Angling is, I think, one of the most popular of British field sports;
certainly, for one book written about any other kind, there must be
half-a-dozen on the subject of fishing. I met lately with a most
amusing old book on the "Art of Angling," published in 1801; and
illustrated with very quaint old wood engravings of both fresh and sea
water fish. It commences with a long anatomical and physiological
description of fish, giving an account of their habits, method of
feeding, &c. For this last the author draws considerably on his own
imagination. For instance, he declares that mussels and oysters open
their shells for the purpose of catching crabs, closing them when one
creeps in, and thus securing their prey. The oyster also is declared to
change sides with each tide, lying with the flat shell uppermost one
time, and the convex the next. After this the author goes regularly
through the alphabet, treating everything connected with fresh-water
angling under its respective initial letter.
I suppose that at this time there were few, if any tackle shops, for
most elaborate directions are given for making lines. These were to be
of horse hair, and twisted in a "twisting instrument," whatever that
was. The hair was to be with the top of one to the tail of the other,
so that every part might be equally strong, and turned slowly, so as to
allow it "to bed" properly; the different lengths were to be tied
together either "by a water knot, or Dutch knot, or a weaver's." The
line was to taper, beginning with three hairs down to a single one,
where the hook was whipped on.
The rod, as a matter of the greatest importance, is duly treated. The
wood was to be procured between the middle of November and Christmas
Day; the stock or butt to be made of ground hazel, ground ash, or
ground willow, not more than two or three feet long. The wood chosen to
be that which shot directly from the ground--not from any stump--and
every joint beyond was to taper to a top made preferably of hazel,
though yew, crab, or blackthorn might be used. If it had any knots or
excrescences, which were to be avoided if possible, they must be
removed with a sharp knife. Five or six inches of the top were to be
cut off, and a small piece of round, smooth, taper whalebone spliced on
with silk and cobbler's wax, and the whole finished with a strong noose
of hair to fasten the line to. This was for an ordinary rod; the best
sort was made as follows:--A white deal or fir board, thick, free from
knots, and seven to eight feet long, was to be procured, and a
dexterous joiner was to divide this with his saw into several breadths;
then with a plane to shoot them round, smooth, and rush-grown or taper.
One of these would form the bottom of the rod, seven or eight feet long
in the piece. To this was fastened a hazel six or seven feet long,
proportioned to the fir; this also rush-grown, and it might consist of
two or three pieces, to the top of which a piece of yew was to be fixed
about two feet long--round, smooth, and taper; and, finally, a piece of
round whalebone, five or six inches long. Some rings or eyes were to be
placed on the rod in such a manner that when you laid your eye to one,
you could see through all the rest. A wheel or winch must be fixed on,
about a foot from the end of the rod, and, as a finish, a feather
dipped in _aqua fortis_ was passed over it, so as to make it a pure
cinnamon colour. "This," the author adds, "will be a curious rod if
artificially worked!"
The subject of fly-making, and how and when to use flies, is treated
most exhaustively--no less than twenty-four pages being devoted to the
subject. The materials named for fly-dressing are very good indeed, and
very much the same as used now; but when the author tries to explain
the _actual_ method of using them he utterly fails. Anyone who
attempted to tie flies in the way explained would produce most
extraordinary specimens.
The author has taken very great pains, not only in naming the flies to
be used each month, but the actual time of day for them, and the hours
between which they must be used. Worms for bait are described and named
with great exactness, and the best way to catch and keep them, also how
best to scour them previous to use. I think, however, the method
recommended for scouring one kind would be too much for any but a
_very_ enthusiastic angler--namely, to put them in a woollen bag, and
keep them in your waistcoat pocket. Few persons could stand that, I
think.
