Interested in Trout fishing?

Here is the introduction to the subject as told in The Compleat Angler.
The narrator then goes on to describe how to catch trout.
His advice may, or may not, be relevant today.

You can buy an ebook on trout fishing by clicking here
which guarantees a catch every time you go fishing.

So, here is the extract from Compleat Angler:

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.

There is also in Kent, near to Canterbury, a Trout called there a
Fordidge Trout, a Trout that bears the name of the town where it is
usually caught, that is accounted the rarest of fish; many of them near
the bigness of a Salmon, but known by their different colour; and in
their best season they cut very white: and none of these have been
known to be caught with an angle, unless it were one that was caught
by Sir George Hastings, an excellent angler, and now with God: and he
hath told me, he thought that Trout bit not for hunger but wantonness;
and it is the rather to be believed, because both he, then, and many
others before him, have been curious to search into their bellies, what
the food was by which they lived;
and have found out nothing by which they might satisfy their curiosity.

Concerning which you are to take notice, that it is reported by good
authors, that grasshoppers and some fish have no mouths, but are
nourished and take breath by the porousness of their gills, man knows
not how: and this may be believed, if we consider that when the raven
hath hatched her eggs, she takes no further care, but leaves her young
ones to the care of the God of nature, who is said, in the Psalms, "to
feed the young ravens that call upon him ". And they be kept alive and
fed by a dew; or worms that breed in their nests; or some other ways
that we mortals know not. And this may be believed of the Fordidge
Trout, which, as it is said of the stork, that he knows his season, so he
knows his times, I think almost his day of coming into that river out of
the sea; where he lives, and, it is like, feeds, nine months of the year,
and fasts three in the river of Fordidge. And you are to note, that those
townsmen are very punctual in observing the time of beginning to fish
for them; and boast much, that their river affords a Trout that exceeds
all others. And just so does Sussex boast of several fish; as, namely, a
Shelsey Cockle, a Chichester Lobster, an Arundel Mullet, and an
Amerly Trout.

And, now, for some confirmation of the Fordidge Trout: you are to
know that this Trout is thought to eat nothing in the fresh water; and it
may be the better believed, because it is well known, that swallows, and
bats, and wagtails, which are called half-year birds, and not seen to fly
in England for six months in the year, but about Michaelmas leave us
for a hotter climate, yet some of them that have been left behind their
fellows, have been found, many thousands at a time, in hollow trees, or
clay caves, where they have been observed to live, and sleep out the
whole winter, without meat. And so Albertus observes, That there is
one kind of frog that hath her mouth naturally shut up about the end of
August, and that she lives so all the winter: and though it be strange to
some, yet it is known to too many among us to be doubted.

And so much for these Fordidge Trouts, which never afford an angler
sport, but either live their time of being in the fresh water, by their meat
formerly gotten in the sea, not unlike the swallow or frog, or, by the
virtue of the fresh water only; or, as the birds of Paradise and the
cameleon are said to live, by the sun and the air.

There is also in Northumberland a Trout called a Bull-trout, of a much
greater length and bigness than any in these southern parts; and there
are, in many rivers that relate to the sea, Salmon-trouts, as much
different from others, both in shape and in their spots, as we see sheep
in some countries differ one from another in their shape and bigness,
and in the fineness of the wool: and, certainly, as some pastures breed
larger sheep; so do some rivers, by reason of the ground over which
they run, breed larger Trouts.

Now the next thing that I will commend to your consideration is, that
the Trout is of a more sudden growth than other fish. Concerning
which, you are also to take notice, that he lives not so long as the
Pearch, and divers other fishes do, as Sir Francis Bacon hath observed
in his History of Life and Death.

