156 BOTTOM FISHING IN THE NOTTINGHAM STYLE. 



founded in the J =ast. Should the angler be so fortunate as 

 to drop across ? big pond that has not been fished since the 

 " Middle Ages," and it contains an abundance of fine carp 

 and tench, then the probability is that he will get a little 

 sport ; but in well-fished waters these fish are not to be had 

 without a lot of trouble. The angler must be up to all sorts 

 of dodges. If the pond has a lot of weeds or water-flowers 

 on it, and the carp are on the surface, as they very often are, 

 grubbing about and eyeing the weeds; to see if there is anything 

 good to eat among them, a nice worm is just hung over the 

 edge of a leaf or flower ; the fish will very often take it with- 

 out any preliminary hesitation, as he would if it were on the 

 ground ; but it is a very risky proceeding, carp being more 

 often lost in the weeds than captured, after they have been 

 hooked. Small carp will sometimes bite pretty freely, as 

 they have not had the education of their elders. When 

 I was in the fens of Lincolnshire, I used to watch a few 

 cunning old carp that had their home in a very large 

 pond. A friend of mine used to try all manner of dodges 

 for them, but he never got a big one, a few pounders and 

 some nice tench was about the extent of his captures. A 

 river carp will bite a little more freely than a pond carp, 

 for they are taken in some places when fishing for barbel ; 

 or they sometimes get in a roach swim, and take a few 

 gentles or a bit of paste. It is not a regular thing to fish on 

 purpose for them in rivers ; when the angler does get one, it 

 is a lucky accident ; an odd tench or two are also sometimes 

 taken when bream fishing. Cyprinus Tinea is the scientific 

 name for tench, 



