94 MARVELS OF FISH LIFE 
I believe he would have given us the grandfather clock 
to offer to the carp had we asked for it! 
By 4.80 we were fishing. I took off my boots, and 
persuaded my friend to do likewise, for in order to 
catch carp it is essential that no vibration be caused 
by walking about on the bank. Talking, too, is not 
permitted. 
I baited my hook with a large lob worm, and my 
friend used sweetened paste. The first hour passed 
quickly, the second hour slowly, the third hour very 
slowly, but the carp were constantly working all round 
our bait, and so we decided to give the spot another 
hour before shifting our ground. At last my float was 
seen to move slowly towards a patch of water-lilies, but 
without going under, and I thought a small perch or 
roach was playing with the big worm. Suddenly, under 
went the float, and after it had gone two or three yards 
I struck. Without a moment’s warning, thirty yards of 
line were taken right off the reel towards the centre of 
the pond. Then followed twenty minutes of real sport 
as I played him as hard as my light tackle would permit. 
Time after time I got him almost to the bank, but as 
soon as he saw my friend with the net off he rushed 
again, now boring deep into the mud, now skimming 
along the surface, often getting perilously near the weeds 
on the other side. In the end, he managed to get 
amongst the reeds. All now seemed over, when my 
friend, grasping the situation, waded into the pond up 
to his knees in mud, and up to his waist in water, and 
