CARP AND TENCH. 287 



between the float and the shot, so that the latter may exactly rest 

 on the bottom, weighing down the point of the float to about 

 ' half-cock,' and letting the gut below the shot and the bait lie 

 on the ground. Fix the rod in the bank and keep perfectly 

 quiet. When a bite is perceived, do not strike until the float 

 begins to move away. 



It constantly happens, however, that the carp will not be 

 taken either by this or any other mode of fishing with which I 

 am acquainted ; but if he is to be caught at all it is thus. 



The baits are, worms (first), gentles, greaves, grains and 

 various sorts of pastes, of which latter, however, I believe, the 

 plain white bread crumb paste is the best, as well as the most 

 easily made. Professor Owen, who had a good deal of carp 

 fishing experience in Virginia Water, gave me the results of his 

 practice which concur in a great measure with my own, except 

 that he fished with his bait paste made of soft herring roe 

 worked up with bread crumbs and wool, a favourable substi- 

 tute sometimes for the brandling. 



Of all the curious as well as unsavoury morsels which have 

 been advocated at one time or another, as baits for carp I think 

 coagulated sheep's or bullock's blood is about the most nauseous, 

 yet it is not many weeks ago since this was gravely recom- 

 mended by a writer in a sporting contemporary. 



I was, he says, a resident at Frankfort-on-the-Maine in which 

 river the carp, in the vicinity of the city, were plentiful. After 

 trying many baits in vain, I bethought me of one I had seen used 

 in Paris by the Lutetian cockneys, and found it successful. I got 

 from the slaughterhouse then situated in the Dom Platz a tin 

 canister full of blood ; whether of sheep, oxen, or goats, or all inter- 

 mingled, I cannot say. With this coagulated gore I was able, 

 after some practice, to bait my hook. The baiting was, of course, 

 very frequent. The hook had to be let down very gently, and the 

 bait would melt off after a few minutes' immersion. Every bite 

 which did not result in a catch also necessitated re-baiting. But 

 I caught a good many carp. I presume that in a river which flows 

 pretty rapidly, as does the Maine, these fish do not, as a rule, 

 attain to such a size as those in ponds. With me they used to run 



