Thus have your rod, line, float and hook;
The rod to strike, when you shall think it fit;
The line to lead the fish with wary skill;
The float and quill to warn you of the bit;
The hook to hold him by the chap or gill:
Hook, line and rod all guided to your wit.
Yet there remain of fishing tools to tell
Some other sorts that you must have as well.
Other Fishing Tools.
<poem> A little board, the lightest you can find, [13. p. 193]* But not so thin that it will break or bend; Of cypress sweet or of some other kind, That like a trencher shall itself extend; Made smooth and plain, your lines thereon to wind, With battlements at every other end;
Like to the bulwark of some ancient town As well-walled Silchester, now razed down.
A shoe to bear the crawling worms therein, With hole above to hang it by your side. [14. p. 193] A hollow cane that must be light and thin, Wherein the "Bobb" and "Palmer" shall abide; Which must be stopped with an handsome pin Lest out again your baits do hap to slide.
A little box that covered close shall lie, To keep therein the busy wingèd fly.
Then must you have a plummet formèd round Like to the pellet of a birding bow; [15. p. 193]* Wherewith you may the secret'st waters sound, And set your float thereafter high or low
- <poem>
