THE TENCH. 61 



water a little ruffled, he will bite all day long, es- 

 pecially from eight till ten in the morning, and 

 from three till six in the evening. If there are 

 thirty or forty of them in a hole, they may be all 

 caught of one standing : they are not like the soli- 

 tary pike, but love to accompany one another, and 

 swim in shoals, as all fishes that have scales are 

 observed to do. His baits are minnows, little frogs, 

 or brandling, if well scoured. When he bites, 

 give him time enough, and you can hardly give. 

 him too much ; for as he is not a leather-mouthed 

 fish, without you do he will often break his hold. 

 Angle for him, if you bait with a brandling, with 

 an 'indifferent strong line, and gut at bottom, your 

 hook No. 4, 5, or 6, and about five or six inches 

 from the ground ; but if you rove for him with a 

 minnow or frog, which is a very pleasant way, 

 then your line should be strong, and the hook 

 armed with gimp, and the bait swimming at mid- 

 water, suspended by a cork-float. I, for my own 

 part, always use my trowl, that in case a pike 

 should take it, I may be prepared for him. Keep 

 your minnows in a fin kettle, and when you bait 

 with one, stick the hook through his upper lip or 

 back fin. If you use the frog, stick it through the 

 skin of his hind leg. These directions being care- 

 fully attended to, 1 dare ensure the angler success. 

 The perch is much esteemed in Italy, especially 

 when small : Gesuer prefers the perch and pike 

 before the trout or any fresh fish. The Germans 

 say proverbially, More wholesome than a perch of 

 the Rhine. 



THE TENCH. 



The tench, the fishes' physician, so called be- 



