CAKP IX RIVEBS. 81 



the bottom, and some inches of the line likewise ; for, 

 though the carp will detect the finest gut, as I have said, 

 when the bait is pendent, yet he will not notice the 

 coarsest tackle if it rests on the bottom. Indeed, I once 

 took a seven pound carp on an eel line with coarse string- 

 snooded hooks, in a pond where no one had ever been able 

 by ordinary float and line-fishing to catch the carp at all, 

 though they abound in the pond, and are of large size. 

 In using paste baits, the angler will find it to his account, 

 if instead of using a single hook he employs a small brazed 

 triangle, or three hooks brazed together back to back, such 

 as are used on spinning tackles. This holds the paste on 

 far more firmly, thus resisting the carp's * power of suc- 

 tion,' and gives the angler a better chance of hooking him. 

 The hooks must be completely buried in the paste, and 

 the bait should be the size of a moderate gooseberry. As 

 I have said, various pastes are recommended for carp ; I 

 believe that sweet paste is preferred to plain by carp, 

 having found them take it well if sugared. One of the 

 Kemps at Teddington, who was very successful with the 

 carp, used to make his paste of pound cake, as I have heard. 

 I have no doubt it would answer well too. 



Some anglers in fishing a pond employ various devices 

 to hide themselves from the sharp eyes of the fish, and 

 stick in bushes by the margin, or even hurdles, to shelter 

 them. I never found this particularly desirable, though 

 there can be no harm in it ; but it is most needful that 

 the angler should move with perfect caution, and should 

 not stump about on the bank a very few steps of an Irish 

 jig, for example, on the bank, would be fatal to all hopes 

 of sport for an hour or two. The angler need never be 

 afraid to lay down his rod, as the bite is always so slow 

 that he has ample time to regain it before striking time ; 

 but when he takes it up he must take it up carefully, and 

 not jerk the line. 



G 



