pearches and small Pikes c. The best way of dressing a Trout Take the Trout wash and dry him with a clean Napkin then open him and having taken out his Guts and all the Blood wipe him very clean within but wash him not and give him three scotches with a Knife to the Bone on one side only After which take a clean Kettle and put in as much hard stale Beer but it must not be flat or dead Vinegar and a little white wine and water as will cover the Fish you intend to boil then throw into the Liquor a good quantity of Salt the rind of a Lemon a handful of slic't Horse Radish root with a handsome little Fagot of Parsley Rosemary time and Winter-savory Then set your Kettle upon a quick fire of Wood and let your Liquor boil up to the height before you put in your Fish and then if there be many put them in one by one that they may not so cool the Liquor as to make it fall and whilst your Fish is boyling beat up the butter for the Sawce with a Ladle full or two of the Liquor its boyling in and being boyled enough immediately powr the Liquor from the Fish and being laid in a Dish powr your Butter upon it and strewing it plentifully over with shaved Horse-Radish and a little pounded Ginger garnish the sides of your Dish and the Fish it self with a slic't Lemon or two and serve it up In the same manner you may dress a Salmon-Moat under half a yard long Grayling Carp Bream Roch Pike Pearh Salmon Moat likewise a Grayling Carp Bream and large Roch may be drest after the same manner only they are to be scal'd which a Trout never is and that must be done very lightly and carefully with a Knife for bruising the Fish also a Pike may be thus drest the slime being first well scourd off with Water and Salt so likewise may a Pearch be drest but before you powr on the Sawce blanch off the Pearches Skin To Dress Salmon 6. You may fry pieces of Salmon or a Chine of Salmon as you are directed for the Trout at Sect. 4. of this Chapter To Stew Salmon or other Fish 7. Take a Salmon draw it scotch the back put it whole or in pieces into a Stew-pan and thereunto put some Beer-Vinegar white Wine and Water as much as will cover it put also to it some whole Cloves large Mace slic'd Ginger a Bay Leaf a bundle of the tops of Rosemary Time sweet Marjoram winter Savory add pick't Parsly some
whole Peper Salt Butter and an Orange in halves stew all leisurely together and when well stewed dish them with carved Sippets lay on the spices and slc'd Lemon run it over with Butter beaten up with some of the Liquor it was stewed in garnish the dish with fearsed Manchet c. Thus you may stew any other Fish as Carp pike Bream c. The best way to boyl a Carp 8. Take a Carpy alive if possible scour him and rub him clean with Water and Salt but scale him not then open him and put him with his Blood and his Liver which you must save when you open him into a small Pot or Kettle then take sweet Marjoram Time and Parsly of each half a handful a sprig of Rosemary and another of Savory bind them into two or three small bundles and put them to your Carp with 4 or 5 whole Onyons twenty pickled Oysters and three Anchovies then pour upon your Carp as much Claret Wine as will cover him and season the Claret well with Salt Cloves bruised Mace slic'd Nutmeg and the rinds of Oranges and Lemons that done cover the Pot and set it on a quick fire till it be sufficiently boyled then take out the Carp and lay it with the broth in the Dish and pour upon it a quarter of a pound of good fresh Butter melted and beaten with half a dozen spoonfuls of the Broth the Yealks of two or three Eggs and some of the Herbs shred Garnish the Dish with Lemons and so serve it up If you be not willing to be at the charges of the Wine you may in its stead put good Sider and for want of that some white Wine good Beer-vinegar and Water will serve very well instead of the Claret you may also omit the pickled Oysters and Anchovies and it will notwithstanding such omission eat very well In the same manner you may dress other Fish only you must for others omit the Blood and Liver As Pike Bream Trout Pearch Grayling c. Those that have scales being scal'd and put them into the Liquor before it boyls The common way of boyling Fish is to draw scale them if scales and wipe them clean and then to set over a Kettle with as much water as will cover the Fish and to put therein some Beer-Vinegar good store of sweet Fennel and Salt and when the Liquor boils very well up to put in the Fish and when