JPrarHtal DEALING WITH THE NATURAL HISTOEY, THE LEGENDARY LORE, THE CAPTURE OF BRITISH FRESHWATER FISH, AND TACKLE AND TACKLE MAKING. ILLUSTRATED. BY J/rH. KEENE LONDON : THE BAZAAR" OFFICE, 170, STRAND, W.C. 1881. LONDON PRINTED BT ALFRED BRADLEY, 170, STRAND, VT.O. P E E F A 0 E. I AM persuaded that the amateur, and, in some cases, the experienced, angler, has hitherto suffered from the want of a work which, while setting forth the modus operand* of fishing, should, at the same time, supply items of the natural as well as of the traditional history o| the quarry in which he is interested. So far as I know, except the present work, there is none other fulfilling the requirements indicated. With all humility I offer this volume as an earnest, but perchance, a crude attempt to supply the deficiency. In compiling such portions of the book as were unavoidably derived from sources other than my own experience, two courses — judging from early and recent fishing writers — seemed open to me, one, the para- phrasing of others' research without direct acknowledgment, and the other course a complete quotation with full indication from whence derived. I have invariably chosen the latter method, and hence my work may seem here and there to lack originality. To the tyro this will matter little ; and the experienced angler will be able to verify whatever I state to be the result of my personal observa- tion, because if he be an able fisherman it will coincide with his own. J. H. K. LONDON, February 1st, 1881. MS42736 yparfiral Jffcf moan. CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. THE angler who may, perchance, be also a bit of a bibliographer, will probably exclaim at the appearance of another treatise on the gentle craft. So many works on this charming subject have been written and published, from Oppian to the present time, that another would seem superfluous, and only capable of vain repetitions. This need not be so, however, and in the following chapters I shall take care that it is not so. A severely practical, careful r£sum£ of what is known and proved, and a concise account of what the writer has himself experienced, need not come under the category of vain repetition, and may be useful to many learners seeking those almost Parnassian heights, whence the fully initiated smile at the scoffers and mockers of the art which Byron so ill-naturedly termed "that solitary vice." And, indeed, there are several other reasons why a dissertation on practical angling may not be unwelcome. The price of every really capable work on the subject is generally prohibitory to that class of persons who make the art their chief recreation during the intervals of work at the mill or factory, counter or desk. To such what I have to say will I hope at least be interesting, and it is to such chiefly that I shall address myself. It would probably be presumption on my part to suppose I could say anything on so trite a subject which would enlighten those who have the power of consulting a whole library of fishing authors, whose chief merit, however, seems to be prolixity. The importance, 2 THE PKACTICAL FISHERMAN. also, of the pursuit may be another reason why additional consideration of angling could advantageously be given. The number of anglers is so vast and so continually increasing that it very appropriately now bears the title of a "national sport." With increasing numbers of anglers the scarcity of fish, although not appreciably becoming greater, undoubtedly does increase, and the education of the fish, combined with this scarcity, require greater finesse and more subtle means for their capture. Observations on these refinements are, therefore, not out of place. I shall endeavour in the course of the following pages to give notices of the latest of these, and the most effective, with various little inventions of my own, which have been put in practice in view of the increased skill required in the capture of our quarry. It is customary at all entertainments to issue a programme of what is intended to be performed, and I will therefore follow so good an example. Briefly, I may say that, under the title I have chosen, separate con- sideration is given to the following cognate subjects : The general history of angling, tackle and baits ; ichthyology, or the science of fishes ; nearly every fish inhabiting the fresh water, or migratory, in Great Britain, described in turn according to classification; and last, bat not least, the art of tackle making is considered. Sea fishing may form the subject of another treatise at some future time. It will be observed that special attention is paid to the subject of ordinary tackle making, for, to my mind, one of the chief charms of successful angling is the reflection and knowledge that the fish captured are really and truly, solely and wholly so, by one's own appliances and skill, and thus the sense of possession is rendered doubly sweet. In treating also of each fish for the convenience of reference, the following divisions and sub- divisions are observed : Natural history — including habitat, food, season, diseases, &c. — piscine folk lore, tackle, baits, and gastronomical, &c. Of course, notwithstanding the comprehensiveness of this syllabus, I am well aware that no book or treatise can alone make an angler. Hear what Saint Izaak Walton says on this point : ' ' Now for the art of catching fish, that is to say, how to make a man that was none to be an angler by a book ; hie that undertakes it shall undertake a harder task than Mr. Hales, that in a printed book called ' The Private School of Defence' undertook to teach the art of fencing, and was laughed at for his labour. Not but that many useful things might be observed out of that book, but that the art was not to be taught by words ; nor is the art of angling." Indeed, some hare gone to the length of applying the old maxim, Poeta nascitur, non Jit, to the angler — an angler is born, not made, say they. I do not go quite so far as that, however, but fully believe that one ounce of practice is worth a bushel of theory. INTRODUCTORY. 