The Angler's Guide: Being a New, Plain, and Complete Practical Treatise On the Art of Angling for Sea, River, and Pond Fish, Deduced from Many Years Practice, Experience, and Observation

PREFACE.In writing this Treatise on Angling, my pen has always been guided by a love of truth, and a sincere desire to improve an Art in which I so much delight; — and the publication of it proceeds wholly from a conviction that a plain practical Guide to the Art of Angling was wanted ; for it is of little value to the learner to be told, that worms are a good bait for Carp, Gudgeon, &c.; or that Roach will take paste, Barbel—greaves ; or that Jack and Pike are taken with a Gudgeon, Dace, or other small Fish; unless such information be accompanied with clear and practical rules how to bait the hook, at what depth to fish, what sized hook is proper to use, what kind and quality of ground-bait, how to make and cast it in, &c., for, in such minute (but necessary) information, most writers on Angling are, I conceive, very deficient. This information is particularly needed by theJuvenile Sportsman, as the old practitioner is, generally speaking, bv no means communicative; and I have often witnessed the evasive answers of Old Anglers, when applied to on the subject: indeed, it is a very common practice for those who are masters of the Art, to discontinue Angling, and move away, when accosted by strangers or a novice. I have, also, been careful not to introduce any thing resting on mere theory, but to instruct the novice by rules drawn from actual practice, experience, and observation ; arranged in the most plain and intelligible manner; and I feel highly gratified to find that my endeavours to supply such a work, have been so well received. In this Edition, the whole of the Treatise has been carefully corrected and revised; and much additional information, relative to Angling, has been introduced, as well as many new cuts and engravings to illustrate and embellish the subject: and to which is added, the Troller's Guide, a new and complete Treatise on Trolling, or the Art of Fishing for Jack and Pike. The only work written expressly on the art of taking Jack and Pike, by Angling, is called the Complete TroUer, written and published about the year 1682, by the Rev. R. Nobbs ; and, as this healthy and delightful branch of Fishing is followed with avidity, and preferred, by many Anglers, to every other