The Complete Angler
I >>
Izaak Walton >> The Complete Angler
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 | 8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14
The fourth day - continued
The Umber or Grayling
Chapter VI
Piscator
The Umber and Grayling are thought by some to differ as the Herring
and Pilchard do. But though they may do so in other nations, I think
those in England differ nothing but in their names. Aldrovandus says,
they be of a Trout kind; and Gesner says, that in his country, which is
Switzerland, he is accounted the choicest of all fish. And in Italy, he is,
in the month of May, so highly valued, that he is sold there at a much
higher rate than any other fish. The French, which call the Chub Un
Villain, call the Umber of the lake Leman Un Umble Chevalier; and
they value the Umber or Grayling so highly, that they say he feeds on
gold; and say, that many have been
caught out of their famous river of Loire, out of whose bellies grains of
gold have been often taken. And some think that he feeds on water
thyme, and smells of it at his first taking out of the water; and they may
think so with as good reason as we do that our Smelts smell like violets
at their being first caught, which I think is a truth. Aldrovandus says,
the Salmon, the Grayling, and Trout, and all fish that live in clear and
sharp streams, are made by their mother Nature of such exact shape and
pleasant colours purposely to invite us to a joy and contentedness in
feasting with her. Whether this is a truth or not, is not my purpose to
dispute: but 'tis certain, all that write of the Umber declare him to be
very medicinable. And Gesner says, that the fat of an Umber or
Grayling, being set, with a little honey, a day or two in the sun, in a
little glass, is very excellent against redness or swarthiness, or anything
that breeds in the eyes. Salvian takes him to be called Umber from his
swift swimming, or gliding out of sight more like a shadow or a ghost
than a fish. Much more might be said both of his smell and taste: but I
shall only tell you that St. Ambrose, the glorious bishop of Milan, who
lived when the church kept fasting-days, calls him the flower-fish, or
flower of fishes; and that he was so far in love with him, that he would
not let him pass without the honour of a long discourse; but I must; and
pass on to tell you how to take this dainty fish.
First note, that he grows not to the bigness of a Trout; for the biggest of
them do not usually exceed eighteen inches. He lives in such rivers as
the Trout does; and is usually taken with the same baits as the Trout is,
and after the same manner; for he will bite both at the minnow, or
worm, or fly, though he bites not often at the minnow, and is very
gamesome at the fly; and much simpler, and therefore bolder than a
Trout; for he will rise twenty times at a fly, if you miss him, and yet rise
again. He has been taken with a fly made of the red feathers of a
paroquet, a strange outlandish bird; and he will rise at a fly not unlike a
gnat, or a small moth, or, indeed, at most flies that are not too big. He is
a fish that lurks close all Winter, but is very pleasant and jolly after
mid-April, and in May, and in the hot months. He is of a very fine
shape, his flesh is white, his teeth, those little ones that he has, are in
his throat, yet he has so tender a mouth, that he is oftener lost after an
angler has hooked him than any other fish. Though there be many of
these fishes in the delicate river Dove, and in Trent, and some other
smaller rivers, as that which runs by Salisbury, yet he is not so general a
fish as the Trout, nor to me so good to eat or to angle for. And so I shall
take my leave of him: and now come to some observations of the
Salmon, and how to catch him.
The fourth day - continued
The Salmon
Chapter VII
Piscator
The Salmon is accounted the King of freshwater fish; and is ever bred
in rivers relating to the sea, yet so high. or far from it, as admits of no
tincture of salt, or brackishness. He is said to breed or cast his spawn, in
most rivers, in the month of August: some say, that then they dig a hole
or grave in a safe place in the gravel, and there place their eggs or
spawn, after the melter has done his natural office, and then hide it
most cunningly, and cover it over with gravel and stones; and then
leave it to their Creator's protection, who, by a gentle heat which he
infuses into that cold element, makes it brood, and beget life in the
spawn, and to become Samlets early in the spring next following.
The Salmons having spent their appointed time, and done this natural
duty in the fresh waters, they then haste to the sea before winter, both
the melter and spawner; but if they be stops by flood-gates or weirs, or
lost in the fresh waters, then those so left behind by degrees grow sick
and lean, and unseasonable, and kipper, that is to say, have bony
gristles grow out of their lower chaps, not unlike a hawk's beak, which
hinders their feeding; and, in time, such fish so left behind pine away
and die. 'Tis observed, that he may live thus one year from the sea; but
he then grows insipid and tasteless, and loses both his blood and
strength, and pines and dies the second year. And 'tis noted, that those
little Salmons called Skeggers, which abound in many rivers relating to
the sea, are bred by such sick Salmons that might not go to the sea, and
that though they abound, yet they never thrive to any considerable
bigness.