3 Both are, nevertheless, good in their places. I ask the angler in all cases to prove by experiment, if possible, all that I try to teach by words. After all this explanatory matter, which, albeit necessary, is eminently dry to the reader as it is to the writer, I come to touch upon a much more agreeable topic, viz., the position angling holds as a sport, and the reason why it exerts such a fascination over its votaries, for this comes properly under the heading " Introductory." To the initiated I am fully aware that a disquisition on this is unnecessary ; but to the unini- tiated, who have probably read or heard quoted Johnson's snarl about " a worm at one end and a fool at the other," it is desirable to show succinctly why presumably sane men follow such an apparently inane, senseless occupation. Even Plutarch has spoken against it as a " filthy, base, illiberal employment, having neither wit nor perspicacity in it, nor worth the labour." Think of that, brother anglers ! Let this man be anathema, maranatha, likewise all others who rail against the most gentle of crafts ! Man, and indeed all animals, seem to have an innate desire to hunt, i.e., to acquire by personal exertion. In the lower animals this desire is put in action primarily for the sake of the food it brings ; in man, the hunting, whether of fish, flesh, or fowl, or good red herring, may exist, as in angling, without the desire for the food acquired. The exercise of all or any of man's powers or desires gives pleasure, and the fact that the desire to hunt in angling is accompanied in its exercise by the employment of more skilled and varied accomplishments and subtleties of manipulation than any other sport is the chief reason why so many practise it. That the influence of the spell is lasting is also demonstrated in the truth that few (none, I might say) give it up until the latest possible minute. The angler has the same undying steady affection as the litterateur is said to have for his profession. A hundred chances may deprive a man of his cricket, shooting, or hunting, but angling may be and is often pursued till the veteran " goes over to the many." Indeed, instances of the ruling passion strong in death in connection with the gentle art are not wanting. Jesse, in his delight- ful "Angler's Rambles," says that the answer to the captor of a beautiful Thames trout, who had sent over to his friend to come and see it, was, that the friend was dying, but " that it would be a vast satisfaction to him if he could see the fish, provided it would not be injured by being conveyed to his house for that purpose." This wish was gratified, and Jesse remarks, " Mr. T. feasted his eyes upon it, and soon afterwards closed them for ever." This " ruling passion " has been very beautifully expressed by Mr. Westwood, in the "New- castle Fishers' Garland" for 1863. He represents an old angler dying, B2 4 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. and desiring his son and daughter to place him in full view of the delightful river Coquet. This they do, and he says : Now place my rod beside my hand— I live in days gone by : I climb the steeps, I move the deeps, I throw the cunning fly. Wild whirls my reel, full grows my creel, Oh, POD '. oh, loving daughter! In maddest dream was ever stream Could match with Coquet's water? And so on. I know myself of an angler who still wears beneath the weight of eighty-five years a young man's heart and spirits, which he says is due to seventy years of angling. I assure my readers I have drawn from his valuable experience in the succeeding chapters. Will these facts recommend the uninitiated to angling ? for, like all true believers, I seek ever to proselytise. The charm this species of amusement exerts over the angler must be powerful to afford such examples as those I have just quoted, and besides the general reason already given for this, there exists another hardly less considerable, and this may be sought for in a quality which most men possess, namely, a love of nature. This is splendidly ex- plained in the oft-quoted passage from the Prioress of St. Albans, which I have rendered into modern English that the reader may the more readily read it, and which I beg leave to reproduce, it being, apart from its special reference to angling, a sweet pastoral prose poem. She says : " And yet at the least he hath his wholesome walk, and merry at his ease a sweet air of the sweet savour of the mead flowers, that maketh him hungry. He heareth the melodious harmony of fowls. He seeth the young swans, herons, ducks, coots, and many other fowls, with their broods, which to me seemeth better than all the noise of hounds, the blast of horns, and the cry of fowls, that hunters, falconers, and fowlers can make. And if the angler take fish surely there is no man merrier than he is in his spirit." Old Walton also teems with this love of natural music which so eloquently appeals to the angler's better nature, and which in the end becomes as familiar voices from whose soft fascination he cannot nor does he wish to break. Let my readers listen to a few words from him — Byron terms him a " quaint old cruel coxcomb," with his accustomed sneer — and, after thinking over what they mean, and what I have above said, say whether there is any method or not in the angler's madness. Thus: "Look ! under that broad beech tree I sat down when I was last this way a fishing. And the birds in the adjoining grove seemed to me to have a friendly contention with an echo whose dead voice seemed to live in a hollow tree near the brow of that primrose hill. There I sat, viewing the silver streams glide silently INTRODUCTORY. 5 towards their centre, the tempestuous sea, yet sometimes opposed by rugged rocks and pebble stones which broke their waves and turned them into foam. And sometimes I beguiled time by viewing the harmless lambs, some leaping securely in the green shade, whilst others sported themselves in the cheerful sun. ... As I sat thus these and other sights had so fully possessed my soul with content that I thought, as the poet had happily expressed it : I was for that time lifted above earth, And possessed joys not promised in my birth." Was ever such a charming scene presented by poet or painter before or since? and to the sympathetic reader this quotation, of many others, unfolds the secret of the formation of the pleasant thraldom with which angling — not "pot hunting " — environs its disciples. For, indeed, what can be more soothing to man's nature than the soft murmur of the breeze as it caresses the slender reeds or soughs gently through the rushes, kissing the slowly flowing stream and raising a smiling dimple of pleasure in the otherwise inanimate water ? The artisan from the mill, though his hands be hard and horny, has a man's love of Nature ; the tired business man, with his head hitherto full of shares, bonds, coupons, debentures, and