boyled enough let the water run off and lay them on a hot Powter Dish and serve them up with beaten Butter and some shred Parsly boyled by it self How to Fry Eels 9. First take the Eel flea him gut him and wash him clean then cut him into the lengths of three or four Inches a piece then set over water in a skellet and let it boyl wherein you must put good store of salt and some Fennel or Rosemary when this water boils put in the peices of Eel and let them therein be almost half boyl'd then take them out putting them into a Cullendar then flower and fry them and proceed farther as you are instructed to fry a Trout at Sect. 4. of this Chapter for a Trout The best way of Dressing a large Eel 10. First wash the Eel which should be a large one in water and salt then pull off his skin below his Vent or Navel and not much farther having done that take out his guts as clean as you can but wash him not but wipe him clean within with a linnen Cloth and then give him three or four scotches with a Knife then put into his belly and those scotches sweet Herbs which are the tops of Rosemary sweet Marjoram Winter-savory stripped Time and picked Parsly an Anchovy and a little Nutmeg grated or cut very small the Herbs and Anchovys cut small and mixed with good Butter and Salt having done this then pull his skin over him all but his Head which you are to cut off to the end you may tye his skin about that part where his Head grew and it must be so tyed as to keep all his moisture within his skin and having done this with Tape or Pack-thread tie him to a Spit and Roast him leisurely and bast him with Salt and Water till his skin breaks and then with Butter and having roasted him enough let what was put into his belly be mixed with beaton butter for the sawce Note That when you put the Herbs and Anchovy into his Belly they are first to be cut very small before they be put into the Eels Belly and mixt with Butter and Salt and if you omit the Anchovy yet the Eel will eat well enough To roast Eels 11. Take Eels flea gut and wipe them clean and cut them in pieces four or five Inches long put them on a small spit cross-ways and between each piece put some large sage leaves or Bay-leaves then roast and bast them and when enough serve them up with Butter beaten up in 3 or 4 spoonfuls of boiling-water and the yolk of an Egg or two if you like Eggs. Spitch Cock or broiled Eels 12. Take a large Eel splat it down the back and joint-bone being drawn and the Blood washed out leave on the Skin and cut it in 4 pieces equally Salt them and bast them with butter broil them on a soft Fire and being finely broild serve them on a clean dish with beaten butter Stewed Eels 13. Draw them flay them and wipe them clean and cut them in pieces 3 or 4 Inches long and put them into a Posnet or Skillet with fair water a little White-wine Verjuice or instead thereof Beer-Vinegar as much as will well cover them butter some large Mace Pepper a quarter of a pound of Currans Salt two or three Onions three or fourspoonfuls of Yeast and a bundle of Sweet-herbs Stew all these together leasurely till the Fish be very tender then dish them and put to the Broth a quarter of a pound of Butter pour it on the Fish sipped it and serve it up In like manner you may stew them in an Oven cutting them in peices and setting them an the end in an earthen pot boing first seasoned with Pepper Salt Cloves Nutmeg sweet Herbs chop'd small Currans Butter but instead of the Currans and Butter some only put in 2 or 3 spoonfuls of fair water and 4 or 5 Cloves of Garlick and so bake them and serve them on Sippets To Collar Eels Take large Eels slay draw and wipe them clean with a Linnen Cloth part them down the back and take out the back-bone then take Thyme Parsley sweet Marjoram and a little of the tops of Rosemary mince them small and mingle them with Nutmeg Ginger Pepper and Salt then strew them on the inside of the Eels then rowl them up like a Collar of Brawn and put them in a clean Linnen Cloth tied at both ends and boil them tender with Beer-Vinegar Water and Salt but let the Liquor boyl before you put in the Eels
