a bait used in angling for divers kinds of fish. See FISHING.

The fly is either natural or artificial.

I. Natural flies are innumerable. The more usual for this purpose are mentioned in the preceding page.

There are two ways to fish with natural flies; either on the surface of the water, or a little underneath it.

In angling for chevin, roach, or dace, move not your natural fly twitly when you see the fish make at it; but rather let it glide freely towards him with the stream; but if it be in a still and slow water, draw the fly slowly sidewise by him, which will make him eagerly pursue.

II. The artificial fly is seldom used but in blustering weather, when the waters are so troubled by the winds, that the natural fly cannot be seen, nor rest upon them. Of this artificial fly there are reckoned no less than 12 sorts, of which the following are the principal.

1. For March, the dun fly; made of dun wool, and the feathers of the partridge's wing; or the body made of black wool, and the feathers of a black drake.

2. For April, the stone fly; the body made of black wool, dyed yellow under the wings and tail.

3. For the beginning of May, the ruddy fly; made of red wool, and bound about with black silk, with the feathers of a black capon hanging dangling on his sides next his tail.

4. For June, the greenish fly; the body made of black wool, with a yellow list on either side, the wings taken off the wings of a buzzard, bound with black broken hemp.

5. The moorish fly, the body made of darkish wool, and the wings of the blackish mail of a drake.

6. The tawney fly, good till the middle of June; the body made of tawney wool, the wings made contrary one against the other of the whitish mail of a white drake.

7. For July, the wafly fly; the body made of black wool, cast about with yellow silk, and the wings of drakes feathers.

8. The steel fly; good in the middle of July; the body made with greenish wool, cast about with the feathers of a peacock's tail, and the wings made of those of the buzzard.

9. For August, the drake fly; the body made with black wool cast about with black silk; his wings of the mail of a black drake, with a black head.

The best rules for artificial fly fishing are,

1. To fish in a river somewhat disturbed with rain; or in a cloudy day, when the waters are moved by a gentle breeze: the south wind is best; and if the wind blow high, yet not so but that you may conveniently guard your tackle, the fish will rise in plain deeps; but if the wind be small, the best angling is in swift streams.

2. Keep as far from the water side as may be; fish down the stream with the sun at your back, and touch not the water with your line.

3. Ever angle in clear rivers, with a small fly and slender wings; but in muddy places, use a larger.

4. When, after rain, the water becomes brownish, use an orange fly; in a clear day, a light-colored fly; a dark fly for dark waters, &c.

5. Let the line be twice as long as the rod, unless the river be encumbered with wood.

6. For every sort of fly, have several of the same differing in colour, to suit with the different complexions of several waters and weathers.

7. Have a nimble eye, and active hand, to strike presently with the rising of the fish; or else he will be apt to spue out the hook.

8. Let the fly fall first into the water, and not the line, which will scare the fish.

9. In slow rivers, or still places, cast the fly across the river, and let it sink a little in the water, and draw it gently back with the current.

Salmon flies should be made with their wings standing one behind the other, whether two or four. This fish delights in the gaudiest colours that can be; chiefly in the wings, which must be long, as well as the tail.

FISHING by means 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. For this purpose they have trained a species of pelican, resembling the common corvortant, which they call the Leu-tse, or fishing bird. Sir George Staunton, who, when the embassy was proceeding on the southern branch of the great canal, saw those birds employed, tells us, that on a large lake, close to the east side of the canal, are thousands of small boats and rafts, built entirely for this species of fishery. On each boat or raft are ten or a dozen birds, which, at a signal from the owner, plunge into the water; and it is astonishing to see the enormous size of fish with which they return, grasped within their bills. They appeared to be so well trained, that it did not require either ring or cord about their throats to prevent them from swallowing any portion of their prey, except what their master was pleased to return to them for encouragement and food. The boat used by these fishermen is of a remarkable light make, and is often carried to the lake, together with the fishing birds, by the men who are there to be supported by it.