what not; even the states- man, like Lucretius, " his mind half buried neath some weightier argument" — all are subdued by the tender force of unsophisticated Nature. But they must have had the angler's training to enjoy it. Who but an angler, having learned patience and accepted the gifts of contemplation — it is "the contemplative man's pastime" — could have written this passage anent the nightingale: "He that at midnight, when the very labourer sleeps securely, should hear, as I have very often, the clear airs, the sweet descents, the natural rising and falling, the doubling and redoubling of her voice, might well be lifted above earth and say, ' Lord, what music hast Thou provided for the souls in Heaven, when Thou affordest bad men such music on earth ? ' ' Magnificent as is that ode on this bird — of one ' ' whose name is writ in water," John Keats — no passage in it can compare to this simple piece of heart poesy. The charm of angling is not broken since this was written. Now, it may be asked, what special qualifications ought a would-be angler to possess in order to enjoy the pleasures so enthusiastically enumerated ? I answer that, inasmuch as that all men cannot be appreciative of Nature and her works, in the same way that all men cannot be poets, painters, or writers, so is it that all men who handle a rod cannot be recipients of the superlative pleasures derivable from 6 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. the gentle craft. To be able to accept, and by an inward process to turn all natural examples of beneficence as furnished by our lakes and rivers and general natural scenery to the delectation of the intellectual and moral nature, in every case implies the true poetic faculty in its fullest fruition. Many are able to use it in its entirety. The best anglers I have ever met have been keen, intelligent men, of strong, sanguine, sensitive and eloquent natures, and possessed of that rare power of making the hand answer to the eye — intuitive judg- ment, and, chiefly, strong athletic bodies. This is my experience, and, as such, I think it will bear scrutiny. The gross picture of " Patience in a Punt," either under the broiling sun or bursting heavens, sans sport, sans cheerfulness, sans everything that makes life endurable, is the absolute opposite to the general truth. Under all circumstances the true angler is infinite in schemes and stratagems—" dodges " is the better term — is ever hopeful and watchful, spares no pains, and absorbs as a sponge does water the pleasaunce around him, his quick well balanced wrist and his clear eyesight can hook and play the fish and on the finest tackle land him. It is a miracle of fishing — to land a large fish on such a fragile thread that a half pound dead weight would break it. The Field reported the capture of a pike in its 'teens, brought to bank by an angler roach fishing with fine hair — this captor was an angler-hero. To show, in conclusion of a somewhat longer "introduction" than I at first intended, that there are large numbers of anglers who, in effect, feel and think as I have written, an interesting calculation has been made by Mr. Manley, in his book on "Fish and Fishing," on London angling, which I am sure he will allow me to reproduce. He says : "I gather that there are at the present time about eighty angling clubs or societies in the metropolitan districts, fifty-three of which are associated together under the name of the United London Anglers, and pay social visits in relation to the head centre. The fifty-three clubs have, in round numbers, 1700 members, and the other clubs 500, the very great majority of whom are small shopkeepers, mechanics, and working men. Of the same class there are at least 1000 regular anglers in the London districts who belong to no club. Further, it may be calculated that there are 500 more regular anglers who reside in the vicinity of the Thames and Lea. To these may be added 1000 at least of regular anglers of the upper classes, gentlemen, merchants, and large shopkeepers. These, added together, will give a grand total of 5000 persons who make angling their chief recreation in a moderately circum- scribed area of which London is the centre." Now, these figures are cer- tainly within the mark, and the estimate recently made in " The Country ' ' journal that there are 50,000 anglers properly so called in England and INTRODUCTORY. 7 Wales cannot, I think, be considered too high. The art is spreading more and more every day. The necessity for general legislation in its favour has at last made itself apparent. The humanising and peaceful recreation is esteemed by those who do not practise it, and everyone of thought or appreciation would acknowledge it as an "art," a category to which it was assigned by Walton 200 years ago. The space, however, allotted to this most extravagant of "introduc- tions ' ' fails. I have endeavoured to impress upon readers the real significance of the art. Perhaps, as a sort of postscript to all I have said, the angler's song, entitled " Invitation," the author however of which I do not know, will add a seal to my enthusiasm : Oh, while fishing lasts enjoy it ! Let us to the streams i epair ; Snatch some hours from toil and study, Nature's blessed gifts to share. Ye who stnnd behind the counter, Or grow pallid at the loom. Leave the measure and the shuttle, To the rippling stream come, come ! He that clothed these bank* with verdure, Dotted them with various fl iwers, Meant that ye, though doomed to labour. Should enjoy some cheering hours ; "VVjpe your reeking brows— com1? with us. With your basket ard your rod; And with happy hearts look up from Nature unto Nature's God. THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. CHAPTER II. THE GENERAL HISTORY OF ANGLING, TACKLE, AND BAITS. WAS Adam an angler P Did he solace himself in the intervals of his delightful work in medio ligni paradisi — in the midst of the trees of the garden — with luring the beauties of the four rivers — Gihon, Pison, Hiddekel, and Euphrates ? or was angling a pleasure not then included in the plan of human happiness? It boots not to know the answers to these questions, and they may well be passed over, but it may be interest- ing to my readers to have a slight sketch before them of the general rise and progress of angling from early times, that when I come to an enumeration and consideration of the exigencies and appliances of the art in future chapters they may in some sort compare