ciiait. xvi. p emd Tench. 195 



The English carp are very difficult to take with the rod They 

 are tin- fox ol the waters Cor cunning. The plan, however, is to 

 use fi in- gut and light nnill float, with small shot about a fo t 

 From the hook, No. 6 or 7 Kirby size, not larger. Let the shot 

 rest on tlie bottom, just tilting the float Bait with paste, worms', 

 utils, ground-baiting with the same mixi'il with clay and bran. 

 Keep out of sight and quiet, and strike when the float moves off, not 

 before. Ephemera says the\ rareh reach (i lbs. in rivers, and 12 lbs. 

 in ponds in England; while other writers say they grow to twice 

 those weights, and even more in warmer climates than Kngland. 

 Let us hope, therefore, that they really do grow to a respectable 

 size on the Neilgherries, with their sub-tropical clime, and that we 

 have seen only little ones because they are this most easily caught. 

 To catch these little ones with a rod and line is a very simple 

 matter for any boy that thinks it worth doing, but to catch the 

 big foxy ones wants ground-baiting and very quiet and very fine 

 Ashing. Ground-bait two or three likely holes, and keep ringing 

 the changes on them, moving from one to another to let it quiet 

 down after lauding a fish, IJest your rod on a linked twig or 

 otherwise bo as to keep quiet. 



Tench should be fished for in the same manner, or with the 

 bait just off the ground, the bait being a well-scoured brandling. 

 Though captious feeders, they are much freer biters than carp. 

 They Beldom exceed 5 lbs. or 6 lbs. in weight ; 2 lbs. is a common 



lit. I have boyish memories of fair fun with them. They 

 are somewhat more palatable than the common carp. A pond 

 may be full of them, and the existence of a single one never be 

 suspected because they are undemonstrative, and keep about the 

 bottom. I sent some fry to the Shevaroy Hills in June, 1878, and 

 they were safely turned into the .smaller lake there. Tench bear 

 carriage remarkably well. 



TIIS BOD IS INDIA. O 2 



