THE TENCH. 1 1 5 



THE TENCH.* 



This species is a lover of still waters, and his 

 haunts in rivers are among weeds, or pools well 

 screened by bushes. Tench are found spawning 

 from June till September, and they are in the best 

 condition from the latter month till the end of 

 May. The tackle should be strong, with a swan or 

 goose-quill float for ponds, and a piece of cork for 

 rivers. The hook (in size from No. 4 to 6,) should 

 be whipt to sound silk- worm gut, with two or three 

 shot fixed to it at the distance of a foot. The bait 

 should float about a couple of feet from the surface, 

 and should be drawn occasionally gently up wards, and 

 allowed slowly to sink again. Small marsh worms, 

 middle-sized lobs, or the red species found in rotten 

 tan, are to be recommended. " He- will bite," says 

 Walton, "at a paste made of brown bread and 

 honey, or at a marsh- worm, or a lob- worm ; he in- 

 clines very much to any paste with which tan is 

 mixed, and he will bite also at a smaller worm with 

 his head nipped off, and a sod-worm put on the 

 hook before that worm ; and I doubt not but that 

 he will also in the three hot months, for in the 



* Tinea vulyaris, Cuv. Flem. Cyprinus tinea, Bloch. 



