THE CARP. 57 



There are plenty of ten-pound carp in many ponds 

 and lakes, but how few anglers have caught one of 

 that size ! 



Small carp are generally easy to take, but there 

 are exceptions even to this, as in a pond, full of 

 carp of about two pounds in weight, where I was 

 asked particularly to try to get one, no carp had 

 ever been known to be taken with any bait. The 

 fish were there in plenty, so that by keeping perfectly 

 quiet under bushes I could plainly see them cruising 

 about, close to the bank, and at first sight I was 

 confident of taking fish. My kind host appreciated 

 my efforts, and then said he would show me how 

 they were to be caught ; I anxiously awaited sight 

 of the tackle, for he informed me he used a rod, 

 but no bait ! I expected foul-hooking ; but no, it 

 was a far kinder and more certain plan. Producing 

 a hop-pole, with a large minnow-net slung from the 

 end of it, he ensconced himself in a convenient 

 place where high bushes sheltered the water. 

 Dropping the net quietly to the bottom, he tightened 

 the line ; after a short interval a carp came wander- 

 ing by, disregarding the net entirely. Directly the 

 carp got over the centre of the net, he was lifted 

 up in it, and slung out on the grass, being soon 

 returned to the water. Knowing the shyness of 

 carp, I should have deemed this impossible, but it 

 is what I actually witnessed. The carp were 

 never kept, but were always returned to the water. 

 I was assured that they could not be caught with 

 a bait of any sort, not even by laying night-lines. 



Carp prefer soft, luscious baits, though the capture 

 of a very large carp has recently been . 

 reported by an angler who was fishing for 

 pike, and using a live bait. I am told that small 