Many recipes for different sorts of pastes are given, but it is hard to
believe that any fish would take them--"bean flour, the tenderest part
of a kitten's leg, wax and suet beaten together in a mortar," scarcely
sounds alluring; neither does a mixture of "fat old cheese (the
strongest rennet), suet, and turmeric," appear to be very nice. To any
of these pastes you may add "assafoetida, oil of polypody of the oak,
oil of ivy, or oil of Peter." Well, I do not suppose that they would
make much difference.
A great number of recipes for unguents, to smear over the worms used so
as to make them more attractive, are given; and most extraordinary they
are:--assafoetida, three drachms; camphire, one drachm; Venice
turpentine, one drachm; beaten up with oils of lavender and camomile,
is one recipe. Another is, "mulberry juice, hedgehog's fat, oil of
water-lilies and oil of pennyroyal," mixed together; but the most
elaborate one is as follows:--"Take the oils of camomile, lavender, and
aniseed, of each a quarter of an ounce; heron's grease and the best of
assafoetida, each two drachms; two scruples of cummin seed finely
beaten to powder; Venice turpentine, camphire, and galbanum, of each a
drachm; add two grains of civet and make into an unguent. This must be
kept close in a glazed earthenware pot, or it loses much of its virtue;
anoint your line with it and your expectation will be abundantly
answered. Some anglers, however, place more confidence in a judicious
choice of baits and a proper management of them, than in the most
celebrated unguents." I think the concluding paragraph is delightful. I
suppose it did at length dawn on the author's mind that people might
object to carrying about such hideously stinking compositions.
The angler is told that "his apparel must not be of a light or shining
colour, but of a dark brown, fitting closely to the body, so as not to
fright the fish away." The impediments to our anglers' recreation are
named. "The fault may be occasioned by his tackle, as when his lines or
hooks are too large, when his bait is dead or decaying. If he angles at
a wrong time of day, when the fish are not in the humour of taking his
bait. If the fish have been frightened by him or with his shadow. If
the weather be too cold. If the weather be too hot. If it rains much or
fast. If it hails or snows. If it be tempestuous. If the wind blows
high or be in the east or north. Want of patience and the want of a
proper assortment of baits." Anglers are also warned "never to fish in
any water that is not common without leave of the owner, which is
seldom denied to any but those that do not deserve it." Another
direction is given that would greatly horrify any Blue Ribbon army man
who might see it, namely, "if at any time, you happen to be over-heated
with walking or other exercise, you must avoid small liquors as you
would poison, and rather take a glass of brandy, the instantaneous
effects of which in cooling the body and quenching drought are
amazing."
The laws as to angling and fishing generally are quoted at considerable
length and seem most of them to be aimed at preventing immature fish
being taken and preserves damaged. The penalties did not err on the
side of clemency. By 5th Elizabeth, destroying any dam of any pond,
moat or stew, &c., with intent to take the fish, was punished with
three months' imprisonment and to be bound to good behaviour for seven
years after; also by 21st Elizabeth, "no servant shall be questioned
for killing a trespasser within his master's liberty who will not
yield; if not done out of former malice. Yet if the trespasser kills
any such servant it is murder."
I fancy the following, if carried out now, would rather astonish many
fish dealers in the city of London:--"Those that sell, offer, or expose
to sale or exchange for any other goods, bret or turbot under sixteen
inches long; brill or pearl under fourteen; codlin twelve; whiting six;
bass and mullet twelve; sole, plaice, and dab eight; and flounder
seven, from their eyes to the utmost extent of the tail; are liable to
forfeit twenty shillings, by distress, or to be sent to hard labour for
not less than six or more than fourteen days, and to be _whipped_." I
suppose most, if not all, of these enactments are now repealed, but if
not, and they were enforced, a considerable sensation would be created
by them.
