84 UNOBTRUSIVENESS OF TENCH. 



not rest quite so much on the ground ; but the depth may 

 be plumbed, so- that the bait may just touch the bottom 

 in the usual way. The tench is a very curious fish in his 

 habits. You may see a pond which is stocked with good 

 tench, and look over it narrowly, and even do so many 

 times, without having the slightest idea that there is a fish 

 in it. I have known ponds which have been supposed to 

 be fishless for years, by the merest accident to be discovered 

 to contain large numbers of fine tench in them. In many 

 places tench are very peculiar also in their times of feed- 

 ing ; on some days they will feed well, while at other times 

 you will not manage to get a fish in a week ; and though 

 this is not always the case, they are yet usually more or 

 less capricious. As an illustration of the above, I may 

 state that I once knew a little pond in Hampshire, which 

 was not perhaps more than about thirty yards square. I 

 had many times seen it, but never saw a fish in it, when 

 one day the person to whom it belonged, knowing that I 

 was fond of fishing, asked me if I would not like to catch 

 some of the tench in the pond. I had no idea there were 

 any in it, but as he assured me there were, and as I had 

 nothing else to do one afternoon, I got a bag of worms and 

 walked down to the pond with my rod. I put up a small 

 light cork float, and a couple of hooks, one four or five 

 inches above the other, baited with red worms, threw in 

 some broken worms, and waited. Presently I caught a 

 little eel ; then another ; then a little tench of less than 

 half a pound weight ; then one or two more eels ; and 

 although I kept on throwing in the broken worms I did 

 no more, and finally I threw in the rest of my worms and 

 went away disgusted, not having seen another fish move. 

 Still the proprietor assured me there were good tench in 

 the pond, and urged me to try again : and the next after- 

 noon, being inclined for a lazy hour or two, I took my rod, 

 a book, and my pipe, and walked down to the poud. I 



