THE CARPS 95 
quickly got the net under the now almost played-out 
carp. This fish just turned the scale at nine pounds. 
Imagine hooking a twenty pounder, such as you read 
of in the old books! 
Wet as we were, for I had to assist my friend out of 
the mud, we fished for another hour—a childish proceed- 
ing, for we might have known that disturbing the water 
as we had done would put the other fish entirely off 
their feed. You can never expect to catch more than 
one big carp in the same spot on the same day. 
When the water in which you intend to fish is suffi- 
ciently large, the best plan is to ground-bait two or 
three holes, and when lucky enough to catch a carp in 
one place, move straight off to another. 
One often hears and reads of cute ways of outwitting 
fish, but somewhere I read of a most ingenious method 
of reaching inaccessible carp. The fish were right out 
in the water, and were far too shy to permit of a punt 
being brought anywhere near them. The angler, choos- 
ing a suitable breeze, threaded his gut through a large 
leaf, which acted both as a float and a sail, and carried 
his bait out to the carp, resulting in the capture of a 
fine fish. 
Carp thrive in deep still waters overgrown with pond 
weed and other vegetation. From the months of October 
to March not a fish is to be seen, for they are lying buried 
in the mud, and this habit of burying themselves for 
warmth during the winter months is shared with many 
other members of the carp family. In April they again 
