BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 449 



Vol. V, IVo. 29. Washington, D. C. Oct. 9, 1885. 



158 HOW TO CATCH CARP. 



By ROBERT A. MARTIN. 



[From a letter to C. W. Smiley.] 



The way to catch carp with a hook and line is just this : Let a per- 

 son having a pond in which they are kept feed them witli bread at a 

 particular place, and when the fish have learned to come for such bread, 

 let him get some good strong genuine Limerick hooks (not the American 

 imitation of them), and tie them on strong oiled silk lines, on which 

 lines there are corks, and bait with bread (bakers' bread, or any kind 

 of bread that after pressing in the hand he can make stay on the hook), 

 and throw out some two or three lines tied to good strong poles, one 

 liue on each pole, and very quickly he will have about the number of 

 bites that he throws out baited lines. After hooking all the fish, he 

 might hand all the poles except one to some person to hold, until he 

 had worried down one carp ; and after getting that one out, he might 

 then work one by one on the remainder. 



Three carp weighing from three to five pounds each ought to be 

 enough for one day's sport and eating. They are very sharp and shy 

 after one has been caught and played long enough to scare the others, 

 and will stop biting for some hours afterwards. It takes a very ^ood 

 line and the best sort of a hook to hold them, and of course a good 

 pole is also necessary. The genuine Limerick hook is, I think, hand- 

 made. But little, if any, sinker is required, as the weight of the hook 

 will sink the bait. 



After being fed with bread (especially bakers', or what is called light 

 bread, which will float on the water), it is best to fish shallow, say about 

 one foot or one and a half feet. If they have been scared, then it will 

 be necessary to fish deeper, say in two and a half or three feet. They 

 bite best, of eourse, iu the spring and fall months. They are the gami- 

 est and best-winded fish 1 ever saw ; and the only trouble is, that after 

 catching some two or three the remainder will be scared off. This, how 

 ever, could be partially overcome in a good-sized pond by the owner 

 having some three or four places where he baited them, so that after 

 they were seared at one place he could go to others, provided he was 

 fishing both for sport and profit (in the latter case, catching them to 

 sell). 



As a pan fish they do not compare with our millpond chub or speckled 

 perch, but they are good pullers. They bite quickly like a chub, and 

 not like round-fish (a sort of mullet or sucker). The bread or bait of 

 Bull. U. S. F. C, 85 29 



