58 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



and sweet. The method which I have described in fishing for 

 carp with the worm and float answers equally well for the 

 tench, save that the bait need not rest quite so much on the 

 ground, but the depth may be plumbed, so that the bait may 

 just touch the bottom in the usual way. The tench is a very 

 curious fish in his habits. You may see a pond which is stocked 

 with good tench, and look over it narrowly, and even do so 

 many times, without having the slightest idea that there is a 

 fish in it. I have known ponds which have been supposed to 

 be fishless for years, by the merest accident to be discovered to 

 contain large numbers of fine tench in them. In many places 

 tench are very peculiar also in their times of feeding ; on some 

 days they will feed well, while at other times you will not 

 manage to get a fish in a week ; and though this is not always the 

 case, they are yet usually more or less capricious. As an 

 illustration of the above, I may state that I once knew a little 

 pond in Hampshire, which was not perhaps more than about 

 twenty yards square. I had many times seen it, but never saw 

 a fish in it, when one day the person to whom it belonged, 

 knowing that I was fond of fishing, asked me if I would not like 

 to catch some of the tench in the pond. I had no idea there were 

 any in it, but as he assured me there were, and as I had nothing 

 else to do one afternoon, I got a bag of worms and walked down 

 to the pond with my rod. I put up a small light cork float, and 

 a couple of hooks, one four or five inches above the other, 

 baited with red worms, threw in some broken worms, and 

 waited. Presently I caught a little eel ; then another ; then a 

 little tench of less than half a pound weight ; then one or two 

 more eels ; and, although I kept on throwing in the broken 

 worms I did no more, and finally I threw in the rest of my 

 worms and went away disgusted, not having seen another fish 

 move. Still the proprietor assured me there were good tench 

 in the pond, and urged me to t.y again ; and the next after- 

 noon, being inclined for a lazy hour or two, I took my rod, a 

 book, and my pipe, and walked down to the pond. I pitched 

 in my float as usual, and sat down behind a bush, lighted my 

 pipe, and began to read, when on looking up I found that my 

 float had disappeared, and was " making tracks " for the 

 middle of the pond. Thinking it was only a small eel, I got up 

 lazily, took up the rod and struck, when to my surprise, I found 

 that I had hold of something a good deal larger than I bargained 

 for, and after a tolerable tussle, I got out a fine tench of a pound 

 and a half. The book was at once consigned to oblivion, and 



