94 BOTTOM OR FLOAT-FISHING. 



Oppian, Walton, Holingshed, Bowlker, Salter, 

 Williamson, Hofland, and Fitzgibbon, all ac- 

 knowledge to more or less faith. 



To try the experiment practically, I once pro- 

 cured some small Tench, and fished with them as 

 live baits for a whole day in some excellent Pike 

 water, without getting a touch. In the evening I 

 put on a small Carp and had a run almost im- 

 mediately. I also tried some Pike in a stock-pond 

 with the same Tench, but they would not take 

 them ; and though left in the pond all night one 

 on a hook, and one attached to a fine thread both 

 baits were alive in the morning some Pike teeth 

 marks, however, being visible on one of them ; but 

 it is, of course, quite possible that these circum- 

 stances were merely the results of accident. 



Bingley's explanation of the Pike's asserted 

 abstinence is, that the Tench is so fond of mud as 

 to be constantly at the bottom of the water, where 

 the Pike cannot find him. Both theories, however, 

 require confirmation. 



-The male Tench are distinguished from the 

 females by a very curious and marked difference of 

 the ventral fins. In the females these fins are of 



