152 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



CHAPTER X. 



THE CARP AND TENCH. 



CARP and tench are mostly linked together on the angler's 

 tongue, why, is not apparent, unless it is because that they 

 are generally found in company. They are both of them lake 

 or pond fish generally, although sometimes found in rivers. 

 In some respects they are totally unlike one another, for in- 

 stance, the carp has the largest scales of any freshwater fish, 

 while the tench has the smallest, excepting the eel ; a small 

 carp is a very good bait for pike, while a tench is the very 

 worst. However, as bottom fishing for carp in ponds or lakes 

 may be equally well practised for tench, I have connected the 

 two fish, and so the instructions for one must answer for the 

 other. A short description of these fish I will, however, here 

 give. The carp is a cunning member of the Cyprinidae or 

 carp family, and his scientific name is Gyprinus Carpio. He 

 has very large scales, as I have said, and a Roman nose, like 

 a barbel. Carp spawn in May, though I have read some- 

 where that they spawn three or four times in the year. This 

 I cannot verify; observation shows to me that they only 

 spawn once, and that in May. However, I will not argue 

 the point as to whether they spawn once or more, but one 

 thing is certain, they are very prolific. The female fish con- 

 tains a vast quantity of eggs ; indeed, I have read that when 

 the roe is extracted from some specimens, it will turn the 

 scale against the rest of the fish. These fish will sometimes 

 reach a very heavy weight, and are found in England of the 

 weight of from twelve to twenty pounds, but the latter, how- 

 ever, being by no means common, from six to ten pounds 

 makes a very good fish. In Germany carp reach to an extra- 

 ordinary weight, thirty and forty pounds being a common 

 size, while it has been put on record that " a carp was caught 

 in 1711, near Frankfort on the Oder, which was more than 



