THE CARP 121 



lous, as your extremely light tackle will be snapped in 

 a moment. Only give him plenty of line, just keeping 

 pressure enough to stimulate his exertions, and you are 

 sure of your prey. His very strength and vigour wUl 

 soon tire him, and you may thus draw him out with 

 security. 



Carp bite freely from February until June, and may 

 then be caught at all times of the day. From June to 

 September they bite well, morning and evening. After 

 this, it is useless to fish for them with a line tiU 

 February again. In the heats of summer, the night is 

 unquestionably the most favourable season for killing 

 this shy fish. You can see nothing, but then you 

 cannot be seen ; and the jerk of the line will infallibly 

 tell you when you have got a fish. 



It is also recommended to grouTid-bait the spot where 

 you intend to fish, some hours before you commence opera- 

 tions. The following has been often eulogised as a 

 favourite compost. Take a quantity of well-cooked veal, a 

 handful of oatmeal, and a little honey ; bruise them in a 

 mortar, and mix them in a thin paste or batter with 

 new milk, and a few grains of asafoetida. Crush down 

 in a mortar a quantity of worms, gentles, slugs, and some 

 lumps of the most tallowy cheese you can find ; thicken 

 the veal batter with this compound, and then roll it up 

 into little balls ; these balls must be thrown into a 

 compost of tallow greaves and grains steeped in bullock's 

 blood, and the entire mess sunk in the place you intend 

 to fish, some hours before you commence. 



This, we are informed, is a most attractive ground- 

 bait ; and, sure we are, it is sufficiently nasty to satisfy the 

 most inflexible advocates of such ground-bait piactices. 



It is difficult to decide where the favourite haunts 

 of the carp really are, but the angler will always 

 have the best chance of success who selects the most 

 retired spots, and studiously keeps himself from obser- 

 vation. 



Carp, like pike, may be taken with the snare, when 

 they lie basking in the sun. The operator must conceal 

 himself as much as he can, and then no more dexterity 