hairs of a Squirrels tail and is a very killing Fly The next are 4 Flies which contend for the Title of May Fly but the Green Drake which is taken both in Streams and Stills and that at all hours of the day whilest in season and the Stone-fly taken early and late but not very well in the mid-time of the day have the preheminence of the black May Fly and little yellow May-fly by the general vogue of Anglers 2. Green Drake At full maturity his Wings stand high and closed exact upon his back like the Butter-fly and his motion in flying is the same his body is in some of a paler in others of a darker yellow for they are not all exactly of a colour rib'd with rows of green long slender and growing sharp towards the tail at the end of which he has 3 long small whisks of a very dark colour almost black and his tail turns up towards his back like a Mallard from whence he has his name of Green-Drake Green Drakes Season and Dubbing He comes in about Mid-May and is taken until Midsummer in Mountainous stoney Rivers far earlier in others and that at all hours as aforesaid and is made thus viz. on a large hook the Dubbing Camels hair bright Bears hair the soft Down Combed from a Hogs Bristles and yellow Camlet well mixt together the body long and ribb'd about with green Silk or rather yellow Silk waxt with green wax the whisks of the tail of the long hair of Sables or Fitchet and the wings of the white grey feather of a Mallard died yellow which is died thus viz. Take the Root of a Barberry Tree and put to it woodyvis with as much Allum as a Walnut and boil the feathers in it with rain-Rain-water and they will be of a very fine and curious yellow You may try whether the inner bark of a Crab-tree boil'd with some Allum in water will not do the same and make a fine yellow which I am informed it will but never experienced it 3. Stone-fly described Lies under hollow Stones at the Rivers side his body is long and pretty thick and as broad at the tail almost as in the middle his colour a very fine brown ribb'd with yellow and much yellower on the belly than on the back he hath 2 or 3 whisks also at the tag of his tail and 2 little horns on his head his wings when full grown are double and flat down his back of the same colour but rather darker than his body and longer than it though he makes but little use of them for he rarely flies though often swims and paddles with several feet he has under his belly upon the water without stirring a wing but the Drake will mount Steeple height into the Air tho' hee 's found upon Flags and Grass too and indeed every where high and low near the River Stone-flies Season The Stone fly comes in about middle of April and continues until the end of June or Midsummer It s proper for Streams rather than Stills and taken best early and late but not so well at mid-time of the day if there be a whistling wind then it may be taken in the deep stills of the River Stone-flies dubbing it s a very killing Fly and made of Bears Dun with a litle brown and yellow Camlet very well mixt but so placed that the Fly may be more yellow on the belly and towards the tail underneath than in any other part and you are to place 2 or 3 hairs of a black Cats beard on the top of the hook in the arming so as to be turn'd up when you warp on your Dubbing and to stand almost upright and staring one from another and note that the Fly is to be rib'd with yellow Silk and the wings long and very large of the dark grey feather of a Mallard or which I intend to try o◠the brown soft feather of a Kite 4. Black May Fly Is the next May Fly made with a black body of the whirle of an Ostridge feather rib'd with Silver twist and the black Hackle of 〈◊〉 Cock over all and is a killing Fly but not 〈◊〉 compare with the green Drake and Stone fly 5. Little yellow May-fly Being the last of the 4 of the same shap◠of the green Drake but a very little one of a bright a yellow as can be seen made of a bright yellow Camlet wings of a white grey feather died yellow 6. Grey Drake Is in all shapes and dimensions perfectly the same with the green Drake but quite almost of another colour being of a paler and more livid yellow and green and ribb'd with black quite down his body with black shining wings diaphanous and very tender Cobweb like it comes in and is taken after the green Drake and in a Dub-fly kills very well It s made of the whitish Down of a Hogs bristles and black Spaniels Fur mixt and rib'd down the body with black Silk the whisks of the tail of the hairs of the Beard of a black Cat and the wings of the black grey feather of a Mallard 7. Camlet Fly Is taken from Mid-May unto the end of June is in shape like a Moth with fine Diapred or water wings and made of a dark brown shining Camlet rib'd over with very small light green Silk and the wings of the double grey