The Complete Angler
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Izaak Walton >> The Complete Angler
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There are also divers other kinds of worms, which, for colour and
shape, alter even as the ground out of which they are got; as the marsh-
worm, the tag-tail, the flag-worm, the dock-worm, the oak-worm, the
gilt-tail, the twachel or lob-worm, which of all others is the most
excellent bait for a salmon, and too many to name, even as many sorts
as some think there be of several herbs or shrubs, or of several kinds of
birds in the air: of which I shall say no more, but tell you, that what
worms soever you fish with, are the better for being well scoured, that
is, long kept before they be used: and in case you have not been so
provident, then the way to cleanse and scour them quickly, is, to put
them all night in water, if they be lob-worms, and then put them into
your bag with fennel. But you must not put your brandlings above an
hour in water, and then put them into fennel, for sudden use: but if you
have time, and purpose to keep them long, then they be best preserved
in an earthen pot, with good store of moss, which is to be fresh every
three or four days in summer, and every week or eight days in winter;
or, at least, the moss taken from them, and clean washed, and wrung
betwixt your hands till it be dry, and then put it to them again. And
when your worms, especially the brandling, begins to be sick and lose
of his bigness, then you may recover him, by putting a little milk or
cream, about a spoonful in a day, into them, by drops on the moss; and
if there be added to the cream an egg beaten and boiled in it, then it will
both fatten and preserve them long. And note, that when the knot,
which is near to the middle of the brandling, begins to swell, then he is
sick; and, if he be not well looked to, is near dying. And for moss, you
are to note, that there be divers kinds of it, which I could name to you,
but I will only tell you that that which is likest a buck's-horn is the best,
except it be soft white moss, which grows on some heaths, and is hard
to be found. And note, that in a very dry time, when you are put to an
extremity for worms, walnut-tree leaves squeezed into water, or salt in
water, to make it bitter or salt, and then that water poured on the ground
where you shall see worms are used to rise in the night, will make them
to appear above ground presently. And you may take notice, some say
that camphire put into your bag with your moss and worms gives them
a strong and so tempting a smell, that the fish fare the worse and you
the better for it.
And now, I shall shew you how to bait your hook with a worm so as
shall prevent you from much trouble, and the loss of many a hook, too,
when you fish for a Trout with a running line; that is to say, when you
fish for him by hand at the ground. I will direct you in this as plainly as
I can, that you may not mistake.
Suppose it be a big lob-worm: put your hook into him somewhat above
the middle, and out again a little below the middle: having so done,
draw your worm above the arming of your hook; but note, that, at the
entering of your hook, it must not be at the head-end of the worm, but
at the tail-end of him, that the point of your hook may come out toward
the head-end; and, having drawn him above the arming of your hook,
then put the point of your hook again into the very head of the worm,
till it come near to the place where the point of the hook first came out,
and then draw back that part of the worm that was above the shank or
arming of your hook, and so fish with it. And if you mean to fish with
two worms, then put the second on before you turn back the hook's-
head of the first worm. You cannot lose above two or three worms
before you attain to what I direct you; and having attained it, you will
find it very useful, and thank me for it: for you will run on the ground
without tangling.
Now for the Minnow or Penk: he is not easily found and caught till
March, or in April, for then he appears first in the river; nature having
taught him to shelter and hide himself, in the winter, in ditches that be
near to the river; and there both to hide, and keep himself warm, in the
mud, or in the weeds, which rot not so soon as in a running river, in
which place if he were in winter, the distempered floods that are
usually in that season would suffer him to take no rest, but carry him
headlong to mills and weirs, to his confusion. And of these Minnows:
first, you are to know, that the biggest size is not the best; and next, that
the middle size and the whitest are the best; and then you are to know,
that your minnow must be so put on your hook, that it must turn round
when 'tis drawn against the stream; and, that it may turn nimbly, you
must put it on a big-sized hook, as I shall now direct you, which is thus:
Put your hook in at his mouth, and out at his gill; then, having drawn
your hook two or three inches beyond or through his gill, put it again
into his mouth, and the point and beard out at his tail; and then tie the
hook and his tail about, very neatly, with a white thread, which will
make it the apter to turn quick in the water; that done, pull back that
part of your line which was slack when you did put your hook into the
minnow the second time; I say, pull that part of your line back, so that it
shall fasten the head, so that the body of the minnow shall be almost
straight on your hook: this done, try how it will turn, by drawing it
across the water or against a stream; and if it do not turn nimbly, then
turn the tail a little to the right or left hand, and try again, till it turn
quick; for if not, you are in danger to catch nothing: for know, that it is
impossible that it should turn too quick. And you are yet to know, that
in case you want a minnow, then a small loach, or a stickle-bag, or any
other small fish that will turn quick, will serve as well. And you are yet
to know that you may salt them, and by that means keep them ready and
fit for use three or four days, or longer; and that, of salt, bay-salt is the
best.
