LOCALITIES OP THE CARP. 387 



CARP FISHING. 



This, I confess, I regard as very miserable sport ; for though 

 the fish is shy and wary, the difficulty in taking him arises only 

 from his timidity and unwillingness to bite, and he is as lazy 

 when hooked as he is slow to bite. 



His proper haunts are deep, stagnant, slow-flowing streams, 

 or ponds with muddy bottoms ; and he lies under weeds, and 

 among the stems and flat leaves of water-lilies, flags, and 

 marsh-grasses. 



Not indigenous to this country, he has been naturalised in 

 the waters of the Hudson, where he is, for the present, protected 

 by severe legislative enactments. 



He will doubtless, ere long, become very plentiful ; and as he 

 is a rich fish when cooked secundum artem, and by many 

 esteemed a great delicacy, he is likely enough to become a 

 favourite with the angler. 



Hofland thus describes the method of baiting the ground and 

 fishing for Carp in England, and his directions are the best I 

 have seen ; they may be followed with implicit confidence : 



" In rivers, the Carp prefer those parts where the current is 

 not too strong, and where the bottom is marly, or muddy ; and 

 in lakes or ponds are to be found near beds of water-lilies, and 



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