36 TAME CARP—CARP BASKING. [PART 1. 
ing the fish, not to throw in any ground-bait, 
until the actual bait is ready, yet I am far from 
saying that general ground-baiting in the place 
where you intend to fish is a bad plan. On the 
contrary, the more you feed in a particular place, 
the more certain will the Carp be to resort to it, 
and, by constantly doing so, you may get them 
to become nearly or quite as tame as barn-door 
fowls. I may instance those in the pond of the 
garden attached to the Kursaal at Wiesbaden, 
which are really a curious sight. Much more 
interest and amusement is to be derived from 
Carp than people in general are at all aware of:— 
it seems a pity that they should, be so neglected 
as they are in England. 
When Carp are basking on the surface of the 
water, they can scarcely ever be induced to take 
a bait; nevertheless, if feeding is going on at the 
bottom, they before very long by some myste- 
rious sense become aware of it, and will wake 
up and “go below to dine.” But though you 
cannot catch them with a bait, while thus bask- 
ing, yet you may occasionally do so without 
one, by lightly throwing over and foul-hooking 
them. This plan, with a large weighted treble 
hook, is sometimes adopted with destructive effect 
