CARP-FISHING 107 



of the total weight of the fish), and to contain 2,059,750 eggs, 

 in a larger fish, weighing 21-^ lb., he found only 1,310,750 eggs. 



It has been observed that the spawning season is sometimes 

 very much prolonged, ova being deposited at irregular intervals 

 during several months. Further, for some reason unknown, 

 the spawn of successive seasons may be retained undischarged 

 within the ovary, a result attributed by some writers to the 

 action of large internal parasites, to the attacks of which the 

 carp is peculiarly liable. 



The carp is credited with sagacity far beyond the average 

 of fishes, and it is certainly shy and capricious in taking a 

 Angling for ^ a ^ > but ^is may be owing chiefly to its staple 

 Carp, diet being vegetarian, and the difficulty of hitting 

 upon anything of superior attraction to the abundant summer 

 pasture afforded by the waters. Being wholly without 

 experience in angling for carp, I can only repeat some of the 

 instructions given by those who have achieved success in that 

 branch of field sports. Frank Buckland gives the following 

 French receipt for ground-baiting : " Take a tuft of turf the 

 size of a dinner-plate, the grass of which is green and short ; 

 then with a needle and green thread, sew on red worms so as 

 almost to cover the turf; fasten the turf to a board and sink 

 it to the bottom." But when the carp are collected round this 

 ground-bait, the angler is by no means at the end of his 

 difficulties, for the carp is very wary, and easily to be scared by 

 any incautious movement. The tackle must be very fine, but 

 faultless, for, as Dame Juliana Berners observed of the carp, "he 

 is an evyll fysshe to take, for he is so strong enarmyed in the 

 mouthe, that there maye noo weke harnys hold hym." If a 

 worm be used for a bait, it is indispensable that it should have 

 been well scoured from all earthy particles, within and without. 

 Having placed it on the hook, it must by no means be flung 

 under the nose of the fish in the rude manner which might serve 

 one's turn with a perch. The delicacy of manoeuvring 

 required has been well described by Mr. Keene. That 



