104. ANGLING FOR COARSE FISH. 



has tlie bait. I strike, and soon have the satisfaction of landing 

 a fine carp, as big or as little as you like to imagine. Some 

 people might have said that the game was not worth the candle 

 but overcoming one of these most cunning fish, by means how- 

 ever elaborate, gives most anglers the keenest satisfaction. 

 Before leaving the lakeside, we plumb the spots we are going to 

 fish from the bank, and mark the depths on our rods. 



On reaching the house we prepare our tackle — several 2yd. 

 lengths of fine, round, strong gut (which we put in soak), stained 

 a pale weed-green (see page 23), and some hooks — No. 8 Round 

 Bend for worms, 'No. 9 Round Bend with a shorter shank for 

 the paste. The shanks are coloured red and white respectively 

 (see page 20). The gut of the hooks is stained a mud colour, 

 as near the colour of the bottom as we can get it. Before going 

 to bed we put up our rods and lines, take the gut out of soak> 

 loop on the hook, catch the hook in the reel, and wind up tight. 

 Keeping the line stretched on the rod all night will cause it to 

 be quite straight in the morning. We should not catch a fish 

 if it were in curls, or even in waves. My friend puts on a very 

 small, self-cocking float ; I prefer a small, dry twig of dead wood, 

 which will look more natural on the surface of the water. I say 

 this having a lively recollection of certain roach which were in 

 shallow water, and absolutely refused to feed until I took all the 

 shot off my line, and replaced the float with a small twig. We 

 hope to do without shot to-morrow. 



The following morning at daybreak, fortified by some rum 

 and milk — nauseous but admirable mixture — we steal down to 

 the lake, each with a camp-stool and two pegs cut thus — Ya I^bj to 

 hold the rod, the butt of which goes over A and under B. Our 

 floats are at the right depth — i.e., 12in. farther from the hook 

 than the water is deep, so that 12in. of gut will lie on the 

 bottom.* Very quietly and gently we steal to our respective 

 pitches, put the pegs in the bank 1ft. apart, the Y-shaped one 

 nearest the water, bait our hooks — the one with paste, the other 

 with a redworm — and cast out our lines as gently as possible. 

 Then we adjust the butts of the rods on the pegs (a heavy 



* Some carp-fishermen keep their bait a foot from the bottom. This plan 

 should be tried when the other proves unsuccessful. 



