138 CARP. 



long, light one, with a fine running-line on the winch, 

 a fine single gut-line, a fine tip -capped quill float, and 

 a No. 5 or 6 hook for the smaller baits, and an 8 or 9 

 for the larger. The baits to be used are red-worms, 

 brandlings, maggots, cabbage -worms, wasp -grubs, 

 sweet-paste, or the white pieces in greaves. For 

 a ground-bait, which should be thrown in on the 

 preceding night, bran and greaves mixed together, or 

 "fresh grains and pieces of lob-worms, should be used. 

 Your baited hook should be about half-an-inch from 

 the bottom, in a pond, and should lie on the bottom in 

 a stream. When you strike the carp, (which should be 

 immediately, if in a stream, and after the lapse of a 

 second or two in a pond,) it must be with a smart, 

 strong hand; but as soon as you feel you have him at 

 hook, you must let him go, for he is a strong, heavy 

 fish, and will tear all to pieces if you do not give him 

 play. He will also struggle long, and sometimes, if 

 not hooked by the jaw, but in the throat, he will haul 

 back till you almost draw his entrails out of his mouth. 

 He is, in short, as bold and stout when he is taken as 

 he is wary and timorous before; and, at last, when you 

 have, as it were, tired him, and you would think he was 

 dead, you must be very careful how you land him, for he 

 will then make, as it were, his last efforts, and will not 

 quit the water without struggling to the utmost for his 

 life. It is true, that when you have once fairly hooked a 

 carp, there is little fear of his breaking away from the 

 hook, being one of those leather- mouthed fish that have 

 their teeth in their throats; but there is some danger, 

 when angling with a paste-bait, of his sucking it off the 

 hook, and then carrying it away. It is necessary, there- 

 fore, to have a sharp eye on your float. The nature of this 



