THE CARP. 181 



of success. Grains and bullocks blood, mixed with cow dung and 

 grains, are considered to make an excellent ground bait ; as^do also 

 grains mixed with graves. Some pellets of the kind of paste you 

 intend to angle with should also be thrown in upon the ground 

 bait, in order to enable the carp duly to appreciate their edible 

 qualities. 



Carps will also bite at gentles, cadis, and most kind of grubs ; 

 they will often bite at a whitish coloured grub that is usually 

 found under cowdung, but as these are very tender, a bristle should 

 be tied to the arming wire of the hook, which standing out upward 

 will keep the bait from sliding down, and so presenting an un. 

 tempting appearance. A carp it is also said will take green peas, 

 and cherries, with the stones taken out, currants, gooseberries, and 

 other fruit, none of which I have ever tried ; but from the par- 

 tiality of the carp to a vegetable diet, it is very probable some of 

 these might prove successful, as it is well known they are extreme- 

 ly fond of lettuce leaves ; whilst Bloch assures us that the leaves 

 and seeds of salad particularly agree with them, and that they fatten 

 upon them more speedily than upon any other kind of food 

 whatever. 



From the extreme wariness of the carp, every angler who wish- 

 es to catch him must be careful at all times to keep well back from 

 the water's edge, and never to take a stand on high ground. The 

 most certain plan is to lay down the rod, and standing back watch 

 it from a short distance. Few indeed are aware of the number of 

 fishes they scare away from their baits by standing close to the 

 water side and holding their rods in their hands ; for although the 

 water may be too foul to enable the angler to descry the fishes, 

 they may nevertheless be able to descry the angler. Carp too 

 when roving about in foraging parties, keep moving up and down 

 often rising to the very surface to look around them, as well as to 

 seize upon some of the gnats that are playing about there, when, 

 if they detect any object that excites their fears, off they dart, and 

 do not probably return again to the same spot for the rest of the 

 day. No fish that inhabits the fresh water is so suspicious as the 

 carp, so much so indeed that it is rarely they can be prevailed to 

 approach sufficiently near a boat to be angled for from it with any 

 chance of success, though the wary trout does not seem to have 

 any such fears ; in fact more of the latter fish are commonly taken 

 from a boat in lake fishing, than by angling from the shore. 