the ancient fishing with that of to-day. It has been presumed, and certainly the presumption seems to hold good, that the ancient Egyptians were not only catchers of fish, but artistic anglers also. Certain figures on their monuments clearly exhibit their knowledge of the craft. The Greeks also appear to have had some knowledge of it also ; witness a passage in Homer, in which he speaks Of beetling rocks that overhang the flood, Where silent angler cast invidious food, With f raudf ul care await the finny prize, And sudden lift it quivering to the skies. Certainly the idea of throwing the fish over one's head does not represent the method of the angler to the best of advantage, but the reference is distinct enough. The Bible furnishes other undeniable references to angling, and, if I am not mistaken, in the Book of Job we find the first reference to the using of a hook : " Canst thou draw out the leviathan with an hook ; canst thou bore his jaw through with a thorn?" Again, in Isaiah, chap. 19, v. 8 : "And the fisher shall mourn and lament, and those that cast the hook *into the river." The word hook is here, I am informed by a celebrated Hebrew scholar, properly THE GENERAL HISTORY OF ANGLING, ETC. rendered. Also amongst the results of excavations at Pompeii were some hooks of a rude shape, of bronze, that is, of an alloy of tin and copper most probably, which, as Pliny informs us, could be drawn out to the thinness of a hair. Of course the Romans and Greeks of a more recent time were well acquainted with the art,- and we need but glance at Oppian to be sure that these antiquated anglers belong in spirit to the present commonwealth of fishermen. His spirited description of gorge fishing and the capture of the quarry, when done into good English verse, is generally much superior to any such descriptions in modern time except those of Gay. Nor may we forget the story of Antony and Cleopatra and the irritating trick her Majesty played her Eoman lover when they went a-fishing. Plutarch gives the incident thus : ' ' It would be very tedious and trifling to recount all his follies, but his (Antony's) fishing must not be forgot. He went out one day to angle with Cleopatra, and being so unfortunate as to catch nothing in the presence of his mistress, he was very much vexed, and gave secret orders to the fishermen to dive under the water and put fishes that had been fresh taken upon his hook. After he had drawn up two or three, Cleopatra perceived the trick ; she, however, pretended to be surprised at his good fortune and dexterity, told it to all her friends, and invited them to come and see him fish the next day. Accordingly, a very large company went out in the fishing vessels, and as soon as Antony had let down the line she commanded one of her servants to be beforehand with Antony's, and, diving into the water, to fix upon his hook a salted fish, one of those which were brought from the Euxine Sea." This is perhaps one of the most delicious of piscatorial jokes, and Plutarch tells it well, but not so well as Shakspeare. The . immortal Swan of Avon thus translates it : CLEO : Give me mine angle ; we'll to the river ; there, My music piajing far off, I will betray Tawny tinned fishes ; my bended hook shall pierce Tleir slimy jaws, and as I draw them up I'll thinn them everyone an Antony. And say, Ah ! ah ! you're caught. CHAR : 'Twas merry when You wagered on your angler, when your diver Did bring a salt fish on your hook which he With fervency drew up. CLEO: That time! O times! I laughed him out of patience. Dr. Badham also, amongst other very amusing and interesting little narratives of ancient angling, transcribes a passage from .ZElian in reference to the Macedonian catching a speckled fish by means of a fly. This I shall refer to further when speaking of baits, but it sufficiently shows that angling was practised widely amongst the ancient civilised nations. 10 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. More nearly approaching our own times, it would appear that the ancient Britons and their successors, the Anglo-Saxons, were not very accomplished in the capture of fish either for food or sport. Thus Bede tells of the people of Sussex that " The Bishop (Wilfrid) when he came into this province, and found so great a misery of famine, taught them to get their food by fishing. Their sea and rivers abounded in fish, yet the people had no skill to take them, except only eels. The bishop's men having gathered eel nets everywhere, cast them into the sea, and by the help of God took three hundred fishes of several sorts, the which, being divided into three parts, they gave a hundred to the poor, a hundred to those of whom they had the nets, and kept a hundred for their own use.' ' In the interim, between this period and the publishing of the first book on fishing (commonly known as the " dark ages," albeit not nearly so black as has been painted), there is evidence that the people became much more educated in the ways of fishes and, presumably, also in the ways of taking them. The remains of monastic institutions indicate the existence of a species of fish culture which is hardly surpassed by the fish culture of to-day. At Stanton Harcourt, for example, there are still to be seen, according to Mr. Francis Francis, dried up stews of such fashion as to demonstrate at once their former uses. " No doubt," he says, " many a noble tench, fat carp, and luscious eel, made rich and savoury by all the varied recipes of monastic cookery, humbled the bereaved stomachs and mortified the flesh of abbot and friar and reverend prior at Stanton Harcourt in days gone by." As if to lend countenance to the supposition that the monks were the chief anglers in Britain during its early history, we find that the first book printed in this land on the subject was by the Prioress of St. Albans, Juliana Barnes, or Berners. Indeed, it may also claim to be amongst the first books printed in England, for not ten years after Caxton printed his first book Wynkyn de Worde published the so-called "Book of St. Albans." This first appeared in the world in 1486, and contained treatises on various other sports ; but that with which we are at present concerned began thus : " Here begynnyth the treaty se of fysshyne wyth an angle." The directions therein given are very primitive, but were probably sufficient for the fish in these times. This book went through eleven editions, combined with the other treatises before mentioned. Thereafter