The same author saw the fishermen busy on the great lake Wee chaung-hee; and he gives the following account of a very singular method practised by them for catching the fish of the lake without the aid of birds, of net, or of hooks. To the one side of a boat a flat board, painted white, is fixed, at an angle of about 45 degrees, the edge inclining towards the water. On moonlight nights the boat is so placed that the painted board is turned to the moon, from whence the rays of light striking on the whitened surface, give it the appearance of moving water; on which the fish being tempted to leap on their element, the boatmen raising with a string the board, turn the fish into the boat.

Water-fowl are much sought after by the Chinese, and are taken upon the same lake by the following ingenious device. Empty jars or gourds are suffered to float about upon the water, that such objects may become familiar to the birds. The fisherman then wades into the lake with one of these empty vessels upon his head, and walks gently towards a bird; and lifting up his arm, draws it down below the surface of the water without any disturbance or giving alarm to the rest, several of whom he treats in the same manner, until he fills the bag he had brought to hold his prey. The contrivance itself is not so singular, as it is that the same exactly should have occurred in the new continent, as Ulloa affirms, to the natives of Carthagena, upon the lake Cienega de Tesias.

FISHING Floats, are little appendages to the line, serving An Epitome of the whole art of Fishing, wherein is shown, (at one view), the harbours, seasons, 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, exempt from the superfluities, which tend more to perplex than instruct.

| Name | Where found | Time to ang. | Depth from ground | Proper Baits | Frogs. | Flies. No. | Pailes. No. | Worms. No. | Fish and Insects. No. | |------------|--------------------------------------------|----------------|-------------------|--------------|--------|------------|------------|------------|----------------------| | Bream | Rough fl. river or mid. pond | Apr. to Mich. | Sunrife to 9. | Touch Ground | Sunrife | 1 | 3 | | 1 to 7 | | Barbel | Gravel banks in currents under bridges | Apr. to Aug. | 3 to funlet | Very early or Dito | Sunrife to 9 | 2 | | | 2 6 7 | | Bleak | Sandy bottom deep rivers | May to Aug. | Six inches from bottom | All day | 1 | | | | 2 3 8 | | Carp | Ship flems | May to Dec. | Three inches from bottom | Hot weather, mid water | 1 3 4 | 2 | | | 1 2 3 4 | | Chub or Chevin | Sandy bottom, deep bottom | May to Oet. | Six to 12 inches from bottom | Ditto | 1 | | | | 1 2 4 5 | | Dace | Near clay banks | All the year | Near or on the ground | Mid water | 2 | | | | 1 2 3 4 | | Gudgeon | River in stream | May to Aug. | Sunrife to 12 | Dito | 1 | | | | 1 6 | | Perch | Deep holes in rivers | Aug. to May | Six inches from bottom | All large | 1 | | | | 1 6 | | Pope Roach | Sandy bottom | May to Oet. | | All large | | | | | 1 6 | | Salmon | Purring stream and eddies of river | Apr. to Oet. | Mid way to the bottom | All flems | 1 | | | | 1 6 | | Trout | Purring stream and eddies of river | All the year | Sunrife to 9 | Mid water | 2 | | | | 1 6 | | Tench | Purring stream and eddies of river | All the year | Sunrife to 9 | Cold wea. 3 inches from bot. | All flems | 1 | | | 1 6 | | Umbre | Grayling | All the year | All day | Cold weather, mid water | 1 to 5 | | | | 1 to 5 |

*Fishing:* 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 of Mulcovy duck quills, which are the best for flow waters; but for strong streams, found cork, without flaws or holes, bored through with a hot iron, into which is put a quill of a fit proportion, is preferable: pare the cork to a pyramidal form, and make it smooth.

*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 setting the hook on, use strong but small silk, laying the hair on the inside of your book; 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 keeps its mouth open.

FISHING-Line, is either made of hair twisted; or silk; or the Indian grass. The best colours are the furred, white, and gray; 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 fingling or procking stick; a forked stick, having a short strong line, with a needle, baited with a lob 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 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 unumquoque 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 liberam piscariam; and he that hath liberam piscariam, hath a 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 clofe pond in which there are fish, may call them piscis suos, in an indictment, &c. but he cannot call them bona et catalle, 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.