THE CARPS 95 



quickly got the net under the now almost played-out 

 carp. This fish just turned the scale at nine pounds. 

 Imagine hooking a twenty pounder, such as you read 

 of in the old books ! 



Wet as we were, for I had to assist my friend out of 

 the mud, we fished for another hour — a childish proceed- 

 ing, for we might have known that disturbing the water 

 as we had done would put the other fish entirely off 

 their feed. You can never expect to catch more than 

 one big carp in the same spot on the same day. 



When the water in which you intend to fish is suffi- 

 ciently large, the best plan is to ground-bait two or 

 three holes, and when lucky enough to catch a carp in 

 one place, move straight off to another. 



One often hears and reads of cute ways of outwitting 

 fish, but somewhere I read of a most ingenious method 

 of reaching inaccessible carp. The fish were right out 

 in the water, and were far too shy to permit of a punt 

 being brought anywhere near them. The angler, choos- 

 ing a suitable breeze, threaded his gut through a large 

 leaf, which acted both as a float and a sail, and carried 

 his bait out to the carp, resulting in the capture of a 

 fine fish. 



Carp thrive in deep still waters overgrown with pond 

 weed and other vegetation. From the months of October 

 to March not a fish is to be seen, for they are lying buried 

 in the mud, and this habit of burying themselves for 

 warmth during the winter months is shared with many 

 other members of the carp family. In April they again 