followed during the succeeding century no book on the gentle craft of which we have any record. Leonard Mascall certainly brought out a book in 1590 "which contains but little improvement on the Book of St. Albans." In 1651 Barker's quaint "Art of Angling" appeared, and may be said to have laid the foundation of all future angling, it containing much practical observation and not a few hints of real value THE GENERAL HISTORY OF ANGLING, ETC. 11 to the tyro. Walton, in 1653, published his " Complete Angler, " which, as all readers are aware, has not been surpassed by any to this time for its unfeigned enthusiasm in reference to matters piscatorial and the ardent love of nature shown on every page. The art of fishing at the time of the production of this book was at a low standard, compared with its present position as an art, nevertheless there is very little in Walton's book to be repudiated, and many of his angling " wrinkles " are replete with a true knowledge of the habits of fish. Indeed, it is this latter quality which renders the book of value to the angler, and as an example I am bold enough to assert that the description of the habits of the trout is, as a piece of real ichthyolo- gical knowledge, not surpassed by any succeeding writer. To show the difference between some ancient ideas in reference to the proper times for angling and our own ideas, I may be allowed to quote from an old book in my possession (without a title page), which is probably a compilation with a little superadded matter from Gervase Markham or Leonard Mascall, in reference to the bearing which astrology was supposed to have had on angling. This old author thus gives his opinions, under the title of "Astrological Elections for Angling in General": "If, as the wise man saith (and I think that there is none which dare question his authority) that there is a proper time and season for every action under the sun, I hope it will not be offensive nor impertinent to show what time and seasons the intelligent angler ought to make choice of that may answer his expectation. For my part I have so often experienced the truth of these rules, that by good will I would never angle but at an elected time; the ingenious will not despise them, and for others they are not intended. And they are these : If you would Nep'une's scaly subjects get, Night's horned queen in the mid heaven set, Thence lee her in the Paphian goddess shine I' th' west, and grreet her with a friendly time. Be sure you always fortify the east, And let the maiden star possess the west. However, let some aquatick sis-ri ascend, And let all power his happy lord attend ; Then see the setting constellation be Afflicted by some hateful enemy. At least hid lord the sixth with strength defend, Let active pow^r his radiant lor.l attend ; Then you may boldly venture to the flood, And take from thence what fishes vou see good. The reader skilled in the use of the astrologe may be able to elucidate this quaint piece of rhyme, but I confess I am not. The directions of a modern author in reference to the best fishing weather are briefly given for comparison, and serve to show how the art has been reduced to simple unequivocal rules from observations of weather chiefly unconnected with the stellar worlds. Eonalds, in the " Flyfishers* 12 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. Entomology," says: "The best days to select for fly-fishing are warm and cloudy, with a gentle breeze from south or west, causing a ripple on the water, by which the fish is not only prevented from seeing the fisherman so plainly as in smooth water, but is also deprived of so good an opportunity of detecting the fly-maker's artifice. The water after a flood is sometimes for several days too turbid for fly-fishing. When it is very low in its bed and clear, the circumstances are also unpro- pitious, and success is obtained with difficulty. When the water is unusually high, though the water be not discoloured, the fish seem to be feeding more at the bottom than above." This, of course, applies chiefly to fly-fishing ; but T have thought fit to reproduce it because it seems to me to show how the tendency of modern angler wisdom is to reduce to simple rules all the ancient jargon of fishing unwisdom, and to seek success through a thoroughly scientific deduction from incon- trovertible observation of Nature's self. The alteration in the making and general appearance of tackle is even more marked than the change in the general attitude of anglers in reference to the art. It is true that according to JElian, as quoted by Dr. Badham, the Macedonians were in the habit of making an artificial fly to imitate the " hippurus," whatever that might have been, with which they caught the ' ' speckled ' ' beauties referred to above, and that this imitation was subtly done there may reasonably be little doubt ; but in England it was very different in the earlier age of the art of tackle making. The gorge hook of Nobbes, for example, is figured in his book like unto a dragon's tail, and armed with stiff wire, inflexible, and leaded ; but the latest gorge hook, as shown in the chapter on "pike," is a much finer affair; the flight, again, and the live bait tackle, have been of late years so modified as to be scarcely recognisable as of the same genera as that of fifty years ago. Similarly, the rod has undergone a great alteration. Dame Juliana Berners speaks of using an ash pole, which appears to have been of considerable dimensions. In contrast to this, one of the latest improvement in manufactured rods is the American spliced rod, which consists of six or nine pieces of the finest bamboo, in sections, which are sawed with mathematical precision, and then whipped with silk at intervals of half an inch ; these are extremely handsome and beautifully light : the top is generally of lance wood. Again, what a difference is now made in the portableness of tackle ! The old author to whom I have just referred speaks of carrying a plummet, a whetstone to sharpen blunt hooks, and concludes: "I need not advise you how to carry your bob and palmer, or put you in mind of having several boxes of divers sizes for your hooks, corks, silk thread, lead, flies, or admonish you not to forget your THE GE>iERAL HISTORY OF ANGLING, ETC. 13 linen and woollen bags for all sorts of baits, but let me forewarn you not to have a pannier that is heavy, for it can never be light enough." Don't forget, he says, to carry a landing net, and also hooks