54 A BOOK ON ANGLING 



fishermen more plentiful, I have visited them and fished them 

 in vain, although the carp were still in them in abundance, and 

 might be seen rolling and grubbing all around the hook. 



Carp, owing to their caution, often live to reach a very large 

 size, growing to between twenty and thirty pounds in weight. 

 A large carp, too, is not only cunning before he takes your bait, 

 but he quite appreciates the value of large masses of weeds to 

 help him in getting rid of it, and as the angler is compelled to 

 fish as finely as possible, and with not too large a hook nor too 

 coarse gut, the wary old fellow will sometimes give you the 

 slip even after he has been well hooked. 



The usual method of fishing for carp is to employ a small 

 light float and fine tackle, and to fish in the method recom- 

 mended for " Pond-fishing generally." The hook should not 

 be above No. 7, or 6 at the outside ; the shot fine and some 

 distance from the float, as the mere gravity of the hook, and 

 worm will carry them to the bottom ; the gut fine, round, and 

 olive or weed-coloured ; and the bait, a small red worm or a 

 bit of paste. The depth should be plumbed so that the bait 

 may rest on the bottom. It is not natural to see the bait hanging 

 in the water barely touching the bottom, and that the carp 

 know well enough. In this position, too, the gut ascends 

 directly from the head of the worm, and the unnatural attitude 

 of the bait challenges the carp's attention to this " new thing 

 in baits." Mons. Carp then catches sight of the shot, and, 

 lastly, in all probability, of the float above. All this is of course 

 strange and unusual, and he proceeds to investigate the bait 

 with all due care, nibbling and picking at it, like the female 

 ghoul in the Arabian Nights, who ate rice with a bodkin ; he 

 cannot make up his mind to take it, and yet he cannot make 

 up his mind to leave it, so he nibbles and nibbles, and at last 

 you think he must have got the bait, and you strike. Now, it 

 is not customary for baits to dash off in that frantic fashion ; 

 and therefore, while your bait dashes off one way, Master Carp 

 dashes off the other. 



It is best to take your depth the evening before you intend 

 to fish, so that you need not disturb the spot when you come in 

 the morning. A longish bamboo rod will be found useful for 

 this kind of angling, as it is advisable to swing your float as 

 far off from the shore as possible. 



If it be not possible to select and bait your pitch beforehand, 

 it will be only necessary to follow the directions for pond- 

 fishing given at the commencement of this work. If, however, 



