UNEXPECTED SPORT. 85 



pitched in my float as usual, and sat down behind a bush, 

 lighted my pipe, and began to read, when on looking up 

 I found that my float had disappeared, and was ' making 

 tracks ' for the middle of the pond. Thinking it was only 

 a small eel, I got up lazily, :OOK up the rod and struck, 

 when, to my surprise, I found that I had hold of some- 

 thing a good deal larger than I bargained for, and after 

 a tolerable tussle, I got out a fine tench of a pound and 

 a half. The book was at once consigned to oblivion, and 

 I set to work carefully, and barely was my float settled 

 when ' wriggle, wriggle, wriggle,' it went, and after the 

 usual preliminary gyrations and bobs which the tench 

 generally communicates to it, off it went ; I struck again, 

 and got another fine tench of nearly two pounds : after 

 this the fun grew fast and furious. Unfortunately, I did 

 not keep score of the fish I caught, 'as, finding I was 

 having such great sport, I was afraid of clearing the pond 

 out, so I put most of them in again, merely keeping three 

 brace of two pounders ; but I should imagine that I must 

 have captured about thirty fine tench, not one of which 

 would be under a pound and a quarter, and many of them 

 topped two pounds and a half. Where all these large fish 

 could have packed themselves in this mite of a pond 

 without ever attracting notice, I could not imagine. 

 Tired of pulling them out, I left off in the evening while 

 the fish were yet biting freely. I went there again the 

 next day, and caught one tench of three-quarters of a 

 pound ; but, though I fished there many times since, / 

 never caught a tench afterwards. Tench at times feed 

 freely enough all day ; but the favourite feeding time is 

 at sunrise and dusk, when you can barely see your float ; 

 then they will take if they take at all. 



Moderately fine tackle is desirable, but though the 

 tench is a slow, niggling, tedious biter, he is not so wary 

 as the carp. Oftentimes, however, he will play with and 