to cut away the reeds, &c. At this time all the multitudinous carrying referred to can be dispensed with, and the latest invention I hear of is a hat which will carry all necessaries. This will be rendered water- proof by a macintosh covering, and all the angler's "tools and baytes " will therefore be upon his own head. Some extraordinary compounds have been from time to time used as bait. Perhaps this is not to be wondered at. The fact that fish possessed the sense of smell or taste in a refined degree was known to the early anglers, and in the days when men were eagerly seeking for the philosopher's stone, and endeavouring to transmute the baser metals into gold, alchemical preparations might easily have been supposed by such philosophers capable of potently influencing the piscine mind to its destruction. Whether euch preparations are really of use I shall examine further on ; in the meantime a few of these magical prescriptions may be referred to in detail. The practice of using drugs in fishing is respectably ancient. Oppian speaks of myrrh dissolved in wine lees. The passage has thus been translated : A paste in luscious wine the captor steeps, Mixed with the balmy tears that Myrrha weeps ; Around the trap diffusive fragrance rolls, And calls with certain charms the finny shoals ; They crowd the arch, and soon each joyful swain Finds nor his labour nor his care in vain. He also further refers to some kind of JEsculapian nostrum which the fishermen turned to account by impregnating their nets with it. Unguents and pastes were also increased in efficacy by the admixture of various chemicals. Pliny records the aromatic odour of aristolochias, and speaks of its similar use. He also refers to a vegetable growth called popularly the " earth's poison," and says it was successfully used by the Campanian fishermen. " I have seen them use the plant," he says, " incorporating it with lime, and throwing detached pellets into the sea, one of which was no sooner swallowed than the fish, immediately turning over, floated up dead. But the most interesting of these poisons is unquestionably prepared from the cyclamen or sow bread, two species of which possess the property of drugging fish in a remarkable degree, the C. hedercefolium and the 0. NeapoUtanum. The lazzaroni, from whom we first learnt the qualities of this plant, stated that they were in the habit of mixing it with other ingredients in a paste, called the lateragua, which is either then thrown in lumps from a boat, or enclosed in a bag and thrust, by means 14 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. of a long pole, among the rocks, when, if any fish are within smell, the crew are sure of a good haul. It was found, they said, particularly successful in the capture of cephali, and generally of low swimming fish, whose nostrils come in more immediate contact with the ground." The botanical correctness of this passage has been proved. But if the so-called ancients were fastidious and curious in the manufacture of their baits, what will be said of the early fathers of English angling in this respect? "I make," says one who fished in the 15th century, "but little boast of my unguents ; for there are those about who would steal of my secrets and lie in wait, abounding like a robber for that which I use, that they the whereof could take to the man of cunning and set aside each of its components, and thus become master of that which is none of theirs ; but this I will venture, for none such purloiners of man's goods is there even the most simple of pastes left for that being made of white bread and milk needeth clean hands." Is not this a "palpable hit," good reader ? Clearly, from the passage the old fisherman was cunning in the preparation of his fantastic lures. Perhaps the following mixture, given by another writer, was one of the stolen secrets : ' ' Assaf oetida, oil of polypody of the oak, oil of ivy, oil of peter, and gum ivy mixed as a paste." By the way, of all horrid foetid stinks, I think aasafoetida is the most sickly, and how it ever could be imagined that fish would take kindly to it, when some will reject with scorn the reeking brandling or stale lobworm, is beyond my comprehension. Polypody of the oak is scarcely less nasty. The oil of ivy is not so offensive, and is the sap or exudation of the ivy stem. What oil of peter is, unless it is oil of St. Peter's wort, I am not chemist enough to determine. For curiosity's sake I once made up the mess, minus "oil of peter" and found it not only unspeakably offensive but unsuccessful to boot. But to proceed. Even still more wonderful and mystical ingredients are recorded as efficacious in the capture of fish. Thus Mons. Charras, Apothecary Royal to Louis XIV., left behind this recondite prescription : "Take of man's fat and cat's fat of each |oz. ; mummy, finely powdered, 3 drachms ; cummin seed, finely powdered, 1 drachm ; distilled oil of aniseed and spike, of each 6 drops ; civet, 2 grains ; and camphire, 4 grains. Make an ointment according to art. When you angle with this, anoint Sin. of line next the hook." We are informed that the " man's " fat can be got at any surgeon's, but where the 3 drachms of "mummy" can be procured I do not know. There must have been some imagined or real virtue in the corporeal body of man or its remains, else why these directions ? " Take the bones or skull THE GENERAL HISTORY OF ANGLING, ETC. 15 of a dead man at the opening of a grave and beat them into powder and put of this powder in the moss wherein you keep your worms ; others like the grave earth as well." To what base uses we may return ! Why may not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander to feeding fish — an even stranger use than "stopping a bung hole." One is reminded on reading these queer recipes of the moody Prince of Denmark, * ' A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a king, and eat of the fish that hath fed of that worm." Fat from a heron's leg is also recommended, and I heard quite lately an old and accomplished angler assert that if this fat of the heron's leg — it would require a good many herons' legs to furnish an ounce of fat — be incorporated with bread paste, the result is glorious, the roach cannot resist the seductive grease, and one has almost to engage a strong boy with a thick stick to enforce their coming one at a time. Here also is an unguent whicl is recommended, even so late as 1740, by John Kichardson, gent., for attracting "trout in a muddy