But if the old Salmon gets to the sea, then that gristle which shews him
to be kipper, wears away, or is cast off, as the eagle is said to cast his
bill, and he recovers his strength, and comes next summer to the same
river, if it be possible, to enjoy the former pleasures that there possess
him; for, as one has wittily observed, he has, like some persons of
honour and riches which have both their winter and summer houses, the
fresh rivers for summer, and the salt water for winter, to spend his life
in; which is not, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed in his History of
Life and Death, above ten years. And it is to be observed, that though
the Salmon does grow big in the sea, yet he grows not fat but in fresh
rivers; and it is observed, that the farther they get from the sea, they be
both the fatter and better.
Next, I shall tell you, that though they make very hard shift to get out of
the fresh rivers into the sea yet they will make harder shift to get out of
the salt into the fresh rivers, to spawn, or possess the pleasures that they
have formerly found in them: to which end, they will force themselves
through floodgates, or over weirs, or hedges, or stops in the water, even
to a height beyond common belief. Gesner speaks of such places as are
known to be above eight feet high above water. And our Camden
mentions, in his Britannia, the like wonder to be in Pembrokeshire,
where the river Tivy falls into the sea; and that the fall is so downright,
and so high, that the people stand and wonder at the strength and sleight
by which they see the Salmon use to get out of the sea into the said
river; and the manner and height of the place is so notable, that it is
known, far, by the name of the Salmon-leap. Concerning which, take
this also out of Michael Drayton, my honest old friend; as he tells it
you, in his Polyolbion:
And when the Salmon seeks a fresher stream to find;
(Which hither from the sea comes, yearly, by his kind,)
As he towards season grows; and stems the watry tract
Where Tivy, falling down, makes an high cataract,
Forc'd by the rising rocks that there her course oppose,
As tho' within her bounds they meant her to inclose;
Here when the labouring fish does at the foot arrive,
And finds that by his strength he does but vainly strive;
His tail takes in his mouth, and, bending like a bow
That's to full compass drawn, aloft himself doth throw,
Then springing at his height, as doth a little wand
That bended end to end, and started from man's hand,
Far off itself doth cast, so does that Salmon vault;
And if, at first, he fail, his second summersault
He instantly essays, and, from his nimble ring
Still yerking, never leaves until himself he fling
Above the opposing stream.
This Michael Drayton tells you, of this leap or summersault of the
Salmon.
And, next, I shall tell you, that it is observed by Gesner and others, that
there is no better Salmon than in England; and that though some of our
northern counties have as fat, and as large, as the river Thames, yet
none are of so excellent a taste.
And as I have told you that Sir Francis Bacon observes, the age of a
Salmon exceeds not ten years; so let me next tell you, that his growth is
very sudden: it is said that after he is got into the sea, he becomes, from
a Samlet not so big as a Gudgeon, to be a Salmon, in as short a time as
a gosling becomes to be a goose. Much of this has been observed, by
tying a riband, or some known tape or thread, in the tail of some young
Salmons which have been taken in weirs as they have swimmed
towards the salt water; and then by taking a part of them again, with the
known mark, at the same place, at their return from the sea, which is
usually about six months after; and the like experiment hath been tried
upon young swallows, who have, after six months' absence, been
observed to return to the same chimney, there to make their nests and
habitations for the summer following; which has inclined many to
think, that every Salmon usually returns to the same river in which it
was bred, as young pigeons taken out of the same dovecote have also
been observed to do.
And you are yet to observe further, that the He-salmon is usually bigger
than the Spawner; and that he is more kipper, and less able to endure a
winter in the fresh water than the She is: yet she is, at that time of
looking less kipper and better, as watry, and as bad meat.
And yet you are to observe, that as there is no general rule without an
exception, so there are some few rivers in this nation that have Trouts
and Salmon in season in winter, as 'tis certain there be in the river Wye
in Monmouthshire, where they be in season, as Camden observes, from
September till April. But, my scholar, the observation of this and many
other things I must in manners omit, because they will prove too large
for our narrow compass of time, and, therefore, T shall next fall upon
my directions how to fish for this Salmon.