feather of a Mallard and is a very killing Fly for Graylings and small Fish ☞ I had thought here to have put a period to the Description of any more Flies for May yet since there are 9 Flies of small esteem comparatively with the foregoing 7 I will insert them for the Readers sake who is at liberty either to use or reject them as his fancy is 8. Turky Fly Dubbing ravell'd out of some blew stuff and lapt about with yellow Silk the wings of a grey Mallards feather 9. Yellow Palmer Made with a yellow body rib'd with Gold twist and large Wings of a Mallards feather died yellow with a red Capons Hackle over all 10. Black Fly Dubbing of a black Spaniels Fur and the wings of a grey Mallards Feather 11. Light brown Made of a light brown with a slender body the dubbing twirled upon small red Silk and raised with the point of a Needle that the ribs or rows of Silk may appear through the wings of the grey feather of a Mallard 12. Little Dun Dubbing of Bears Dun whirled upon yellow Silk wings of a Mallards grey feather 13. White Gnat With a pale wing and a black head 14. Peacock Fly Body made of the whirl of a Peacocks feather with a red head and wings of a Mallards feather 15. Tow-Lady A little fly the body of a Peacocks feather the wing of a red feather or strips of the red hackle of a Cock. 16. Cow-turd fly Dubbing light brown and yellow mixt the wings of the dark grey feather of a Mallard Dub-flies for June From the 1 to the 24 are taken the Green-Drake
when boyl'd enough take them out of the Liquor and let them and the Liquor be cold and put them in again and you may therein keep them 3 or 4 days or more and you may serve it either in Collars or in round slices with Sawcers of Vinegar To Roast a Pike 14 First open your Pike at the Gills and if need be cut also a little Slit towards the Belly out of these take his Guts and keep his Liver which you are to shred very small with Thyme sweet Marjoram and a little Winter Savory to these put some pickled Oysters and two or three Anchovies both these last whole for the Anchovies will melt and the Oysters should not to these you must add also a pound of sweet Butter which you are to mix with the Herbs that are shred and let them all be well Salted if the Pike be more than a yard long then you may put into these herbs more than a pound of Butter if he be less then loss will suffice these being thus mixt with a blade or 2 of Mace must be put into the Pikes Belly and the Belly so sowed up as to keep all the Butter in his belly if it be possible if not then as much of it as you possibly can but take not off the scales then you are to thrust the spit through his month out at his tail then take 4 5 or 6 Split-sticks or very thin Laths and a convenient quantity of Tape or Filleting these are to be tyed round about the Pikes body from his head to his Tail and the Tape tyed somewhat thick to prevent his breaking or falling off from the Spit let him be roasted very leasurely and basted often with Claret Wine and Anchovies and Butter mixt together and also with what moisture falls from him into the Pan when roasted 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 roasted in his Belly and by this means the Pike will be kept unbroken and compleat then to the Sawce which was within you are to add a fit quantity of the best Butter and to squeeze therein the juyce of 3 or 4 Oranges lastly you may either put into the Pike with the Oysters 3 or 4 Cloves of Garlick and take it whole our when the Pike is taken off the Spit or to give the Sawce a hogo let the Dish into which you let the Pike fall be rubbed with it the using or not using the Garlick is left to your discretion 15. Whensoever you do Butter for Fishes sawce let it be very well beaten up with 3 or 4 spoonfuls of boyling Spring water and if you desire it to be thick dissolve a Yolk of an Egg therein well beaten with the Butter and if you desire the Sawce to be better relished than ordinary put an Anchovy in the water and let it dissolve before you beat up the Butter or boil Parsly by it self and shred it and â—eat it up with the Butter and Water and its a good Sawce Trouts Chubs Carp Bearch Bream Roch Gudgeon and Grayling should be eat the very same day they are caught else they are worth little Finally let me tell you That in the course of my Observations I know amongst all sorts â—f Fish none differ amongst themselves in taste more than Eels for I have eat of them taken â—ut of above 30 several Rivers and