The Complete Angler, 5th edition/Chapter XVIII
The fifth day, continued
Of the Minnow, or Penk; Loach, Bull-Head, or Miller's- Thumb: and the
Stickle-bag
Piscator and Venator
Piscator. There be also three or four other little fish that I had almost
forgot; that are all without scales; and may for excellency of meat, be
compared to any fish of greatest value and largest size. They be usually
full of eggs or spawn, all the months of summer; for they breed often,
as 'tis observed mice and many of the smaller four-footed creatures of
the earth do and as those, so these come quickly to their full growth and
perfection. And it is needful that they breed both often and numerously;
for they be, besides other accidents of ruin, both a prey and baits for
other fish. And first I shall tell you of the Minnow or Penk.
The MINNOW hath, when he is in perfect season, and not sick, which
is only presently after spawning, a kind of dappled or waved colour,
like to a panther, on its sides, inclining to a greenish or sky-colour; his
belly being milk white; and his back almost black or blackish. He is a
sharp biter at a small worm, and in hot weather makes excellent sport
for young anglers, or boys, or women that love that recreation. And in
the spring they make of them excellent Minnow-tansies; for being
washed well in salt, and their heads and tails cut off, and their guts
taken out, and not washed after, they prove excellent for that use; that
is, being fried with yolk of eggs, the flowers of cowslips and of
primroses, and a little tansy; thus used they make a dainty dish of meat.
The LOACH is, as I told you, a most dainty fish: he breeds and feeds in
little and clear swift brooks or rills, and lives there upon the gravel, and
in the sharpest streams: he grows not to be above a finger long, and no
thicker than is suitable to that length The Loach is not unlike the shape
of the Eel: he has a beard or wattles like a barbel. He has two fins at his
sides, four at his belly, and one et his tail; he is dappled with many
black or brown spots; his mouth is barbel-like under his nose. This fish
is usually full of eggs or spawn; and is by Gesner, and other learned
physicians, commended for great nourishment, and to be very grateful
both to the palate and stomach of sick persons. He is to be fished for
with a very small worm, at the bottom; for he very seldom, or never,
rises above the gravel, on which I told you he usually gets his living.
The MILLER'S-THUMB, or BULL-HEAD, is a fish of no pleasing
shape. He is by Gesner compared to the Sea-toad-fish, for his similitude
and shape. It has a head big and flat, much greater than suitable to his
body; a mouth very wide, and usually gaping; he is without teeth, but
his lips are very rough, much like to a file. He hath two fins near to his
gills, which be roundish or crested; two fins also under the belly; two
on the back; one below the vent; and the fin of his tail is round. Nature
hath painted the body of this fish with whitish, blackish, brownish
spots. They be usually full of eggs or spawn all the summer, I mean the
females; and those eggs swell their vents almost into the form of a dug
They begin to spawn about April, and, as I told you, spawn several
months in the summer. And in the winter, the Minnow, and Loach, and
Bull-head dwell in the mud, as the Eel doth; or we know not where, no
more than we know where the cuckoo and swallow, and other half-year
birds, which first appear to us in April, spend their six cold, winter,
melancholy months. This BULL-HEAD does usually dwell, and hide
himself, in holes, or amongst stones in clear water; and in very hot days
will lie a long time very still, and sun himself, and will be easy to be
seen upon any flat stone, or any gravel; at which time he will suffer an
angler to put a hook, baited with a small worm, very near unto his very
mouth: and he never refuses to bite, nor indeed to be caught with the
worst of anglers. Matthiolus commends him much more for his taste
and nourishment, than for his shape or beauty.
There is also a little fish called a STICKLEBAG, a fish without scales,
but hath his body fenced with several prickles. I know not where he
dwells in winter; nor what he is good for in summer, but only to make
sport for boys and women-anglers, and to feed other fish that be fish of
prey, as Trouts in particular, who will bite at him as at a Penk; and
better, if your hook be rightly baited with him, for he may be so baited
as, his tail turning like the sail of a wind-mill, will make him turn more
quick than any Penk or Minnow can. For note, that the nimble turning
of that, or the Minnow is the perfection of Minnow-fishing. To which
end, if you put your hook into his mouth, and out at his tail; and then,
having first tied him with white thread a little above his tail, and placed
him after such a manner on your hook as he is like to turn then sew up
his mouth to your line, and he is like to turn quick, and tempt any
Trout: but if he does not turn quick, then turn his tail, a little more or
less, towards the inner part, or towards the side of the hook; or put the
Minnow or Sticklebag a little more crooked or more straight on your
hook, until it will turn both true and fast; and then doubt not but to
tempt any great Trout that lies in a swift stream. And the Loach that I
told you of will do the like: no bait is more tempting, provided the
Loach be not too big.
And now, scholar, with the help of this fine morning, and your patient
attention, I have said all that my present memory will afford me,
concerning most of the several fish that are usually fished for in fresh
waters.
Venator. But, master, you have by your former civility made me hope
that you will make good your promise, and say something of the several
rivers that be of most note in this nation; and also of fish-ponds, and the
ordering of them: and do it I pray, good master; for I love any discourse
of rivers, and fish and fishing; the time spent in such discourse passes
away very pleasantly