182 THE CARP. 



1 also consider that in angling for carp, many valuable chances 

 have been thrown away by adopting a prettily painted float, which, 

 when standing proudly erect in the water, attached to a line set 

 off with three or four round leaden pellets within a few inches of 

 the bait, which hangs suspended about midwater presents altogether 

 a truly traplike appearance. The instinct in most animals that 

 enables them to detect a trap is truly wonderful, and some degree 

 of ingenuity is absolutely necessary to empower you to outwit so 

 subtle a fish as a carp. As for myself I have ever found it the 

 most successful plan whenever I have used a worm, always to let 

 the bait rest on the bottom, and either to use no float at all, or a 

 small piece of common cork with a mere slit in it to fix it to the 

 line, and this I invariably keep at least a yard or two from the 

 bait. By adopting this mode, the gut to which the hook is fasten- 

 ed, as well as the whole line affair, is more likely to escape the 

 attention of the fishes, who are not so likely to notice it, when 

 lying quietly along the ground, as if hanging suspended from the 

 float in the water, consequently they then seize upon the bait with 

 less hesitation ; which, having once tasted the sweets of, they will 

 not afterwards so readily abandon. Nor is there any great diffi- 

 culty in detecting a bite when fishing in this manner, for the 

 slightest agitation of the line will be communicated to the float, 

 which as the fish moves off, as a carp almost invariably does, will 

 be put either in active motion, or disappear at once under water. 

 As soon therefore as the slightest movement is discovered, advance 

 quick but cautiously, and seizing hold of the rod raise it gently 

 till you get all the stray line out of the water, reeling up some 

 portion of it if the fish shapes his course towards you, and getting 

 the line nearly tight, 



" Then fix with gentle twitch the barbed hook ;" 



which you may rest assured the fish no sooner feels, than he will 

 at once make a desperate rush off, and then probably leap to some 

 considerable distance out of water. The effects of the first rush of 

 the carp is what you must be particularly prepared for, as his pro- 

 gress is often so rapid as to cause a dead strain on the line before 

 the rod can be sufficiently elevated to bring it into proper play, 

 and if a carp of any size succeeds in doing this, your hook or line 

 are sure to give way. He will also not unfrequently contrive, af- 



