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THE COMPLETE ANGLEE. 



[PART. i. 



This fish, that carries a natural balsam in him to cure 

 both himself and others, loves yet to feed in very foul water, 

 and amongst weeds. And yet I am sure he eats pleasantly, 

 and, doubtless, you will think so too, if you taste him. And 

 I shall therefore proceed to give you some few, and but a 

 few, directions how to catch this 



Tench, 



of which I have given you these observations. 1 



He will bite at a paste made of brown bread and honey, 

 or at a marsh-worm, or a lob-worm ; he inclines very much 

 to any paste with which tar is mixed, and he will bite also 

 at a smaller worm, with his head nipped off, and a cod-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 nine 

 colder he stirs not much, bite at a flag-worm, or at a green 

 gentle, but can positively say no more of the tench, 2 he 



1 The Tench is certainly one of our best fresh-water fish, especially when 

 tiiken from a clear stream, such as the Colne, in which river I have caught 

 them of a large size. An eel-pot, decorated with flowers, and a small 

 bright brass candlestick, attract tench into it. They will remain quietly in 

 the pot for a long time, but if it is lifted out of the water when tench 

 are in it, and placed back again, the fish become restless, and are sure to 

 escape. Tench wander much in the evening, which I have always found 

 the best time of angling for them. The baits recommended by Walton are 

 very good. ED. 



2 The haunts of the Tench are nearly the same with those of the carp. 

 They delight more in ponds than in rivers ; and lie under weeds, near 

 sluices, and at pond heads. 



They spawn about the beginning of July ; and are best in season from 



