CH. III.] CARP WITH MINNOW—EEL WITH FLY. 53 
latter case being a German-silver kill-devil, and 
the Dace not above six or seven inches in length. 
But a friend of mine, a good fisherman, and whose 
word cannot be doubted, assures me that he did 
a much more extraordinary thing, having, whilst 
fishing in the Canal near Waverley Abbey, Hants, 
actually caught with a live minnow a Carp weigh- 
ing about three quarters of a pound. 
The Dace were probably allured by the glitter 
of the bait, and may have taken it for sport, or 
to ascertain what it was,—for I apprehend that 
they never really feed upon small fry; but the 
Carp must have taken the minnow deliberately, 
and, from that circumstance, I should conclude 
that they do occasionally, either when pressed 
by hunger, or from a morbid appetite, take a 
minnow or so by way of a change. 
I once caught an Eel with a fly. This how- 
ever sounds so very extraordinary, that, in order 
to save my character for veracity, I must mention 
the circumstances under which it occurred. I had 
been fishing in a pond for Roach with the natural 
fly, when, inhospitably wishing to “shirk” a party 
of visitors whom I saw driving up to the house 
by an approach which commanded my position, 
I put down my rod, leaving the fly in the water. 