water" and gudgeons in a "clear stream :" assafcetida 3dr., camphire Idr., Venice turpentine Idr., heat together with some drops of the chemical oil of lavender and camomile of each an equal quantity. Need I say that it has not the desired effect ? Truly it may, however, be said of the angling of other generations : All arts, all shapes, the wily angler tries To cloak his fraud arid tempt his finny prize, Their sight, their *mell he carefully explores, Aud bleiids the druggists' and the chemists' stores, Devising still with fancy ever new Pastes, oils, and unguents of each scent and hue. The reader will observe that I have contemptuously spoken of the recipes given by old writers for the preparation of baits. This is justifiable, for no man in his senses could credit in these later days the absurdities connected with human and feline adipose or the asserted potency of oil of polypody and assafcetida. Yet there is "something in it." All ancient crazes (unlike many modern ones) have a grain or more of sure foundation ; they, it is true, some- tunes appear like inverted pyramids, but nevertheless they rest on some- thing. So also the idea of scented and coloured baits arises from an exaggerated idea of the senses of fishes. We cannot now credit fish with a preference for " oil of whelps " (i.e., puppies boiled in oil), but we are obliged to credit the statement which old fishermen make relative to the attractiveness of "oil of worms" (i.e., worms placed in a bottle and covered up in a dung heap till decomposed) to eels. Next to assa- fcetida the smell of this " oil " is the most offensive, but I have practically tried it and tested its efficacy when smeared on the inside of the ' ' eel pot ' ' or basket. Aniseed also is attractive, without question, on occasions. 16 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. Against these conclusions an eminent authority is, however, set. Ronalds, from his observatory by the side of the Cottonian Dove, whilst acknowledging the difficulty of coming to precise conclusions without blinding- the fish, gives some very unequivocal results of experiments on the taste and smell of trout. I am sure I shall be forgiven if I reproduce what he says in reference to this question, for, although it is an interesting ichthyological question, we neverthe- less cannot dismiss the history of fancy baits without showing their truth or falsehood. "I once threw upon the water," he remarks, "by blowing through a tin tube successively ten dead house flies towards a trout known to me by a white mark on his nose (occasioned by the wound of a hook), all of which he took. Thirty more, with cayenne pepper and mustard plastered on the least conspicuous parts of them, were then administered in the same manner. These he also seized, twenty of them the instant they touched the water, and not allowing time for the dressing to be dispersed, but the other ten remained a second or two upon the surface before he swallowed, and a small portion of the dressing parted and sank. The next morning several exactly similar doses were taken by the same fish, who probably remembered the previous day's repast, and seemed to enjoy them heartily. From these and similar experiments, such as getting trout to take flies dipped in honey, oil, vinegar, &c., I con- eluded that if the animal has taste (or smell ?) his palate is not particularly sensitive." Again, M. Dameril, of the French Institute, on careful investigation, was led to believe that the sensation of taste or some equivalent sensation "is imparted to them by the apparatus which has hitherto been considered as adapted to receive the emanations of odorate bodies, and that no real smell can be perceived in water." These authorities notwithstanding, I am obliged to believe, from hundreds of observations of fish when feeding, the enumeration of one-tenth part of which would be out of place and tedious here, that fish do possess a sense, a perception — call it what you will — which is independent of sight, although of course greatly aided by it. We are told by scientists that odour is due to a mechanical emanation of particles from the substance which we commonly deem is itself odorous. Why these multitudinous and infinitesimally minute particles cannot mechanically affect, though perhaps in a lesser degree, the olfactory nerves in a fish it is hard to say. I am inclined to believe they are given off, and do permeate between the grosser atoms of water, and reaching the duller nerves of sensation, do cause a percep- tion of greater or lesser intensity. Taste probably has something to THE GENERAL HISTORY OP ANGLING. 17 do with the selection of food also, but I am inclined to think that the sense of taste is not very sensitive, and chiefly resides in the lower part of the palate of the fish. It is not at all nnfrequent for a fish to disgorge the food which has partly entered the stomach, but I think it is quite impossible for it to disgorge anything which has once actually been enveloped by the maw. 1 have caught trout with stones in them, and, like the omnivorous ostrich, they seemed to have flourished with this stomachic foundation, but would they not have ejected them had they the power ? But enough of this aspect of the question. Bait, as used in these days, partakes very little of the fanciful nature of old prepara- tions, and goes to no greater extremes than a green pea or ripe cherry for a carp, or cheese for chub. Even the deadly salmon roe is interdicted on the novel ground (to the ancient angler) that it is too killing. Cocculus indicus — which Best, in his "Arcana in the Art of Angling," naively says is called also Baccce piscatorice (fishers' berries) — is forbidden, and the "white net," or bottle of lime, is a rank "black art" of the poacher. The angler at present fishes au naturel, with Nature's baits for the most part, and when he condescends to vary these he intersperses mechanical niceties in the shape of imitations rather than chemical abominations abhorrent of modern fish. Baits are of two great classes, alive and dead. The live baits are, briefly, small fish, frogs, worms, gentles, and, in some rare instances, it may be worth while using a live fly, such as a cockchafer. On the score of humanity, live bait fishing, perhaps, does not produce pleasure so unalloyed as that demanding the use of dead baits only, but it may be safely said that live bait fishing is incomparably more effectual in the majority of cases. The dead baits include pastes