treatyse fish 2

The dace is a noble fish to take, and if it be well fattened, then he is good eating. In March, the best bait is an red worm. In April, the grub under the cow turd. In May the dock canker and the bait on the sloe thorn and on the oak leaf. In June, the codworm and the bait on the osier and the white grub in the dunghill. In July take houseflies, and flies that grow in anthills: the codworm and maggots until Michaelmas. And if the water is clear, you shall catch fish when others take none. And from that time forth, do as you do for the roach. For commonly in their biting and their baits they are alike.

The bleak is but a feeble fish, yet he is wholesome. His baits from March to Michaelmas are the same as I have written before for the roach and dace, except that, all the summer season, as much as you may angle for him with a housefly: and, in the winter season, with bacon and other bait made as you will know after.

The ruffe is a right wholesome fish. And you shall angle to him with the same baits in all seasons of the year in the same way as I have told you of the perch: for they are alike in fishing and feeding except that the ruffe is smaller. And therefore he must have the smaller bait.

The flounder is a noble fish and a free and subtle biter in his manner: For usually, when he sucks in his food, he feeds at the bottom, and therefore you must angle for him with a lying ground-line. And he has but one manner of bait, and that is a red worm, which is the best bait for all kinds of fish.

The gudgeon is a good fish for his size, and he bites well at the bottom. And his baits for all the year are these: the red worm: codworm: and maggots And you must angle for him with a float, and let your bait be near the bottom or else on the bottom.

The minnow, when he shines in the water, then be is better. And though his body is little yet he is a ravenous biter and eager. And you shall angle to him with the same baits that you do for gudgeon: saving that they must be small.

The eel is a queasy fish, a glutton, and a devourer of the young fry of fish. And as the pike also is a devourer of fish I put them both behind all others for angling. For this eel, you must find a hole in the bottom of the water, and it is blue-blackish. There put in your hook till it be a foot within the hole, and your bait should be a great angle worm or a minnow.

The pike is a good fish, but because he devours so many of his own kind as of others, I love him the less. And to catch him, you shall do thus. Take a codling hook: and take a roach or a fresh herring and a wire with a loop in the end: and put it in at the mouth and out at the tail down by the back of the fresh herring. And then put the line of your hook in after, and draw the hook into the cheek of the fresh herring. Then put a lead weight on your line a yard away from your book, and a float midway between; and cast it in a hole where the pike lie. And this is the best and surest way for catching the pike. Another manner of taking him is this. Take a frog and put it on your hook between the skin and the body on the back half, and put on a float a yard away, and cast it where the pike lies, and you shall have him. Another way. Take the same bait and put it in asafetida and cast it in the water with a cord and a cork, and you shall not fail to get him. And if you wish to have a good sport: then tie the cord to a goose’s foot, and you will see a good tussle to decide whether the goose or the pike will have the better of it.

Now you know with what baits and how you shall angle to every kind of fish. Now I will tell you how you shall keep and feed your live baits. You shall feed and keep them all together, but each kind by itself with such things in and on which they breed. And as long as they are alive and fresh, they are fine. But when they are sloughing their skin or else dead they are nothing. Out of these are excepted three kinds: That is, to wit of hornets, bumblebees, and wasps. These you must bake in bread, and after dip their heads in blood and let them dry. Also except maggots: which, when they are grown large with their natural feeding, you must feed further with mutton fat and with a cake made of flour and honey; then they will become larger. And when you have cleansed them with sand in a bag of blanket, kept hot under your gown or other warm thing for two hours or three, then they are best and ready to angle with. And of the frog cut off the leg at the knee, of the grasshopper the legs and wings at the body.

These baits are made to last all the year. The first are flour and lean meat from the thigh of a rabbit or a cat: virgin wax, and sheep's fat: and bray them in a mortar: and then temper it at the fire with a little purified honey: and so make it up into little balls, and bait your hooks with it according to their size. And this is a good bait for all manner of fresh fish.

Another, take the suet of a sheep and cheese in equal amounts: and bray them together for a long while in a mortar. And take then flour and temper it therewith, and after that mix it with honey and make balls of it. And that is especially for the barbel.

Another for dace and roach and bleak: take wheat and seethe it well and then put it in blood for a whole day and a night, and it is a good bait.

For baits for great fish, keep specially this rule: When you have taken a great fish, open up the maw, and whatever you find therein, make that your bait, for it is best.