And next you are to take notice, that he is not like the Crocodile, which
if he lives never so long, vet always thrives till his death: but 'tis not so
with the Trout; for after he is come to his full growth, he declines in his
body, and keeps his bigness, or thrives only in his head till his death.
And you are to know, that he will, about, especially before, the time of
his spawning, get, almost miraculously, through weirs and flood-gates,
against the stream; even through such high and swift places as is almost
incredible. Next, that the Trout usually spawns about October or
November, but in some rivers a little sooner or later; which is the more
observable, because most other fish spawn in the spring or summer,
when the sun hath warmed both the earth and water, and made it fit for
generation. And you are to note, that he continues many months out of
season; for it may be observed of the Trout, that he is like the Buck or
the Ox, that will not be fat in many months, though he go in the very
same pastures that horses do, which will be fat in one month: and so
you may observe, That most other fishes recover strength, and grow
sooner fat and in season than the Trout doth.

And next you are to note, That till the sun gets to such a height as to
warm the earth and the water, the Trout is sick, and lean, and lousy, and
unwholesome; for you shall, in winter, find him to have a big head, and,
then, to be lank and thin and lean; at which time many of them have
sticking on them Sugs, or Trout-lice; which is a kind of a worm, in
shape like a clove, or pin with a big head, and sticks close to him, and
sucks his moisture, those, I think, the Trout breeds himself: and never
thrives till he free himself from them, which is when warm weather
comes; and, then, as he grows stronger, he gets from the dead still water
into the sharp streams and the gravel, and, there, rubs off these worms
or lice; and then, as he grows stronger, so he gets him into swifter and
swifter streams, and there lies at the watch for any fly or minnow that
comes near to him; and he especially loves the May-fly, which is bred
of the cod-worm, or cadis; and these make the Trout bold and lusty, and
he is usually fatter and better meat at the end of that month than at any
time of the year.

Now you are to know that it is observed, that usually the best Trouts are
either red or yellow; though some, as the Fordidge Trout, be white and
yet good; but that is not usual: and it is a note observable, that the
female Trout hath usually a less head, and a deeper body than the male
Trout, and is usually the better meat. And note, that a hog back and a
little head, to either Trout, Salmon or any other fish, is a sign that that
fish is in season.

But yet you are to note, that as you see some willows or palm-trees bud
and blossom sooner than others do, so some Trouts be, in rivers, sooner
in season: and as some hollies, or oaks, are longer before they cast their
leaves, so are some Trouts, in rivers, longer before they go out of
season.

And you are to note, that there are several kinds of Trouts: but these
several kinds are not considered but by very few men; for they go under
the general name of Trouts; just as pigeons do, in most places; though it
is certain, there are tame and wild pigeons; and of the tame, there be
hermits and runts, and carriers and cropers, and indeed too many to
name. Nay, the Royal Society have found and published lately, that
there be thirty and three kinds of spiders; and yet all, for aught I know,
go under that one general name of spider. And it is so with many kinds
of fish, and of Trouts especially; which differ in their bigness, and
shape, and spots, and colour. The great Kentish hens may be an
instance, compared to other hens: and, doubtless, there is a kind of
small Trout, which will never thrive to be big; that breeds very many
more than others do, that be of a larger size: which you may rasher
believe, if you consider that the little wren end titmouse will have
twenty young ones at a time, when, usually, the noble hawk, or the
musical thrassel or blackbird, exceed not four or five.

You can buy an ebook on trout fishing by clicking here
which guarantees a catch every time you go fishing.

This is how the author describes his insight:

After many unsuccessful trout fishing expeditions,
I was asking myself a lot of questions.
It seemed unusual at the time,
but I one day wondered if the rules for hunting would somehow help with Trout Fishing.
The rules were obvious to hunters,
but no fisherman I had ever met even mentioned that kind of thing in relation to fish.
So I hit the books. I decided that I would understand how a trout thinks,
and see if I could increase my chances of success.
Being a fairly studious type of person, it didn’t take me long
to devour every book I could get my hands on from the local bookstore and the library.
Within a week I knew more about Trout than 99.9% of the world's population.
And guess what happened on the next fishing trip…

Bingo! A Bag full of Trout!

You can buy an ebook of The Compleat Angler here.

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just send me a copy of your purchase reference number
and I'll send you a FREE copy of The Compleat Angler with my compliments.

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