One paragraph is very remarkable, as showing that over ninety years
ago, the same views were promulgated, relating to the profit that might
be obtained from fish in ponds, as have been brought forward in the
_Times_ and other papers during recent years. Our author says: "It
is surprising that, considering the benefit which may accrue from
making ponds and keeping of fish, it is not more generally put in
practice. For, besides furnishing the table and raising money, the land
would be vastly improved and be worth forty shillings an acre; four
acres converted into a pond will return every year a thousand fed carp
from the least size to fourteen or fifteen inches long, besides pike,
perch, tench, and other fish. The carp alone may be reckoned to bring
one with another, sixpence, ninepence, or perhaps twelvepence apiece,
amounting at the lowest rate to twenty-five pounds, and at the highest
to fifty, which would be a very considerable as well as useful
improvement." Exactly; this has been written and pointed out in the
papers year after year.
There are wood-cuts of every fish and full directions how to angle for
them. For pike, trolling, live baiting, fishing with frogs, are all
lengthily described; and also a curious sort of spinning, the motion
being caused by cutting off one of the fins close to the gills and
another behind the vent on the contrary side. I am sorry to say the
author winds up by full directions for snaring and snatching.
It seems curious to be told that good places for roach fishing are by
Blackfriars, Westminster and Chelsea Bridges, or by the piles at London
Bridge; but that the best way by far was to go below the bridges and
fasten your boat to the "stern of any collier or other vessel whose
bottom was dirty with weeds," to angle there, as "you would not fail to
catch many roach, and those very fine ones." The sailors on board
colliers must have been a very different set in those days from what
they are now. I fancy anyone trying to tie his boat to the stern of a
collier, whether for fishing or any other purpose, would have a pretty
hot time of it. The Thames, of course, is mentioned as one of the
rivers where salmon were caught, though the localities are not named.
Exact particulars are given for fishing for eels, but in those days
they must have been a very amiable sort of fish, not at all like the
obstinate and perverse creatures they are now, if they allowed
themselves to be caught by sniggling in the way mentioned. You were to
"get a strong line of silk and a small hook bated with a lob worm; next
get a short stick with a cleft in it, and put the line into it near the
bait; then thrust it into such holes as you suppose him to lurk in. If
he is there, it is great odds that he will take it." The stick was then
to be detached from the line and the eel allowed to gorge the bait. You
were not to try and draw him out hastily, but to give him time to tire
himself out by pulling. All I can say is, that if anyone ever managed
to get an eel out in this way he must have had an uncommon share of
luck. My own experience shows me that when an eel gorges your bait and
gets into his hole, it is quite hopeless to attempt to get him out, and
the only plan is to pull until something gives way, and that is never
the eel, but usually your hook, and sometimes the line.
Our author having given every kind of advice and direction about
angling, adds the following admonition:--"Remember that the wit and
invention of mankind were bestowed for other purposes than to deceive
silly fish, and that, however delightful angling may be, it ceases to
be innocent when used otherwise than as a mere recreation"; and he
winds up all he has to say about fresh-water angling thus:--"The editor
having gone through the English alphabet, takes the liberty to tell
gentlemen that the best way to secure fish is to transport poachers." A
very wise piece of advice, no doubt much acted on in those days.
In the second part of the book, devoted to sea fish, no directions are
given for fishing, but merely descriptions of them, and very curious
some of these are. We are told of dolphins, that "they sleep with their
snouts out of water," and that "some have affirmed that they have heard
them snore; they will live three days out of water, during which time
they sigh in so mournful a manner as to affect those with concern, who
are not used to hear them."
Another fish, the "sea-wolf, taken off Heligoland, is a very voracious
animal, and well furnished with dreadful teeth. They are so hard that
if he bites the fluke of an anchor you may hear the sound and see the
impression of his teeth." Certainly the engraving of it makes it an
awful-looking thing, with a body like a codfish and an enormous head,
with a huge mouth full of teeth like spikes. When the herring fishery
is mentioned, it is curious that the author gives a full account of the
Dutch fishery but passes over the English with a very brief notice. The
account of the former is remarkable. Their vessels were a kind of
barque called a buss, from forty-five to sixty tons burden, carrying
two or three small cannon; none were allowed to steer out of port
without a convoy unless they carried twenty pieces of cannon amongst
them all. What can have been the use of this regulation I cannot
imagine. A pirate would never attack a fishing-boat, and against a
vessel of war they would have been useless. The regulations for fishing
were very distinct. No man was to cast his net within 100 fathoms of
another's boat; whilst the nets were cast, a light was to be left in
the stern; if a boat was by any accident obliged to leave off fishing,
the light was to be thrown into the sea, and when the greater part of
the fleet left off fishing and cast anchor, the rest were to do the
same.
