94 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 



I believe he would have given us the grandfather clock 

 to offer to the carp had we asked for it ! 



By 4.30 we were fishing. I took off my boots, and 

 persuaded my friend to do likewise, for in order to 

 catch carp it is essential that no vibration be caused 

 by walking about on the bank. Talking, too, is not 

 permitted. 



I baited my hook with a large lob worm, and my 

 friend used sweetened paste. The first hour passed 

 quickly, the second hour slowly, the third hour very 

 slowly, but the carp were constantly working all round 

 our bait, and so we decided to give the spot another 

 hour before shifting our ground. At last my float was 

 seen to move slowly towards a patch of water-lilies, but 

 without going under, and I thought a small perch or 

 roach was playing with the big worm. Suddenly, under 

 went the float, and after it had gone two or three yards 

 I struck. Without a moment's warning, thirty yards of 

 line were taken right off the reel towards the centre of 

 the pond. Then followed twenty minutes of real sport 

 as I played him as hard as my light tackle would permit. 

 Time after time I got him almost to the bank, but as 

 soon as he saw my friend with the net off he rushed 

 again, now boring deep into the mud, now skimming 

 along the surface, often getting perilously near the weeds 

 on the other side. In the end, he managed to get 

 amongst the reeds. All now seemed over, when my 

 friend, grasping the situation, waded into the pond up 

 to his knees in mud, and up to his waist in water, and 