And here let me tell you, what many old anglers know right well, that at
some times, and in some waters, a minnow is not to be got; and
therefore, let me tell you, I have, which I will shew to you, an artificial
minnow, that will catch a Trout as well as an artificial fly: and it was
made by a handsome woman that had a fine hand, and a live minnow
lying by her: the mould or body of the minnow was cloth, and wrought
upon, or over it, thus, with a needle; the back of it with very sad French
green silk, and paler green silk towards the belly, shadowed as perfectly
as you can imagine, just as you see a minnow: the belly was wrought
also with a needle, and it was, a part of it, white silk; and another part
of it with silver thread: the tail and fins were of a quill, which was
shaven thin: the eyes were of two little black beads: and the head was
so shadowed, and all of it so curiously wrought, and so exactly
dissembled, that it would beguile any sharp-sighted Trout in a swift
stream. And this minnow I will now shew you; look, here it is, and, if
you like it, lend it you, to have two or three made by it; for they be
easily carried about an angler, and be of excellent use: for note, that a
large Trout will come as fiercely at a minnow as the highest-mettled
hawk doth seize on a partridge, or a greyhound on a hare. I have been
told that one hundred and sixty minnows have been found in a Trout's
belly: either the Trout had devoured so many, or the miller that gave it a
friend of mine had forced them down his throat after he had taken him.
Now for Flies; which is the third bait wherewith Trouts are usually
taken. You are to know, that there are so many sorts of flies as there be
of fruits: I will name you but some of them; as the dun-fly, the stone-
fly, the red-fly, the moor-fly, the tawny-fly, the shell-fly, the cloudy or
blackish-fly, the flag-fly, the vine-fly; there be of flies, caterpillars, and
canker-flies, and bear-flies; and indeed too many either for me to name,
or for you to remember. And their breeding is so various and
wonderful, that I might easily amaze myself, and tire you in a relation
of them.
And, yet, I will exercise your promised patience by saying a little of the
caterpillar, or the palmer-fly or worm; that by them you may guess what
a work it were, in a discourse, but to run over those very many flies,
worms, and little living creatures, with which the sun and summer
adorn and beautify the river-banks and meadows, both for the
recreation and contemplation of us anglers; pleasures which, I think,
myself enjoy more than any other man that is not of my profession.
Pliny holds an opinion, that many have their birth, or being, from a dew
that in the spring falls upon the leaves of trees; and that some kinds of
them are from a dew left upon herbs or flowers; and others from a dew
left upon coleworts or cabbages: all which kinds of dews being
thickened and condensed, are by the sun's generative heat, most of
them, hatched, and in three days made living creatures. and these of
several shapes and colours; some being hard and tough, some smooth
and soft; some are horned in their head, some in their tail, some have
none; some have hair, some none: some have sixteen feet, some less,
and some have none: but, as our Topsel hath with great diligence
observed, those which have none, move upon the earth, or upon broad
leaves, their motion being not unlike to the waves of the sea. Some of
them he also observes to be bred of the eggs of other caterpillars, and
that those in their time turn to be butterflies; and again, that their eggs
turn the following year to be caterpillars And some affirm, that every
plant has its particular fly or caterpillar, which it breeds and feeds. I
have seen, and may therefore affirm it, a green caterpillar, or worm, as
big as a small peascod, which had fourteen legs; eight on the belly, four
under the neck, and two near the tail. It was found on a hedge of privet;
and was taken thence, and put into a large box, and a little branch or
two of privet put to it, on which I saw it feed as sharply as a dog gnaws
a bone: it lived thus, five or six days, and thrived, and changed the
colour two or three times but by some neglect in the keeper of it, it then
died and did not turn to a fly: but if it had lived, it had doubtless turned
to one of those flies that some call Flies of prey, which those that walk
by the rivers may, in summer, see fasten on smaller flies, and, I think,
make them their food. And 'tis observable, that as there be these flies of
prey, which be very large; so there be others, very little, created, I think,
only to feed them, and breed out of I know not what; whose life, they
say, nature intended not to exceed an hour; and yet that life is thus
made shorter by other flies, or accident.