amongst â—he rest of the Thames Severn and Trent Eel â—et none that I ever met with were to be comâ—ared for goodness although not large and deliciousness of Taste to the Eels caught in a small River in Lancashire called Irk which is composed of 3 small Brooks that have their conflux near unto Middleton Hall where it assumes the name of Irk and thence descends through Blakely and Crumpsall c. to Manchester where under Chetham's Hospital it mingles its waters with the Irwell and thereunto pays the Tribute of its Name Neither are the Inhabitants on its Bank partial in their Judgments by reason of their vicinity but it s highly applauded for its excellent taste by persons meer Strangers and such as had the estimation of curious Palats and having often enquired of the Neighbouring People to it what might be the reason they have unanimously ascribed it to the numerousness of Fulling Mills that stand on that River and say that the Fat Oyl and Grease scowred out of the Cloth make the Eels pallatable and fat above other River Eels FINIS The TABLE c. signifies Chapter and sect Section ANngling at Float c. 28. At Dubsly c. 34. At running-line both in clear and muddy water c. 27. At top with a worm c. 29. In the Night c. 30. Rules for ground and midwater Angling c. 31. With a leager Bait c. 32. With natural Fly c. 33. With a Minnow for Trout c. 36. for Pike with a Minnow c. 37. With Trowl for Pike c. 37. with snap c. 37. with snare c. 37. For an Eel c. 22. by boboing broyling and sningling and ledger bait idem A. Ashgrub c. 4. sect 14. Anesty c. 4. sect 19. Ashfly c. 4. sect 31. B. Bleak c. 25. Blackberries c. 4. sect 28. Blood c. 4. sect 17. Bags c. 3. sect 16. Baits c. 4. c. 7. sect 11. Bobs c. 4. sect 9.10 Barkworm c. 4. sect 14. Bull-Head c. 4. sect 22. c. 6. Barbel c. 19. Bream c. 18. Brandling c. 4. sect 3. Bobbing for Eels c. 22. Brogling for Eels c. 22. Beetle c. 4. sect 25. Codbait c. 4. sect 11.12.13 c. 3. sect 16. Case-Worm c. 4. sect 11.12.13 c. 3. sect 16. Cadizworm c. 4. sect 11.12.13 c. 3. sect 16. Creeper c. 4. sect 26. Cherries c. 4. sect 28. Choose c. 4. sect 29. Carp c. 16. Chub and Chevin c. 21. and c. 33. Claphait c. 4. sect 10. D Dockworm c. 4. sect 15. Directions general c. 7. Dace and Dare c. 21. Dow-worm c. 4. sect 2. c 27. sect 3â— Dibbing c. 33. Dubfly c. 34. Depth of water to try c. 3. sect 13. Dressing of Fish c. 39. E. Eyes of Fish c. 4. sect 34. Eel c. 22. F. Fishponds c. 38. Flagworm c. 4. sect 15. Float Angling c. 28. Floats c. 3. sect 5.6.7.8.9 Feeding Fish c. 7. sect 9.10 Fly natural to Angle with 33. Fly Artificial c. 34. Fishes general Haunt c. 7. sect 7. Flook and Flounder c. 24. G Gentles c 4. sect 16. Grain c. 4. sect 18. Grashopper c. 4. sect 25. Green-drake c. 4. sect 32. Garden worm c. 4. sect 2. Grayling c. 12. Gudgeon c. 15. Giltgil c. 4. sect 3. H. Hair c. 2. Hooks c. 3. sect 1 2 3 4. Hornets and Humble Bees c. 4. sect 20. Hawthorn sly c. 4. sect 33. Haunt general of Fish c. 7. sect 7. L. Lamprey c. 4. sect 23. Lines c. 2. Leading lines c. 3. sect 10 11 12. Line Cases c. 3. sect 15. Loach c. 4. sect 22. c. 26. Lip-berries c. 4. sect 27. Ledger bait c. 32. Lob-worm c. 4. sect 2. M Magots c. 4. sect 16. Minnow c. 4. sect 22. c 26. c. 36. Marsh or Meadow worm c. sect 4. Mulberries c. 4. sect 28. N Net c. 3. sect 12. Night Angling c. 30. O Oak-worm c. 4. sect 8. Oak-fly c. 4. sect 31. Oyntments c. 6. P Posts c. 5. Plummet c. 3. sect 13. Pannier c. 3. sect 18. Palmer Fly or Worm c. 4. sect 8. Pride c. 4. sect 23. Pike c. 4. sect 30. c. 23. c. 37. c. 39. Pearch c. 13. Pope c. 14. R Rods for Angling c. 1. Rosberries c. 4. sect 28. Receipts c. 6. Ruff c. 14. Roch c. 20. Running Line and Worm c. 27. Redworm c. 4. sect 3. S Sheeps blood c. 4. sect 17. Salmon c. 11. Salmon spawn c. 4. sect 21 Snails c. 4. sect 24. Stone-fly c. 4. sect 32. c. 34. Seasons proper for Angling or not c. 8. c 9. Swivel c. 36. Snap and Snare c. 37. Singling for Eils c. 22. T Trowling c. 37. Trout c. 10. Tagtail c. 4. sect 5. Tench c. 17. Twatchell c. 4. sect 2. W. Whetstone c. 3. sect 14. Worms c. 4 sect 1.2.3.4.5.6.7 How to bait c. 7. sect 11. c. 27. Wool-bed c. 4. sect 8. White grub and White Bait c. 4. sect 9.10 Wasps c. 4. sect 20. Water-Cricket and Water-Louse c. 4. sect 31. FINIS Courteous Reader YOU may be pleased to take notice That at the Sign of the Three Trouts in St. Pauls Church-Yard on the North side you may be fitted with all sorts of the best Fishing Tackle by John Margrave