BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 271 



but Strong and soniid, as a big carp is a doughty antagonist, and bis first 

 rnsb is not to be sneezed at. 1 bave been broken in it many a time 

 when I have been at all in diflicnlties ; and ear}), as they often run 

 up to 10 ])ounds or 11' pounds weight, and even larger, and have very 

 powerful fins, want careful managing at first. They are, too, pretty 

 cunning, and will run you into a mass of weeds if they can. 



DiSREGAED NIBBLES. — "Kcver Strike while a carp only nibbles. Wait 

 till he drags the float steadily under, and appears to be going away 

 with it; when, seeing all cleyr and in order about the line and reel for 

 a rush, you may hit him smartly, and if he is a big one "look out for 

 squalls"; as his mouth is very tough and leathery, you may i)lay him 

 firmly. Get him away as soon as possible from your pitch, so as not to 

 frighten the rest, and land him as far from the pitch as you can. Then 

 come back to the pitch, quietly throw in a handful or two of ground- 

 bait, and follow up with the hook as before, and probably in ten min- 

 utes or a quarter of an hour, if the fish are well on, you may see your 

 rush-float "niggle-niggling" again. The best ground bait, of course, 

 for this work is boiled potato. 



Have several "spots." — "If fishing a pond, always bait two, or 

 even three, spots if you can ; so (hat when the fish are rather alarmed at 

 one, you can rest it and go to another, casting in a few handfuls of bait 

 before you leave, to draw them back again. Always fish from the shore, 

 too, if you can, as carp are shy of a boat, and any motion of the water 

 easily alarms them. In fishing with the ledger in a stream you would 

 discard the float, and fish as for barbel, by the feel. In this case, when 

 you feel a nibble, you must yield some inches of line and wait for the 

 tug that announces a bite. This is hehl to be, by experienced carp- 

 fishers, the best and most killing method of carp fishing, particularly 

 for big fish. The great thing is to let the bait and line rest on the bot- 

 tom for a foot or two. In this way the carp sees neither the line nor 

 the hook, as he cannot fail to do if he is curious in float-fishing when 

 the depth is exactly plumbed and the bait only just touches the bottom. 



Other baits. — "I have heard a haricot bean, or even a small broad 

 bean, well boiled, spoken of as a capital bait, but I never tried it. It 

 seems, however, a very likely bait. I have no doubt, too, that a lump 

 of pearl barley, such as we use for roa< h, would be a good bait, using half 

 a dozen corns; and it would be a nice bait to ground-bait with. 



Floats, &c. — "In float-fishing use as light a float as you can, and 

 have the shots or sinker as far from the hook as you conveniently can ; 

 and here, too, if you can do it, I always find that if 4 inches or 5 inches 

 of the hook-gut rests on the bottom it pays best. A worm or other bait 

 only just touching the bottom, with a row of shot 6 inches or 8 inches 

 above it, is very likely to challenge the attention of the carp, who at 

 once sees something he is not accustomed to, and becomes suspicious.^is 

 To show how difl'erent it is when the line rests on the bottom, I once 

 to©k a 7-pound carp on an eel line witli a coarse string snood and worm 



