Tench. 



The tench bites freely in dark, warm, heavy 

 weather, during the summer. They are found in 

 small numbers in the rivers Thames and Lea, the 

 Carnberwell and Croydon canals, the Roding near 

 Red Bridge at Wanstead, and in the ponds of 

 Wanstead Park. For bait, use red worms, gentles, 

 or sweet paste. Fish with a fine gut line, quill 

 float, and hook No. 9. The tench delights in foul 

 rather than clear water, principally among weeds, 

 and under shrubs and bushes. Tench are more 

 numerous in pits and ponds than in rivers. They 

 bite more freely late and early than in the middle 

 of the day, from the latter end of April until their 

 spawning time in June, and again during the 

 month of August and the early part of September. 

 If taken in muddy places, they should be put into 

 a tub of clear water alive, and they will soon cleanse 

 themselves, so as to improve their flavour. 



Barbel, 



So called from the barbs which hang from the 

 nose or snout, is handsome in shape, and with 

 scales placed in a most exact and curious manner. 

 He is long like the pike, though not quite so long ; 

 when large, his proportioned parts best show them- 

 selves. They generally choose a gravelly shoal, and 

 lie at one end of it; and if it is near the shore, they 

 get under the bank, where, routing with their noses 

 like a hog, they make a hollow, in which they lie, 

 sucking the earth of the bank, and the finest of the 

 gravel, upon which they are said in part to subsist. 

 In summer he comes from under the bank, and 

 lies at the head of the shoal or sand. If he has not 



