And after this manner you may catch a Trout in a hot evening: when, as
you walk by a brook, and shall see or hear him leap at flies, then, if you
get a grasshopper, put it on your hook, with your line about two yards
long; standing behind a bush or tree where his hole is: and make your
bait stir up and down on the top of the water. You may, if you stand
close, be sure of a bite, but not sure to catch him, for he is not a leather-
mouthed fish. And after this manner you may fish for him with almost
any kind of live fly, but especially with a grasshopper.
Venator. But before you go further, I pray, good master, what mean you
by a leather-mouthed fish ?
Piscator. By a leather-mouthed fish, I mean such as have their teeth in
their throat, as the Chub or Cheven: and so the Barbel, the Gudgeon,
and Carp, and divers others have. And the hook being stuck into the
leather, or skin, of the mouth of such fish, does very seldom or never
lose its hold: but on the contrary, a Pike, a Perch, or Trout, and so some
other fish, which have not their teeth in their throats, but in their
mouths, which you shall observe to be very full of bones, and the skin
very thin, and little of it. I say, of these fish the hook never takes so sure
hold but you often lose your fish, unless he have gorged it.
Venator. I thank you, good master, for this observation.
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