Now you are to know, that it is observed that usually the best _Trouts_ are either red or yellow, though some be white and yet good; but that is not usual; and it is a note observable that the female _Trout_ hath usually a less head and a deeper body then the male _Trout_; and a little head to any fish, either _Trout, Salmon_, or other fish, is a sign that that fish is in season.
But yet you are to note, that as you see some Willows or Palm trees bud and blossome sooner then others do, so some _Trouts_ be in some Rivers sooner in season; and as the Holly or Oak are longer before they cast their Leaves, so are some _Trouts_ in some Rivers longer before they go out of season.
And having told you these Observations concerning _Trouts_, I shall next tell you how to catch them: which is usually with a _Worm_, or a _Minnow_ (which some call a _Penke_;) or with a _Flie_, either a _natural_ or an _artificial_ Flie: Concerning which three I wil give you some Observations and Directions.
For Worms, there be very many sorts; some bred onely in the earth, as the _earth worm_; others amongst or of plants, as the _dug-worm_; and others in the bodies of living creatures; or some of dead flesh, as the _Magot_ or _Gentle_, and others.
Now these be most of them particularly good for particular fishes: but for the _Trout_ the _dew-worm_, (which some also cal the _Lob-worm_) and the _Brandling_ are the chief; and especially the first for a great _Trout_, and the later for a lesse. There be also of _lob-worms_, some called _squirel-tails_ (a worm which has a red head, a streak down the back, and a broad tail) which are noted to be the best, because they are the toughest, and most lively, and live longest in the water: for you are to know, that a dead worm is but a dead bait, and like to catch nothing, compared to a lively, quick, stirring worm: And for a _Brandling_, hee is usually found in an old dunghil, or some very rotten place neer to it; but most usually in cow dung, or hogs dung, rather then horse dung, which is somewhat too hot and dry for that worm.
There are also divers other kindes of worms, which for colour and shape alter even as the ground out of which they are got: as the _marsh-worm_, the _tag-tail_, the _flag-worm_, the _dock-worm_, the _oake-worm_, the _gilt-tail_, and too many to name, even as many sorts, as some think there be of severall kinds of birds in the air: of which I shall say no more, but tell you, that what worms soever you fish with, are the better for being long kept before they be used; and in case you have not been so provident, then the way to cleanse and scoure them quickly, is to put them all night in water, if they be _Lob-worms_, and then put them into your bag with fennel: but you must not put your _Brandling_ above an hour in water, and then put them into fennel for sudden use: but if you have time, and purpose to keep them long, then they be best preserved in an earthen pot with good store of _mosse_, which is to be fresh every week or eight dayes; or at least taken from them, and clean wash'd, and wrung betwixt your hands till it be dry, and then put it to them again: And for Moss you are to note, that there be divers kindes of it which I could name to you, but wil onely tel you, that that which is likest a _Bucks horn_ is the best; except it be _white_ Moss, which grows on some heaths, and is hard to be found.