On the Nature and Breeding of the Trout,
and how to fish for him

Chapter IV

Piscator, Venator, Milk-woman, Maudlin,
Hostess

Piscator. The Trout is a fish highly valued, both in this and foreign
nations. He may be justly said, as the old poet said of wine, and we
English say of venison, to be a generous fish: a fish that is so like the
buck, that he also has his seasons; for it is observed, that he comes in
and goes out of season with the stag and buck. Gesner says, his name is
of a German offspring; and says he is a fish that feeds clean and purely,
in the swiftest streams, and on the hardest gravel; and that he may justly
contend with all fresh water fish, as the Mullet may with all sea fish, for
precedency and daintiness of taste; and that being in right season, the
most dainty palates have allowed precedency to him.

And before I go farther in my discourse, let me tell you, that you are to
observe, that as there be some barren does that are good in summer, so
there be some barren Trouts that are good in winter; but there are not
many that are so; for usually they be in their perfection in the month of
May, and decline with the buck. Now you are to take notice, that in
several countries, as in Germany, and in other parts, compared to ours,
fish do differ much in their bigness, and shape, and other ways; and so
do Trouts. It is well known that in the Lake Leman, the Lake of Geneva,
there are Trouts taken of three cubits long; as is affirmed by Gesner, a
writer of good credit: and Mercator says, the Trouts that are taken in the
Lake of Geneva are a great part of the merchandize of that famous city.
And you are further to know, that there be certain waters that breed
Trouts remarkable, both for their number and smallness. I know a little
brook in Kent, that breeds them to a number incredible, and you may
take them twenty or forty in an hour, but none greater than about the
size of a Gudgeon. There are also, in divers rivers, especially that relate
to, or be near to the sea, as Winchester, or the Thames about Windsor, a
little Trout called a Samlet, or Skegger Trout, in both which places I
have caught twenty or forty at a standing, that will bite as fast and as
freely as Minnows: these be by some taken to be young Salmons; but in
those waters they never grow to be bigger than a Herring.