Of the English fishery, the date of its commencement, the size of the
nets and the names of the different sorts of herrings are merely given;
these names are very curious, I wonder whether they are known on the
coast now. Six sorts are given,--the Fat Herring, the largest and best;
the Meat Herring, large, but not so thick as the first; the Night
Herring, a middle-sized one; the Pluck, which has been hurt in the net;
the Shotten Herring, which has lost its spawn; and the Copshen, which
by some accident or other has been deprived of its head. When the whale
fishery is mentioned, here too the description given relates entirely
to the Dutch. As to the English it only says that in 1728 the South Sea
Company began to work it with pretty good success at first, but that it
dwindled away until 1740, when Parliament thought fit to give greater
encouragement to it. The discipline in the Dutch whale fleet seems to
have been very good; the following are some of the standing
regulations:--In case a vessel was wrecked and the crew saved, the
first vessel they met with was to take them in and the second half of
those from the first, but were not obliged to take in any of the cargo;
but if any goods taken out of such vessel are absolutely relinquished
and another ship finds and takes them, the captain was to be
accountable to the owner of the wrecked ship for one-half clear of all
expenses. If the crew deserted any wrecked vessel, they would have no
claim to any of the effects saved, but the whole would go to the
proprietor. However, if present when the effects were saved and they
assisted therein, they would have one-fourth. That if a person piked a
fish on the ice, it was his own so long as he left anyone with it, but
the minute he left it, the fish became the property of the first
captain that came along. If it was fastened to the shore by an anchor
or rope, though left alone it belonged to its first captor. If any man
was maimed or wounded in the Service, the Commissioners of the Fishery
were to procure him reasonable satisfaction, to which the whole fleet
were to contribute. They likewise agreed to attend prayers morning and
evening, on pain of a forfeit at the discretion of the captain; not to
get drunk or draw their knives on forfeiture of half their wages, nor
fight on forfeiture of the whole. They were not to lay wagers on the
good or ill-success of the fishing, nor buy or sell with the condition
of taking one or more fish on the penalty of twenty-five florins. They
were likewise to rest satisfied with the provisions allowed them and
never to light candle, fire, or match, without the captain's leave on
the like penalty. These regulations were read out before the voyage
commenced and the crew were then called over to receive the customary
gratuity before setting out and were promised another on return in
proportion to the success of the voyage. The vessels went north leaving
Iceland on the left, to parallel 75°, but some, the author says,
ventured as far as 80° or 82°. I fancy he had rather vague ideas on the
subject of North latitude, as it was not until 1827 that Sir E. Parry
reached 82°, the farthest point north ever attained up to that time.
Amongst other fish "stock fish" is mentioned, which is described as
"cod fish caught in the North of Norway by fishermen who cut holes in
the ice for the purpose. On hooking one, as soon as they pulled it out,
it was opened, cleaned, and then thrown on the rocks where it froze and
became as hard as a deal board, and never to be dissolved. This the
sailors beat to pieces, often calling it fresh fish, though it may have
been kept seven years and worms have eaten holes in it." But if the
letter-press is curious, the engravings with which the book is
illustrated are still quainter. The fish, whether minnows or salmon,
reach the same length; the only difference being made in their breadth,
even the whale is merely represented as rather thicker and with two
little men with axes in their hands walking on it. The author
undoubtedly took great pains in compiling his work, and in spite of all
eccentricities there are many hints and suggestions that are useful
even nowadays.