GROUND-BAITING FOR CARP. 



MODS. 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, and the earlier you can come 

 in the morning, before the water has been disturbed, the 

 better. 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 be- 

 forehand, it will be only necessary to follow the directions 

 for Pond-fishing given at the commencement of this work. 

 If, however, you can manage to bait your pitch, then 

 select, say, two places. Let the bottom be clear of weeds 

 and the spot be near rushes, or in some spot where you 

 see carp usually feeding. Then, go in the morning (if 

 there are eels in the pond) and throw in a few handfuls of 

 broken worms, gentles, or any other ground-bait you may 

 select; for if you are fishing with worms and there be 

 eels in the pond, in all probability (as they are unusually 

 busy at nigkt) they will gobble up all the worms before 

 the carp can get a chance ; and this is one of the miseries 

 you have to endure in carp-fishing when using worms, viz. 

 that when you expect a bite from some noble carp, which 

 is cruising coyly round your hook, some wretched little 



