58 COARSE FISH. 



frogs are an excellent bait, but have not tried 

 them. The baits I have done best with are potato- 

 paste and bread-paste, the latter with a little aniseed 

 in it. In a pond, full of carp, .vhere I used to fish 

 regularly, I could never get a single fish without 

 aniseed in the bait, plain bread-paste or plain bread 

 being apparently useless. A friend, who has had 

 excellent carp-fishing, recommends boiled broad 

 beans. I have tried these once or twice without 

 success, and have taken nearly all my carp with 

 potato paste, potato, and bread-paste. Honey- 

 paste (bread and honey) kills well in some waters, 

 while carp are frequently killed with a worm ; 

 indeed, I think the worm would be one of the best 

 baits possible, were it not for eels. Eels are an 

 abominable nuisance when carp-fishing, especially 

 at night ; I have had my sport spoiled so many times 

 by eels when using the worm for bait, that I have 

 quite given this bait up, except now and then in 

 the day time, and even then the carp-fisher will do 

 better to leave worms out of his bait list and stick 

 to pastes. The following is a good recipe for 

 potato-paste : grate a sufficient quantity of bread 

 through a coarse grater, taking care that the crust 

 is not grated through ; mix this in a mortar with 

 boiled potato, using sufficient bread to make a bait 

 that will bind well together. Honey-paste can be 

 made in the same way. With potato, a very little 

 water may be required to make a good paste. 

 Baiting with whole potatoes is best done with a 

 baiting needle ; the potato must be boiled till it is 

 just soft enough to let the triangle be pulled into it ; 

 if too soft, it will crack off the triangle too easily. 

 A carp will easily crush up a parboiled potato 

 once he gets it well down. Although carp have 



