_Viat_. But, Master, will this _Trout_ die, for it is like he has the hook in his belly?
_Pisc_. I wil tel you, Scholer, that unless the hook be fast in his very Gorge, he wil live, and a little time with the help of the water, wil rust the hook, & it wil in time wear away as the gravel does in the horse hoof, which only leaves a false quarter.
And now Scholer, lets go to my Rod. Look you Scholer, I have a fish too, but it proves a logger-headed _Chub_; and this is not much a miss, for this wil pleasure some poor body, as we go to our lodging to meet our brother _Peter_ and honest _Coridon_--Come, now bait your hook again, and lay it into the water, for it rains again, and we wil ev'n retire to the _Sycamore_ tree, and there I wil give you more directions concerning fishing; for I would fain make you an Artist.
_Viat_. Yes, good Master, I pray let it be so.
_Pisc_. Wel, Scholer, now we are sate downe and are at ease, I shall tel you a little more of _Trout_ fishing before I speak of the _Salmon_ (which I purpose shall be next) and then of the _Pike_ or _Luce_. You are to know, there is night as well as day-fishing for a _Trout_, and that then the best are out of their holds; and the manner of taking them is on the top of the water with a great _Lob_ or _Garden worm_, or rather two; which you are to fish for in a place where the water runs somewhat quietly (for in a stream it wil not be so well discerned.) I say, in a quiet or dead place neer to some swift, there draw your bait over the top of the water to and fro, and if there be a good _Trout_ in the hole, he wil take it, especially if the night be dark; for then he lies boldly neer the top of the water, watching the motion of any _Frog_ or _Water-mouse_, or _Rat_ betwixt him and the skie, which he hunts for if he sees the water but wrinkle or move in one of these dead holes, where the great _Trouts_ usually lye neer to their hold.
And you must fish for him with a strong line, and not a little hook, and let him have time to gorge your hook, for he does not usually forsake it, as he oft will in the day-fishing: and if the night be not dark, then fish so with an _Artificial fly_ of a light colour; nay he will sometimes rise at a dead Mouse or a piece of cloth, or any thing that seemes to swim cross the water, or to be in motion: this is a choice way, but I have not oft used it because it is void of the pleasures that such dayes as these that we now injoy, afford an _Angler_.