And you are to observe, that he is very, very seldom observed to bite at a _Minnow_ (yet sometime he will) and not oft at a _fly_, but more usually at a _Worm_, and then most usually at a _Lob_ or _Garden worm_, which should be wel scowred, that is to say, seven or eight dayes in Moss before you fish with them; and if you double your time of eight into sixteen, or more, into twenty or more days, it is still the better, for the worms will stil be clearer, tougher, and more lively, and continue so longer upon your hook.
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 ask'd him his reason, and he has replied, _He did but pick the best out to be in a readiness against he baited his hook the next time_: But he has been observed both by others, and my self, to catch more fish then I or any other body, that has ever gone a fishing with him, could do, 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 that by the wormes remaining in that box an hour, or a like time, they had incorporated a kind of smel that was irresistibly attractive, enough to force any fish, within the smel of them, to bite. This I heard not long since from a friend, but have not tryed it; yet I grant it probable, and refer my Reader to Sir _Francis Bacons_ Natural History, where he proves fishes may hear; and I am certain _Gesner_ sayes, the _Otter_ can smell in the water, and know not that but 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 another experiment (but not tryed by my selfe) which I wil deliver in the same words as it was by a friend, given me in writing.
_Take the stinking oil drawn out of_ Poly pody _of the_ Oak, _by a retort mixt with_ Turpentine, _and Hive-honey, and annoint your bait therewith, and it will doubtlesse draw the fish to it_.