And, for that: First you shall observe, that usually he stays not long in a
place, as Trouts will, but, as I said, covets still to go nearer the spring-
head: and that he does not, as the Trout and many other fish, lie near
the water-side or bank, or roots of trees, but swims in the deep and
broad parts of the water, and usually in the middle, and near the ground,
and that there you are to fish for him, and that he is to be caught, as the
Trout is, with a worm, a minnow which some call a peek, or with a fly.
And you are to observe, that he is very seldom observed to bite at a
minnow, yet sometimes he will, and not usually at a fly, but more
usually at a worm, and then most usually at a lob or garden-worm,
which should be well scoured, that is to say, kept seven or eight days in
moss before you fish with them: and if you double your time of eight
into sixteen, twenty, or more days, it is still the better; for the worms
will still be clearer, tougher, and more lively, and continue so longer
upon your hook. And they may be kept longer by keeping them cool,
and in fresh moss; and some advise to put camphire into it.
Note also, that many used to fish for a Salmon with a ring of wire on
the top of their rod, through which the line may run to as great a length
as is needful, when he is hooked. And to that end, some use a wheel
about the middle of their rod, or near their hand, which is to be
observed better by seeing one of them than by a large demonstration of
words.
And now I shall tell you that which may be called a secret. I have been
a-fishing with old Oliver Henly, now with God, a noted fisher both for
Trout and Salmon; and have observed, that he would usually take three
or four worms out of his bag, and put them into a little box in his
pocket, where he would usually let them continue half an hour or more.
before he would bait his hook with them. I have asked him his reason,
and he has replied, " He did but pick the best out to be in readiness
against he baited his hook the next time ": but he has been observed,
both by others and myself, to catch more fish than I, or any other body
that has ever gone a-fishing with him, could do, and especially
Salmons. And I have been told lately, by one of his most intimate and
secret friends, that the box in which he put those worms was anointed
with a drop, or two or three, of the oil of ivy-berries, made by
expression or infusion; and told, that by the worms remaining in that
box an hour, or a like time, they had incorporated a kind of smell that
was irresistibly attractive, enough to force any fish within the smell of
them to bite. This I heard not long since from a friend, but have not
tried it; yet I grant it probable, and refer my reader to Sir Francis
Bacon's Natural history, where he proves fishes may hear, and,
doubtless, can more probably smell: and I am certain Gesner says, the
Otter can smell in the water; and I know not but that fish may do so too.
'Tis left for a lover of angling, or any that desires to improve that art, to
try this conclusion.
I shall also impart two other experiments, but not tried by myself,
which I will deliver in the same words that they were given me by an
excellent angler and a very friend, in writing: he told me the latter was
too good to be told, but in a learned language, lest it should be made
common.
"Take the stinking oil drawn out of polypody of the oak by a retort,
mixed with turpentine and hive-honey, and anoint your bait therewith,
and it will doubtless draw the fish to it." The other is this: " Vulnera
hederae grandissimae inflicta sudant balsamum oleo gelato,
albicantique persimile, odoris vero longe suavissimi". "'Tis supremely
sweet to any fish, and yet assa foetida may do the like."
But in these I have no great faith; yet grant it probable; and have had
from some chymical men, namely, from Sir George Hastings and
others, an affirmation of them to be very advantageous. But no more of
these; especially not in this place.
I might here, before I take my leave of the Salmon, tell you, that there is
more than one sort of them, as namely, a Tecon, and another called in
some places a Samlet, or by some a Skegger; but these, and others
which I forbear to name, may be fish of another kind, and differ as we
know a Herring and a Pilchard do, which, I think, are as different as the
rivers in which they breed, and must, by me, be left to the disquisitions
of men of more leisure, and of greater abilities than I profess myself to
have.
And lastly, I am to borrow so much of your promised patience, as to tell
you, that the trout, or Salmon, being in season, have, at their first taking
out of the water, which continues during life, their bodies adorned, the
one with such red spots, and the other with such black or blackish
spots, as give them such an addition of natural beauty as, I think, was
never given to any woman by the artificial paint or patches in which
they so much pride themselves in this age. And so I shall leave them
both; and proceed to some observations of the Pike.