'Tis endless to tell you what the curious searchers into nature's
productions have observed of these worms and flies: but yet I shall tell
you what Aldrovandus, our Topsel, and others, say of the Palmer-worm,
or Caterpillar: that whereas others content themselves to feed on
particular herbs or leaves; for most think, those very leaves that gave
them life and shape, give them a particular feeding and nourishment,
and that upon them they usually abide; yet he observes, that this is
called a pilgrim, or palmer-worm, for his very wandering life, and
various food; not contenting himself, as others do, with any one certain
place for his abode, nor any certain kind of herb or flower for his
feeding, but will boldly and disorderly wander up and down, and not
endure to be kept to a diet, or fixt to a particular place.
Nay, the very colours of caterpillars are, as one has observed, very
elegant and beautiful I shall, for a taste of the rest, describe one of
them; which I will, some time the next month, shew you feeding on a
willow-tree; and you shall find him punctually to answer this very
description: his lips and mouth somewhat yellow; his eyes black as jet;
his forehead purple; his feet and hinder parts green; his tail two-forked
and black; the whole body stained with a kind of red spots, which run
along the neck and shoulder-blade, not unlike the form of St. Andrew's
cross, or the letter X, made thus crosswise, and a white line drawn
down his back to his tail; all which add much beauty to his whole body.
And it is to me observable, that at a fixed age this caterpillar gives over
to eat, and towards winter comes to be covered over with a strange shell
or crust, called an aurelia; and so lives a kind of dead life, without
eating all the winter. And as others of several kinds turn to be several
kinds of flies and vermin, the Spring following; so this caterpillar then
turns to be a painted butterfly.
Come, come, my scholar, you see the river stops our morning walk: and
I will also here stop my discourse: only as we sit down under this
honeysuckle hedge, whilst I look a line to fit the rod that our brother
Peter hath lent you, I shall, for a little confirmation of what I have said,
repeat the observation of Du Bartas:
God, not contented to each kind to give
And to infuse the virtue generative,
Made, by his wisdom, many creatures breed
Of lifeless bodies. without Venus' deed.
So, the cold humour breeds the Salamander,
Who, in effect, like to her birth's commander,
With child with hundred winters, with her touch
Quencheth the fire, tho'glowing ne'er so much.
So of the fire, in burning furnace, springs
The fly Pyrausta with the flaming wings:
Without the fire, it dies: within it joys,
Living in that which each shine else destroys.
So, slow Boôtes underneath him sees
In th' icy isles those goslings hatch'd of trees;
Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the water,
Are turn'd, they say, to living fowls soon after.
So, rotten sides of broken ships do change
To barnacles. O transformation strange!
'Twas first a green tree; then, a gallant hull;
Lately a mushroom; now, a flying gull.
Venator. O my good master, this morning-walk has been spent to my
great pleasure and wonder: but, I pray, when shall I have your direction
how to make artificial flies, like to those that the Trout loves best; and,
also, how to use them ?
Piscator. My honest scholar, it is now past five of the clock: we will
fish till nine; and then go to breakfast. Go you to yonder sycamore-tree,
and hide your bottle of drink under the hollow root of it; for about that
time, and in that place, we will make a brave breakfast with a piece of
powdered beef, and a radish or two, that I have in my fish bag: we shall,
I warrant you, make a good, honest, wholesome hungry breakfast. And I
will then give you direction for the making and using of your flies: and
in the meantime, there is your rod and line; and my advice is, that you
fish as you see me do, and let's try which can catch the first fish.
Venator. I thank you, master. I will observe and practice your direction
as far as I am able.
Piscator. Look you, scholar; you see I have hold of a good fish: I now
see it is a Trout.
I pray, put that net under him; and touch not my line, for if you do, then
we break all. Well done, scholar: I thank you.
Now for another. Trust me, I have another bite. Come, scholar, come
lay down your rod, and help me to land this as you did the other. So
now we shall be sure to have a good dish of fish for supper.
Venator. I am glad of that: but I have no fortune: sure, master, yours is a
better rod and better tackling.
