11th. It is good angling in whirlpools; under bridges, at the falls of mills, and in any place where the water is deep and clear, and not disturbed with wind or weather; also, at the opening of sluices, and mill-dams; and if you go with the course of the water, you will hardly miss catching fishes that swim up the stream to seek what food the water brings down with it.

12th. When you fish for roach, dace, &c. in a stream, cast your ground-bait above your hook, and always remember to plumb your ground.

13th. Never trust the strength of your rod or line when you have hooked a good fish, but always use your landing-net.

14th. If the joints of your rod, through wet, should stick so that you cannot easily get them asunder, never use force, for then you will strain your rod; but turn the ferule of the joint that is fast a few times over the flame of a candle, and it will separate.

15th. The best times for angling are from April to October, and the best time of the day from three till nine in the morning, and three in the evening till sun-set. The south wind is the best to angle in, the next best point to that is the west: the cooler these blow in the hottest months is the best time to fish.

16th. Never angle in an easterly wind, for your labour will be in vain ; but you inay if the wind blows from any other point, provided not too sharply. Fishes will never bite before a shower of rain this hint may save you many a wet skin.*

17th. In the morning, if there happens to be a hoar frost, either in the spring or advancing of

* Vide the Prognostics.

the season, fishes will not bite that day, except in the evening; and after they have spawned, very ill, till with grass and weeds they have scoured themselves, and by that means recovered their appetite.

18th. The best time for the trout to be taken, and other fishes with the ground-line, is morning and evening, in clear weather and water; but if the day proves cloudy or the water muddy, you may angle all day long.

19th. The angler may depend on catching store of fishes in a dark, close, gloomy, or lowering day, if the wind be southerly, and when, as the poet observes,

"The stealing shower is scarce to patter heard,
"By such as wander thro' the forest walks,
"Beneath th' umbrageous multitude of leaves.”

Having given the reader every necessary instruction in regard to the breeding and feeding of fishes; with the best advice concerning his rods, lines, floats, hooks, baits, &c.; and a set of very choice rules, hints, and cautions, I shall now tell him the best methods of taking the fishes in general angled for in England and Wales.

CHAP. V.

A Description of the Fish generally angled for in England and Wales; with the proper Times and Seasons to fish for them, their peculiar Haunts, spawning Time, and most killing Baits, &c.

THE

THE SALMON.

HE salmon, according to the opinion of some, breeds in the sea; but that of others seems better warranted, that he breeds in the clear, sandy parts of rivers, not far from the mouths thereof. They commonly spawn in October, and the young become samlets the following year, and in a few months a large salmon. They spawn in some rivers in September, but in the Severn in May. The milter and spawner having performed their office, betake to the sea; and we are told, that when they have been obstructed in their passage, they have grown so impatient, that, clapping their tails to their mouths, with a sudden spring, they have leaped clear over wears and other obstacles which stood in their way, and some, by leaping short, have by that means been taken. If they happen to meet with such impediments that they cannot get to sea, they become sick, lean, and pine away, and die in two years. The principal occasion of their dying is this: the salmon being a fish by nature tender and very chill, cannot, in the winter-season, endure the extreme frigidity of

the fresh river-water, by reason of its tenuity, especially being so lately weakened by spawning; and therefore, by instinct, they make the sea their winter habitation, the sea being naturally warm: but if they spawn in the mean time, from thence proceeds a small salmon, called a skegger, which never grows large. The female salmon is distinguished from the male, because its nose is longer and more hooked, its scales not so bright, and its body speckled over with dark brown spots, its belly flatter, and its flesh not so red, more dry, and less delicious to the taste.

The principal rivers in England for salmon are, 1st, the Thames, whose salmon beats all others for taste and flavour; the Severn and the Trent; the Lon, at Lancaster, about Cockersand Abbey; at Workington in Cumberland; Bywell in Northumberland, Durham, and Newcastle on Tyne; the Dee in Cheshire; and the rivers Usk and Wye in Monmouthshire. Besides the salmon-leap in

the river Tivy in Pembrokeshire, there is another in the river Ban in Ireland: this river is in the mountains of Mourn in the county of Down, and it passes through Lough Eaugh, or Lough Sidney, a large lake in the county of Coleraine. Mr. Cambden says, it breeds salmons in abundance, above all other rivers in Europe, because it is thought to exceed all others for clearness, in which sort of water salmons delight. He bites best about three in the afternoon, in May, June, July, and August, if the water be clear, and a little breeze of wind stirring, especially if the wind and stream be contrary. You must fish for him like a trout, with a worm, fly, or minnow, or lobworm is an excellent bait for him, well scoured in moss, which makes him tough, clear, and lively.

When you have struck him, he will plunge and bounce in the water very much, therefore it is necessary to have a strong rod, ringed the same as a trowling-rod, and a winch with a strong line on it forty yards long, with which length, and a proper playing him, you may kill the largest-sized one. He has not a constant residence like a trout, but removes often, and you should always angle for him as near the spring-head as possible, in the deepest and broadest parts of the river, near the ground. Put two large lob-worms on at a time, and you may fish without a float, that is, with a running line. Let one yard next to your hook be gimp, and your hook a proper-sized salmon-hook, No. 1.

N. B. When I come to treat of fly-fishing, the proper flies for the salmon, &c. will be clearly expressed.

THE TRout.

The trout is a delicious fresh-water fish, speckled with red and yellow, coming in and going out of season with the buck, and spawning in the cold months of October and November, whereas all other fishes spawn in the hot summer months. There are several species of this fish, all valued very much; but the best are the red and yellow, and of these the female, distinguished by a less head and deeper body, is preferred: by the largeness of their backs you may know when they are season, which may serve as a rule for all other fishes. All winter long, they are sick, lean, and unwholesome, and frequently lousy. As the spring advances, deserting the still, deep waters, they repair to the gravelly ground against which they continue to rub, till they have got rid of their

in