The fourth day - continued
On the Luce or Pike
Chapter VIII
Piscator and Venator
Piscator. The mighty Luce or Pike is taken to be the tyrant, as the
Salmon is the king, of the fresh water. 'Tis not to be doubted, but that
they are bred, some by generation, and some not; as namely, of a weed
called pickerel-weed, unless learned Gesner be much mistaken, for he
says, this weed and other glutinous matter, with the help of the sun's
heat, in some particular months, and some ponds, apted for it by nature,
do become Pikes. But, doubtless, divers Pikes are bred after this
manner, or are brought into some ponds some such Other ways as is
past man's finding out, of which we have daily testimonies.
Sir Francis Bacon, in his History of Life and Death, observes the Pike to
be the longest lived of any fresh-water fish; and yet he computes it to be
not usually above forty years; and others think it to be not above ten
years: and yet Gesner mentions a Pike taken in Swedeland, in the year
1449, with a ring about his neck, declaring he was put into that pond by
Frederick the Second, more than two hundred years before he was last
taken, as by the inscription in that ring, being Greek, was interpreted by
the then Bishop of Worms. But of this no more; but that it is observed,
that the old or very great Pikes have in them more of state than
goodness; the smaller or middle-sized Pikes being, by the most and
choicest palates, observed to be the best meat: and, contrary, the Eel is
observed to be the better for age and bigness.
All Pikes that live long prove chargeable to their keepers, because their
life is maintained by the death of so many other fish, even those of their
own kind, which has made him by some writers to be called the tyrant
of the rivers, or the fresh-water wolf, by reason of his bold, greedy,
devouring, disposition; which is so keen, as Gesner relates, A man
going to a pond, where it seems a Pike had devoured all the fish, to
water his mule, had a Pike bit his mule by the lips; to which the Pike
hung so fast, that the mule drew him out of the water; and by that
accident, the owner of the mule angled out the Pike. And the same
Gesner observes, that a maid in Poland had a Pike bit her by the foot, as
she was washing clothes in a pond. And I have heard the like of a
woman in Killingworth pond, not far from Coventry. But I have been
assured by my friend Mr. Segrave, of whom I spake to you formerly,
that keeps tame Otters, that he hath known a Pike, in extreme hunger,
fight with one of his Otters for a Carp that the Otter had caught, and
was then bringing out of the water. I have told you who relate these
things; and tell you they are persons of credit; and shall conclude this
observation, by telling you, what a wise man has observed, " It is a hard
thing to persuade the belly, because it has no ears ".
But if these relations be disbelieved, it is too evident to be doubted, that
a Pike will devour a fish of his own kind that shall be bigger than his
belly or throat will receive, and swallow a part of him, and let the other
part remain in his mouth till the swallowed part be digested, and then
swallow that other part that was in his mouth, and so put it over by
degrees; which is not unlike the Ox, and some other beasts taking their
meat, not out of their mouth immediately into their belly, but first into
some place betwixt, and then chew it, or digest it by degrees after,
which is called chewing the cud. And, doubtless, Pikes will bite when
they are not hungry; but, as some think, even for very anger, when a
tempting bait comes near to them.
And it is observed, that the Pike will eat venomous things, as some kind
of frogs are, and yet live without being harmed by them; for, as some
say, he has in him a natural balsam, or antidote against all poison. And
he has a strange heat, that though it appear to us to be cold, can yet
digest or put over any fish-flesh, by degrees, without being sick. And
others observe, that he never eats the venomous frog till he have first
killed her, and then as ducks are observed to do to frogs in spawning-
time, at which time some frogs are observed to be venomous, so
thoroughly washed her, by tumbling her up and down in the water, that
he may devour her without danger. And Gesner affirms, that a Polonian
gentleman did faithfully assure him, he had seen two young geese at
one time in the belly of a Pike. And doubtless a Pike in his height of
hunger will bite at and devour a dog that swims in a pond; and there
have been examples of it, or the like; for as I told you, " The belly has
no ears when hunger comes upon it "
The Pike is also observed to be a solitary, melancholy, and a bold fish;
melancholy, because he always swims or rests himself alone, and never
swims in shoals or with company, as Roach and Dace, and most other
fish do: and bold, because he fears not a shadow, or to see or be seen of
anybody, as the Trout and Chub, and all other fish do.
And it is observed by Gesner, that the jaw-bones, and hearts, and galls
of Pikes, are very medicinable for several diseases, or to stop blood, to
abate fevers, to cure agues, to oppose or expel the infection of the
plague, and to be many ways medicinable and useful for the good of
mankind: but he observes, that the biting of a Pike is venomous, and
hard to be cured.