and vegetables and artificial baits. At the present time the humane angler, who shrinks from impaling a worm, gentle, or fish, can make or use an imitation, which is easily made, as shown in the chapters on Tackle Making. A few remarks anent the subject of baits arid ground-baiting may appropriately terminate the general history of the art and its adjuncts. In selecting live bait, let the angler chiefly choose those of the hardier sort, such as gudgeon, minnows, dace, rudd. In transporting them from place to place, six to a gallon of water in summer, and ten in winter, of medium sized fish, are quite enough for a moderate journey ; if a little water can be added occasionally the chance of their arriving healthy is increased. Bait killed and a little salt strewn over them, and then packed in bran, will keep for days C 18 THE PEACTICAL FISHERMAN. and continue tough. Worms should in all cases be stored in moss, cleaned and sorted every week in cold, and twice or three times per week in warm weather. Gentles can be kept during the winter by burying under ground in a warm position. These are hints by the way. Ground baits should be of like character to the hook bait intended to be used. This should be a sine qu& non. If one ground baits with worms one should select of the cleanest worms for the hook. Similarly, if one baits with common gentles, the finest gentles from animal's liver should be used. A little ground bait should only be thrown in, sufficient to tempt the fish to the particular locality. A little should be also thrown in during fishing. Greaves, potatoes, bread, even boiled Indian corn and pearl barley, all make splendid ground baits as occasion requires ; bat, above all, the angler should be careful not to be too copious in his baitings nor fish too closely in time on such preparation. CHAPTER III. NOTES ON ICHTHYOLOGY, OR THE SCIENCE OF FISHES. THE practical angler is all the more likely to obtain sport if he understand thoroughly the habits of his quarry. Similarly other sportsmen are more likely to be successful when they are possessed of analogous knowledge. Of course when stating these platitudes I am not about to draw the inference that technical knowledge is alone sufficient. It is possible for a man to be able to enumerate the characteristics of a far-off country, and yet were he deposited in its midst by virtue of Aladdin's lamp or some other magical emigration agency, he very probably would not recognise the land. In like manner more than one learned pundit in piscine anatomy has never caught a salmon, and only knows its habits in theory. It, therefore, is not likely that a chapter on ichthyology will make a fishermaH, although the theory, combined as it should be with practice, will probably advance the angler considerably before his uneducated compeers in the gentle craft. A competent knowledge also of ichthyology is useful to the traveller angler in other lands, and the exquisite wonders of the fresh water and ocean become additionally attractive when the angler-naturalist can with the certainty afforded by a few distinct and well defined rules settle the family, if not the species, of a new or novel capture. The various remarks I shall make in this chapter will be as practical as possible, and I shall avoid introducing matter which is not necessary to the fresh- water angler in the connection indicated. The wonders of our native waters are manifold, but the practical angler, much as he may appreciate the acquirement of knowledge, will not thank me for a long dissertation on the monsters of the ocean and the curious habits they make manifest. The "divine" Du Bartus, as Walton calls him, has sufficiently spoken of the extraordinary marine animals, and further than c 2 20 THE PRACTICAL FISHERMAN. his quaint enumeration of them I shall not at this moment go. He says : God quickened in the sea and in the rivers So many fishes of so many features, That in the waters we may see all creatures, Even all that in the earth are to be found, As if the world were in deep waters drowned ; For seas as well as skies have sun, moon, stars, As well as air, swallows, rooks, and stares ; As well as earth, vines, ro^es, nettles, melon*. Mushrooms, pinks, gilliflowers, and many millions Of other plants more rare, more strange than these As very fishes living in the seas ; As also rams, calves, horses, hares and hogs, Wolves, urchins, lions, elephants, and dogs ; Yea, men ar d maids, and which I mo*t admire, The mitred bishop and the cowled friar, Of which examples but a few years since Were shown the Norway and Polonian prince. Of course this curious old devout is remarkably figurative, and the excerpt from his " Contemplation" is only introduced as a curiosity; nevertheless, however, the similitudes he traces are not all in vain, and even in fresh water some not less interesting creatures are resident, although mermaids and "mitred priest and cowled friar" may not there be found. The whole of the British fresh-water fishes are included in four orders and embraced in seven families. I cannot do better than give a list of them as arranged by Mr. Pennell in his "Angler Naturalist" after Cuvier. It runs as follows : CLASSIFICATION OF BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISH. IST SERIES. TRUE, OR BONY FISH. Order I. SPINY-FIKNED FISH. Family 1. Perches— PERCID^E. Species. Perch. (Percajluviatilis.) Ruffe, or Pope. (Acerina vulgaris.) Family 2. FISH WITH HARD CHEEKS. Species. BuLhead, or Miller's Thumb. ( Coitus gobio.) Rough-tailed Stickleback. (Gastero*teus trachunis.) Half -armed Stickleback. ( Gasteronteus semiarmaius.) Smooth-tailed Stickleback. ( G aster onteus leiurus.) Short-spined Stickleback. (Gasterosteus brachycentrus.) Four-spined Stickleback. ( Gasteroxteiis spinulosus. ) Ten-spmed Stickleback. ( Gagteronleux vimgitius.) Order II. SOFT-FINNED FISH with ventral fins on the belly. Family 1. Carps— CYPRINID.S:. Species, Common Carp. ( Cyprinus carpio.) Crucian, or German, Carp. ( Cyprinus carassius.) Prussian, or Gibel, Carp. (Ci prinus gibelio.') Gold Carp. ( Cyprinan auratui.) Barbel. (Barbug vulgaria.) fudgeon. (Gobio flumatilis.} ench. (Tinea vulgaris.) ream, or Carp Bream. (Abramis brama.\ White Bream, or Bream-flat. (Abramis b'ticca.) Pomeranian Bream. (Abramis Bug genhagii.} T>ace. (Leuctecus vulgaris.) Roach. (Leuciscus rutitus.) Double Roach. (Leucitcu* dobula.) NOTES ON ICHTHYOLOGY. 21 Order II. Family I— continued. Species. Chub. (Leuciscut cephalut.) Ide. ( Leuei8cun i*l/