eans of birds, a method peculiar to the Chinese, who train certain birds for the purpose in the same manner as falcons are taught to pursue game. See Cyprinus; and China, No. 121.
Fishing-Floats, are little appendages to the line, serving to keep the hook and bait suspended at the proper depth, to discover when the fish has hold of them, &c. Of these there are divers kinds; some made... An Epitome of the whole art of Fishing, wherein is shown (at one view), the harbours, leafons, and depths, for catching all sorts of fish usually angled for; also the various baits for each, so digested as to contain the essence of all the treatises ever written on the subject, except from the superfluities, which tend more to perplex than instruct.
| Names | Where found | Season | Time to ang. | Depth from ground | Proper Baits | |-------|-------------|--------|--------------|-------------------|--------------| | Bream | rough flr. river or mid. pond | April to Mich. | Sun-rife to 9 | touch ground | | Barbel | gravel-banks in currents under bridges | April to Aug. | very early or late | ditto | | Bleak | sandy bottom, deep rivers, ships | May to Oet. | all day | 6 inches from bottom | | Carp | full deep mud-bottom, pond or river | May to Aug. | Sun-rife to 9 | 3 inches from bottom | | Chub or Chevin | ditto | May to Dec. | all day | hot weather, mid-water | | Dace | sandy bottom, deep rivers, ships | May to Oet. | all day | ditto | | Gudgeon | gravel, floals near clay banks | May to Oet. | All the year | near or on ground | | Pike | river in stream | May to Aug. | Sun-rife to 10 | mid-way to the bottom | | Peach | pond deep part of bottom | Aug. to May. | all day | 6 inches from bottom | | Pope | deep holes in rivers | May to Oet. | all day | ditto | | Roach | sandy bottom, deep rivers, ships | May to Oet. | all day | 6 to 12 inches | | Salmon | deep rivers | Mar. to Sept. | 8 to 9; 3 to 6 | mid-way to the bottom | | Smelts | ships, ferms and docks | Apr. to Oet. | all day | variable | | Trout | putting stream and eddies of river | Mar. to Mich. | all day | cold weather, 6 inches to 9 | | Tench | fltony bottom river | all the year | Sun-rife to 9 | hot weather, top to mid-wat. | | Umbre or Gravling | mud-bottom river or pond | All the year | all day | hot weather, 6 to 9 inches | | Worms | Flies and Insects | No. | N° | No. |
Fishing-Hook, a small instrument made of steel-wire, of a proper form to catch and retain fish.
The fishing hook, in general, ought to be long in the shank, somewhat thick in the circumference, the point even and straight; let the bending be in the shank.
For For setting the hook on, use strong, but small silk, laying the hair on the inside of your hook; for if it be on the outside, the silk will fret and cut it asunder.
There are several sizes of these fishing-hooks, some big, some little; and of these, some have peculiar names; as, 1. Single hooks. 2. Double hooks; which have two bendings, one contrary to the other. 3. Snappers, or gorgers, which are the hooks to whip the artificial fly upon, or bait with the natural fly. 4. Springers, or spring hooks; a kind of double hooks, with a spring, which flies open upon being struck into any fish, and so keep its mouth open.
Fishing-Line, is either made of hair twisted; or silk; or the Indian grass. The best colours are the fustian, white, and grey; the two last for clear waters, the first for muddy ones. Nor is the pale watery green despisable; this colour is given artificially, by steeping the hair in a liquor made of alum, root, and the juice of walnut-leaves, boiled together.
Fishing-Rod, a long slender rod or wand, to which the line is fastened, for angling.—Of these there are several sorts; as, 1. A troller, or trolling-rod, which has a ring at the end of the rod, for the line to go through when it runs off a reel. 2. A whipper, or whipping-rod; a top-rod, that is weak in the middle, and top heavy, but all slender and fine. 3. A dropper; which is a strong rod and very light. 4. A snapper, or snap-rod; which is a strong pole, peculiarly used for the pike. 5. A bottom-rod; being the same as the dropper, but somewhat more pliable. 6. A sniggling or procking stick; a forked stick, having a short strong line, with a needle, baited with a leech worm: this is only for eels in their holes.
Fishing-Frog, or Angler. See Lophius.
Right of Fishing, and property of fish. It has been held, that where the lord of the manor hath the soil on both sides of the river, it is a good evidence that he hath a right of fishing; and it puts the proof upon him who claims liberam piscariam: but where a river ebbs and flows, and is an arm of the sea, there it is common to all, and he who claims a privilege to himself must prove it; for if the trespass is brought for fishing there, the defendant may justify, that the place where is brachium maris, in quo univsque subditus domini regis habet et habere debet liberam piscariam. In the Severn the soil belongs to the owners of the land on each side; and the soil of the river Thames is in the king; but the fishing is common to all. He who is owner of the soil of a private river, hath separatis piscariis; and he that hath libera piscaria, hath the property in the fish, and may bring a possession action for them; but communis piscaria is like the case of all other commons. One that has a close pond in which there are fish, may call them piscis suae, in an indictment, &c. but he cannot call them bona & catala, if they be not in trunks. There needs no privilege to make a fish-pond, as there doth in the case of a warren. See Franchise.