98 PRACTICAL CARP CULTURE. 



nearly all kinds of fish from its water, as well as from the waters of Lakes 

 Huron, Michigan, and Superior, and we have had as much real genuine 

 sport in taking carp with a hook, as in taking any other fish. We have 

 had them straighten a hook and break a line many a time. It requires 

 good equipment and skill to land carp that weighs six pounds and upward. 



For bait we have used worms, grubs, minnows, crusts of bread, etc. 

 Where bread is used it must be kneaded into a pasty mass about the hook. 

 A small piece of bloody meat makes a good bait. One of the correspond- 

 ents in American Carp Culture says: "To catch large carp take grains of 

 corn and place on the hook." We have never tried this, and cannot 

 speak from experience. 



Where larger numbers are wanted than could be conveniently taken 

 by the hook, many traps and devices have been resorted to, but the seine is 

 the standby. 



DIFFICULT TO SEINE. 



They are, however, very cunning and difficult to seine. This is par- 

 ticularly true of the larger sized fish. Never be discouraged with the first 

 haul, for while the water is clear enough for them to see the seine, great 

 numbers will avoid it. If they don't succeed in passing around it or 

 jumping over it, they will stick their heads in the mud until it drags 

 over them. When the water is once roiled, however, the hauls of the seine 

 will be more successful. 



FEEDING TIME. 



The part of the day when carp feed naturally is at night and early 

 morning. It is therefore the best time to take them with a hook, and the 

 evening is the best time to give them food. 



CONCUSSION. 



Giant powder and dynamite have been frequently used by the lawless 

 in our public streams and fishing places to secure in : 'iort order a big 

 haul of fish. Its use for such purposes in many of tho states has been 

 made a misdemeanor and" crime. The effect of the concussion of the dis- 

 charge of such a missle under the water kills the fish, and many of them 

 float on the surface of the water, and are then gathered up by the mis- 

 creants. This has even happened to the carp pond of one of our corre- 

 spondents. 



We make mention of this simply to get at the deadly effect of concus- 

 sion. In cutting an air hole in the ice, another correspondent killed two 

 fine carp with the blows of his ax on the ice. It is an old trick of hunters 

 to strike the ice above water animals and so kill them.. 



Concussion then, in our opinion, will explain some of the losses of 

 carp in winter time, that are otherwise imexplainable. The raising or 

 lowering of the water in a pond that is ice-bound will frequently cause a 

 heaving or settling of the ice, either of which will result in a concussion 

 of greater or less force, which cannot but affect the fish. The falling of 

 trees on the ice, the throwing of heavy bodies on it, is to be avoided. The 



