THE TACKLE FOR CARP-FISHING. 77 



four pounds, though usually they seldom exceeded two or 

 two and a half pounds ; but fish of from one to two pounds 

 I could generally catch in considerable numbers. In the 

 other pond I have taken in one afternoon four that 

 weighed over twenty-two pounds, and could usually catch 

 ten or a dozen or more in one afternoon ; but some years 

 after, when the ponds became more popular and fisher- 

 men 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 cautiori, often live to reach a very 

 large size, growing to between twenty and thirty pounds in 

 weight ; fifteen or sixteen pounds, however, is more often 

 the limit of their increase. 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 

 recommended 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, the gut ascends directly from the 

 worm to the float, and the unnatural attitude of the bait 

 challenges the carp's attention to this ' new thing in baits.' 