Piscator. Nay, then, take mine; and I will fish with yours. Look you,
scholar, I have another. Come, do as you did before. And now I have a
bite at another. Oh me! he has broke all: there's half a line and a good
hook lost.
Venator. Ay, and a good Trout too.
Piscator. Nay, the Trout is not lost; for pray take notice, no man can
lose what he never had.
Venator. Master, I can neither catch with the first nor second angle: I
have no fortune.
Piscator. Look you, scholar, I have yet another. And now, having caught
three brace of Trouts, I will tell you a short tale as we walk towards our
breakfast. A scholar, a preacher I should say, that was to preach to
procure the approbation of a parish that he might be their lecturer, had
got from his fellow-pupil the copy of a sermon that was first preached
with great commendation by him that composed it: and though the
borrower of it preached it, word for word, as it was at first, yet it was
utterly disliked as it was preached by the second to his congregation,
which the sermon-borrower complained of to the lender of it: and was
thus answered: " I lent you, indeed, my fiddle, but not my fiddle-stick;
for you are to know, that every one cannot make musick with my
words, which are fitted for my own mouth". And so, my scholar, you
are to know, that as the ill pronunciation or ill accenting of words in a
sermon spoils it, so the ill carriage of your line, or not fishing even to a
foot in a right place, makes you lose your labour: and you are to know,
that though you have my fiddle, that is, my very rod and tacklings with
which you see I catch fish, yet you have not my fiddle-stick, that is, you
yet have not skill to know how to carry your hand and line, nor how to
guide it to a right place: and this must be taught you; for you are to
remember, I told you Angling is an art, either by practice or a long
observation, or both. But take this for a rule, When you fish for a Trout
with a worm, let your line have so much, and not more lead than will fit
the stream in which you fish; that is to say, more in a great troublesome
stream than in a smaller that is quieter; as near as may be, so much as
will sink the bait to the bottom, and keep it still in motion, and not
more.
But now, let's say grace, and fall to breakfast. What say you, scholar, to
the providence of an old angler ? Does not this meat taste well? and
was not this place well chosen to eat it? for this sycamore-tree will
shade us from the sun's heat.
Venator. All excellent good; and my stomach excellent good, too. And
now I remember, and find that true which devout Lessius says, " that
poor men, and those that fast often, have much more pleasure in eating
than rich men, and gluttons, that always feed before their stomachs are
empty of their last meat and call for more; for by that means they rob
themselves of that pleasure that hunger brings to poor men". And I do
seriously approve of that saying of yours, " that you had rather be a
civil, well-governed, well-grounded, temperate, poor angler, than a
drunken lord ": but I hope there is none such. However, I am certain of
this, that I have been at many very costly dinners that have not afforded
me half the content that this has done; for which I thank God and you.
And now, good master, proceed to your promised direction for making
and ordering my artificial fly.
Piscator. My honest scholar, I will do it; for it is a debt due unto you by
my promise. And because you shall not think yourself more engaged to
me than indeed you really are, I will freely give you such directions as
were lately given to me by an ingenious brother of the angle, an honest
man, and a most excellent fly-fisher.
You are to note, that there are twelve kinds of artificial made Flies, to
angle with upon the top of the water. Note, by the way, that the fittest
season of using these is in a blustering windy day, when the waters are
so troubled that the natural fly cannot be seen, or rest upon them. The
first is the dun-fly, in March: the body is made of dun wool; the wings,
of the partridge's feathers. The second is another dun-fly: the body, of
black wool; and the wings made of the black drake's feathers, and of the
feathers under his tail. The third is the stone-fly, in April: the body is
made of black wool; made yellow under the wings and under the tail,
and so made with wings of the drake. The fourth is the ruddy-fly, in the
beginning of May: the body made of red wool, wrapt about with black
silk; and the feathers are the wings of the drake; with the feathers of a
red capon also, which hang dangling on his sides next to the tail. The
fifth is the yellow or greenish fly, in May likewise: the body made of
yellow wool; and the wings made of the red cock's hackle or tail. The
sixth is the black-fly, in May also: the body made of black wool, and
lapt about with the herle of a peacock's tail: the wings are made of the
wings of a brown capon, with his blue feathers in his head. The seventh
is the sad yellow-fly in June: the body is made of black wool, with a
yellow list on either side; and the wings taken off the wings of a
buzzard, bound with black braked hemp. The eighth is the moorish-fly;
made, with the body, of duskish wool; and the wings made of the
blackish mail of the drake. The ninth is the t-fly-fly, good until the
middle of June: the body made of tawny wool; the wings made contrary
one against the other, made of the whitish mail of the wild drake. The
tenth is the wasp-fly in July; the body made of black wool, lapt about
with yellow silk; the wings made of the feathers of the drake, or of the
buzzard. The eleventh is the shell-fly, good in mid-July: the body made
of greenish wool, lapt about with the herle of a peacock's tail: and the
wings made of the wings of the buzzard. The twelfth is the dark drake-
fly, good in August: the body made with black wool, lapt about with
black silk; his wings are made with the mail of the black drake, with a
black head. Thus have you a jury of flies, likely to betray and condemn
all the Trouts in the river.
