64 



The American Angler 



float has remained under water one or two 

 minutes haul in your fish. He will hardly 

 struggle at all until you have him in the basket, 

 but there he will flop around for three hours. 

 Do not try to catch carp after a heavy rain, as 

 they will not bite then. 



Carp are vegetarians, and are supposed 

 to live upon plant life in the water, but 

 they will take worms and flesh baits on 

 the slightest provocation. They like 

 worms best. Lobs of sweetened dough 

 and bits of bread inclosed in an envelope 

 of mosquito netting, are in vogue in 

 Europe, but Passaic River carp and the 

 carp of the Whippaug prefer the worm 

 always. You can catch carp with the 

 hook, if you are patient, but the fish 

 will not take hold of the bait until they 

 are ready. As this fish grows old he 

 becomes carnivorous, feeding on min- 

 nows and the smaller batracians. The 

 baits recommended for carp are numer- 

 ous and many of them very fanciful. 

 Pastes of all kinds and colors, flavored 

 with cheese, sugar, honey, gin, etc.; 

 "beans, corn, flies, slugs, gentles, grubs, 

 caterpillars and worms are to be found 

 in this singular catalogue. In Germany, 

 where carp abound, grains of wheat, 

 steeped, in water until they swell and 

 split the outer skin, are considered 

 tempting lures. A small grasshopper 

 has occasionally proved successful ; but 

 no artificial bait will seduce the carp. 



I have never caught carp with an 

 artificial fly except in one instance, and 

 the feathers were then supplemented 

 with a bit of liver. They were caught 

 out of a private carp pond, and they 

 readily took the lure an inch or two 

 under the water. This occurred, how- 

 ever, during the process of feeding the 

 fish, which brought them to the surface. 

 The flies were of the "spider" make 

 and of sombre colors. 



Admitting the unworthiness of the 

 carp as an angling and table fish, its 



commercial value must not be over- 

 looked. Professor Barton W. Ever- 

 mann, the accomplished ichthyologist 

 of the United States Fish Commission, 

 to whom my notes on the carp were 

 subinitted before publication, writes me: 

 " Viewed from the economic standpoint, 

 the carp is a fish of considerable value 

 in almost every state and territory. 

 The annual output from public waters 

 in the United States is not less than 

 1,950,000 pounds, with a value to the 

 fisherman of $58,000. It is most im- 

 portant in the Mississippi basin, but is 

 also caught for market in large qanti- 

 ties in Lake Erie, on the Pacific coast, 

 and elsewhere. The eleventh census 

 returns showed that in the ten years end- 

 ing 1890 the value of carp taken from 

 private waters in the United States was 

 $284,650, a sum representing over 9,000,- 

 000 pounds of fish. In the western end 

 of Lake Erie, 627,000 pounds of carp 

 were taken and sold in 1893, for which 

 the fishermen received $16,245. 



" The public waters of Illinois are 

 probably better stocked with carp than 

 are those of any other state, the Illinois 

 river having a specially large supply. 

 The State Fish Commissioners, in their 

 report for 1892-94, refer to the carp as 

 follows : 



" ' We do not hesitate to say that the 

 carp, which is now found in all the 

 waters of the State, is the greatest 

 source of revenue to those who fish for 

 a business, and has paid larger dividends 

 on the investment than any other fish 

 ever introduced into our waters. * * * 

 From one point on the Illinois river, 

 last season, 250,000 pounds of carp foimd 

 their way to Chicago and New York 

 markets, at about one-half greater price 

 than could be realized for buffalo. 

 Carp are, undoubtedly, the fish for the 

 great mass of fish-eating people, those 

 who eat fish as food, not a luxury. * * * 



