s the _Pike_ is of fish) breeds but once in twelve months: and
you are to note, that his time of breeding or Spawning is usually about
the end of _February_; or somewhat later, in _March_, as the weather
proves colder or warmer: and to note, that his manner of breeding is
thus, a He and a She _Pike_ will usually go together out of a River
into some ditch or creek, and that there the Spawner casts her eggs,
and the Melter hovers over her all that time that she is casting her
Spawn, but touches her not. I might say more of this, but it might be
thought curiosity or worse, and shall therefore forbear it, and take up
so much of your attention as to tell you that the best of _Pikes_ are
noted to be in Rivers, then those in great Ponds or Meres, and the
worst in smal Ponds.

* * * * *

And now I shall proceed to give you some directions how to catch this
_Pike_, which you have with so much patience heard me talk of.

[Illustration of a Pike]

His feeding is usually _fish_ or _frogs_, and sometime a weed of his
owne, called _Pikrel-weed_, of which I told you some think some _Pikes_
are bred; for they have observed, that where no _Pikes_ have been put
into a Pond, yet that there they have been found, and that there has
been plenty of that weed in that Pond, and that that weed both breeds
and feeds them; but whether those _Pikes_ so bred will ever breed by
generation as the others do, I shall leave to the disquisitions of men
of more curiosity and leisure then I profess my self to have; and shall
proceed to tell you, that you may fish for a _Pike_, either with a
ledger, or a walking-bait; and you are to note, that I call that a
ledger which is fix'd, or made to rest in one certaine place when you
shall be absent; and that I call that a walking bait, which you take
with you, and have ever in motion. Concerning which two, I shall give
you this direction, That your ledger bait is best to be a living bait,
whether it be a fish or a Frog; and that you may make them live the
longer, you may, or indeed you must take this course:

First, for your live bait of fish, a _Roch_ or _Dace_ is (I think) best
and most tempting, and a _Pearch_ the longest liv'd on a hook; you must
take your knife, (which cannot be too sharp) and betwixt the head and
the fin on his back, cut or make an insition, or such a scar as you may
put the arming wyer of your hook into it, with as little bruising or
hurting the fish as