And it is observed, that the Pike is a fish that breeds but once a year;
and that other fish, as namely Loaches, do breed oftener: as we are
certain tame Pigeons do almost every month; and yet the Hawk, a bird
of prey, as the Pike is a fish, breeds but once in twelve months. And you
are to note, that his time of breeding, or spawning, is usually about the
end of February, or, somewhat later, in March, as the weather proves
colder or warmer: and to note, that his manner of breeding is thus: a he
and a she Pike will usually go together out of a river into some ditch or
creek; and that there the spawner casts her eggs, and the melter hovers
over her all that time that she is casting her spawn, but touches her not.
I might say more of this, but it might be thought curiosity or worse, and
shall therefore forbear it; and take up so much of your attention as to
tell you that the best of Pikes are noted to be in rivers; next, those in
great ponds or meres; and the worst, in small ponds.
But before I proceed further, I am to tell you, that there is a great
antipathy betwixt the Pike and some frogs: and this may appear to the
reader of Dubravius, a bishop in Bohemia, who, in his book Of Fish and
Fish-ponds, relates what he says he saw with his own eyes, and could
not forbear to tell the reader. Which was:
"As he and the bishop Thurzo were walking by a large pond in
Bohemia, they saw a frog, when the Pike lay very sleepily and quiet by
the shore side, leap upon his head; and the frog having expressed
malice or anger by his sworn cheeks and staring eyes, did stretch out his
legs and embrace the Pike's head, and presently reached them to his
eyes, tearing with them, and his teeth, those tender parts: the Pike,
moved with anguish, moves up and down the water, and rubs himself
against weeds, and whatever he thought might quit him of his enemy;
but all in vain, for the frog did continue to ride triumphantly, and to bite
and torment the Pike till his strength failed; and then the frog sunk with
the Pike to the bottom of the water: then presently the frog appeared
again at the top, and croaked, and seemed to rejoice like a conqueror,
after which he presently retired to his secret hole. The bishop, that had
beheld the battle, called his fisherman to fetch his nets, and by all
means to get the Pike that they might declare what had happened: and
the Pike was drawn forth, and both his eyes eaten out; at which when
they began to wonder, the fisherman wished them to forbear, and
assured them he was certain that Pikes were often so served."
I told this, which is to be read in the sixth chapter of the book of
Dubravius, unto a friend, who replied, " It was as improbable as to have
the mouse scratch out the cat's eyes". But he did not consider, that there
be Fishing frogs, which the Dalmatians call the Water-devil, of which I
might tell you as wonderful a story: but I shall tell you that 'tis not to be
doubted but that there be some frogs so fearful of the water-snake, that
when they swim in a place in which they fear to meet with him they
then get a reed across into their mouths; which if they two meet by
accident, secures the frog from the strength and malice of the snake;
and note, that the frog usually swims the fastest of the two.
And let me tell you, that as there be water and land frogs, so there be
land and water snakes. Concerning which take this observation, that the
land-snake breeds and hatches her eggs, which become young snakes,
in some old dunghill, or a like hot place: but the water-snake, which is
not venomous, and as I have been assured by a great observer of such
secrets, does not hatch, but breed her young alive, which she does not
then forsake, but bides with them, and in case of danger will take them
all into her mouth and swim away from any apprehended danger, and
then let them out again when she thinks all danger to be past: these be
accidents that we Anglers sometimes see, and often talk of.
But whither am I going ? I had almost lost myself, by remembering the
discourse of Dubravius. I will therefore stop here; and tell you,
according to my promise, how to catch this Pike.
His feeding is usually of fish or frogs; and sometimes a weed of his
own, called pickerel-weed, of which I told you some think Pikes are
bred; for they have observed, that where none have been put into ponds,
yet they have there found many; and that there has been plenty of that
weed in those ponds, and that that weed both breeds and feeds them:
but whether those Pikes, so bred, will ever breed by generation as the
others do, I shall leave to the disquisitions of men of more curiosity and
leisure than I profess myself to have: and shall proceed to tell you, that
you may fish for a Pike, either with a ledger or a walking-bait; and you
are to note, that I call that a Ledger-bait, which is fixed or made to rest
in one certain place when you shall be absent from it; and I call that a
Walking-bait, which you take with you, and have ever in motion.
Concerning which two, I shall give you this direction; that your ledger-
bait is best to be a living bait (though a dead one may catch), whether it
be a fish or a frog: and that you may make them live the longer, you
may, or indeed you must, take this course:
Pages:
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 | 8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
13 |
14