BEST'S ART OF ANGLING. 



cause its slime is said to be very healing to wound- 

 ed fishes; and what is more strange, the voracious 

 pike is so sensible of his sovereign virtue, that he 

 will not hurt a tench, although he will seize any 

 other fish of his own size that comes in his way ; 

 and when he or any other fishes are sick, they find 

 relief by rubbing themselves against his body. He 

 is a delicious fresh-water fish, has small scales, yet 

 very large and smooth fins, a red circle about the 

 eyes, and a little barb hanging at each corner of 

 his mouth. His haunts are chiefly in ponds 

 amongst weeds : he thrives very ill in clear wa- 

 ters, and covets to feed in foul ones ; yet his flesh 

 is nourishing and pleasant. They spawn the be- 

 ginning of July : the proper time to angle for them 

 is early and late in the months of May, June, the 

 latter end of July, and in August. You must use a 

 strong line with gut at bottom. The hook No. 2 or 

 3, and a quill float ; the depth about two feet. He 

 bites best at red-worms, if you dip them first in tar ; 

 at all sorts of pastes made up with strong-scented 

 oils, and at one made w r ith the inside of a roll and 

 honey : also at cad-worms Job-worms, flag-worms, 

 gentles, marsh-worms, and soft-boiled bread- 

 grain. Besides the river Stour in Dorsetshire, so 

 particularly recommended for plenty of tench and 

 eels, there is Brecknock mere, in Brecknockshire, 

 being two miles in length and as much in breadth, 

 full of perches, tenches, and eels. 



N. B. One river tench is worth ten pond. 



THE FLOUNDER. 



The flounder may be fisbed for all day, either in 

 swift streams or in the still deep, but best in the 

 stream, *n die months of April, May, June, and 



