137 



When leave has been obtained to angle in any gentle- 

 man's ponds, it is very easy to ascertain, by inquiry 

 among his dependents or labourers, which is the part 

 most favourable to your intentions. There you would 

 <]o well to sound the waters, and to cast in a little ground- 

 lait the day previous to throwing your line. 



I have already said, that near small inlets you will pro- 

 bably find good sport ; therefore, fail not to try the depth 

 in such parts, and do not despair, even though you 

 should find it shallow ; owing, perhaps, to the soil washed 

 down by heavy rains : at the edge of such a bank you 

 may expect the water to fall, rather suddenly, to n con- 

 siderable depth, in which the great fishes will often lie, 

 especially after any fresh, awaiting the supplies usually 

 brought down by the current. 



Near sluices, penstocks, and flood-gates, the water 

 is usually pretty deep, and clear of weeds for a few yards 

 at lea^t -, they being sometimes cleared away for the pur- 

 pose of having a free draught, and for placing a net to 

 catch such fishes as may be attracted to the spot when 

 the sluice is opened a little on many occasions, but espe- 

 cially for the supply of a stew, or nursery-pond, depen- 

 dent on the larger water. 



The time of the day will often occasion a change in 

 your proceedings, as will a change in the wind ; espe* 

 cially if it comes down a vista, or any other opening be- 

 tween plantations, hills, buildings, &c. 



The fishes themselves will often prove excellent guides, 

 and by their rising, at least, will shew you where they 

 chiefly lay j though this is by no means so certain an in- 

 dication in a pond as it is in a river 5 for, in the former, 

 fishes are more apt to change their places, than they are 



in 