I shall next give you some other directions for fly-fishing, such as are
given by Mr. Thomas Barker, a gentleman that hath spent much time in
fishing: but I shall do it with a little variation.
First, let your rod be light, and very gentle: I take the best to be of two
pieces. And let not your line exceed, especially for three or four links
next to the hook, I say, not exceed three or four hairs at the most;
though you may fish a little stronger above, in the upper part of your
line: but if you can attain to angle with one hair, you shall have more
rises, and catch more fish. Now you must be sure not to cumber
yourself with too long a line, as most do. And before you begin to
angle, cast to have the wind on your back; and the sun, if it shines, to be
before you; and to fish down the stream; and carry the point or top of
your rod downward, by which means the shadow of yourself and rod
too, will be the least offensive to the fish, for the sight of any shade
amazes the fish, and spoils your sport, of which you must take great
care.
In the middle of March, till which time a man should not in honesty
catch a Trout; or in April, it the weather be dark, or a little windy or
cloudy; the best fishing is with the palmer-worm, of which I last spoke
to you; but of these there be divers kinds, or at least of divers colours:
these and the May-fly are the ground of all fly-angling: which are to be
thus made:
First, you must arm your hook with the line, in the inside of it: then take
your scissors, and cut so much of a brown mallard's feather as, in your
own reason, will make the wings of it, you having, withal, regard to the
bigness or littleness of your hook; then lay the outmost part of your
feather next to your hook; then the point of your feather next the shank
of your hook, and, having so done, whip it three or four times about the
hook with the same silk with which your hook was armed; and having
made the silk fast, take the hackle of a cock or capon's neck, or a
plover's top, which is usually better: take off the one side of the feather,
and then take the hackle, silk or crewel, gold or silver thread; make
these fast at the bent of the hook, that is to say, below your arming; then
you must take the hackle, the silver or gold thread, and work it up to the
wings, shifting or still removing your finger as you turn the silk about
the hook, and still looking, at every stop or turn, that your gold, or what
materials soever you make your fly of, do lie right and neatly; and if
you find they do so, then when you have made the head, make all fast:
and then work your hackle up to the head, and make that fast: and then,
with a needle, or pin, divide the wing into two; and then, with the
arming silk, whip it about cross-ways betwixt the wings: and then with
your thumb you must turn the point of the feather towards the bent of
the hook; and then work three or four times about the shank of the
hook; and then view the proportion; and if all be neat, and to your
liking, fasten.
I confess, no direction can be given to make a man of a dull capacity
able to make a fly well: and yet I know this, with a little practice, will
help an ingenious angler in a good degree. But to see a fly made by an
artist in that kind, is the best teaching to make it. And, then, an
ingenious angler may walk by the river, and mark what flies fall on the
water that day; and catch one of them, if he sees the Trouts leap at a fly
of that kind: and then having always hooks ready-hung with him, and
having a bag always with him, with bear's hair, or the hair of a brown or
sad-coloured heifer, hackles of a cock or capon, several coloured silk
and crewel to make the body of the fly, the feathers of a drake's head,
black or brown sheep's wool, or hog's wool, or hair, thread of gold and
of silver; silk of several colours, especially sad-coloured, to make the
fly's head: and there be also other coloured feathers, both of little birds
and of speckled fowl: I say, having those with him in a bag, and trying
to make a fly, though he miss at first, yet shall he at last hit it better,
even to such a perfection as none can well teach him And if he hit to
make his fly right, and have the luck to hit, also, where there is store of
Trouts, a dark day, and a right wind, he will catch such store of them, as
will encourage him to grow more and more in love with the art of fly-
making.
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