414 



AMERICAN FISHES. 



The following table from Cholmondeley-PenneH's "Fishing" will be 

 generally useful to students of the Carp: 



Comparative JVeights and Lengths of Carp. 



I shall not attempt to speak of Carp culture or to give statistics of the 

 work of the Fish Commission. All these matters are discussed in the 

 angling journals and the Government reports. It is equally useless to 

 speak of the value of Carp for food. Every one will soon put this to a 

 personal test, and those who experiment with badly cooked or badly kept 

 fish will ever after denounce all Carp as worthless. The place of the 

 Carp as a fish for sportsmen has not been discussed very fully, and since 

 they are now growing abundant in all our streams, it is proper to quote 

 the words of Pennell as to the manner of catching them. 



"Early in the morning, and, occasionally, late in the evening, are the 

 best times for fishing ; but, as observed, the catching of Carp with the rod 

 and line is always a difficult and uncertain operation, particularly if the 

 fish are large. The smaller the pond, the better the chance I have always 

 found of catching Carp and Tench, though, of course, they are not so 

 large as in bigger waters. I once caught half a bucketful of Carp before 

 breakfast, in a pond by the side of a road between Weybridge and Byfleet, 

 which was not bigger than an ordinary sized ball-room. The biggest of 

 these Carp did not, however, exceed two pounds in weight. 



" The following is the method of Carp fishing in stagnant waters which 

 I have found most successful : 



" Let the line be entirely of medium sized or fine round gut — clouded, 

 if possible — with a very light quill float, say No. 4, and one good-sized 

 shot, about six inches or so from the hook, which should be No. 5 or 6 

 and baited with a brandling or red worm. Plumb the depth accurately ; 



