water, to be borne as on a stream precisely to where the huge fishes lay. At last the shoal was reached, and, retained by my line, the bait and leaf remained stationary-some few seconds fraught with terrible suspense. All on a sudden down went the leaf, the line tightened, and a terrific rush told that a Cyprinus carpio had found his match. Now came the Greek-to-Greek combat. Right and left in turn, now down to the bottom, anon quite at the surface, was the fight prolonged; but, as far as Master Carp was concerned, it was in vain. After an hour's good sport-such sport as I never but once before experienced-—he was landed, scaling 94lb. He was probably one of the smallest of those whose back fins I had seen. I have simply given this episode as illustrative of the difficulties one has to overcome sometimes in carp fishing. Of course, when carp are near to spawning, and shortly after, when they are close together, and jostling each other with affectionate demonstration, it is a matter of little difficulty to catch them; but given the exigencies of the example I cite, and the carp indeed proves himself a "" wit."

It has been the usual custom of writers on angling to connect the carp and tench under one category. Why, I know not. The same mistake is made in regard to roach and dace; but of this I shall have to speak in another chapter; there are certainly some points of similarity physiologically between carp and tench, such as power of endurance of heat and cold, but to the angler proper they are as different in habits as chalk is from cheese, to use a homely metaphor. Carp ever bite best during the early hours of morning, and tench are generally best "on" towards evening. Carp can be taken best during the early summer months. I have known good tench biting freely on a dull January day with the wind due east. I have, however, never caught carp under such circumstances.

In giving general directions to such anglers as are not experienced in carp fishing, let me impress one or two indisputable truths on them for their guidance. Fish with the lightest tackle compatible with strength; never use a large long-shanked hook; cover the shank of the hook when baiting; let the bait rest on the bottom; let the fish have the bait while you count five; give plenty of time to kill the fish; your hook will never tear out of the gristly mouth; put no shots near the hook; and finally, when a fish is hooked keep perfectly cool and deliberate.

The most useful bait for general fishing is the lob worm or the red worm; next to these I like a bluebottle fly. Of this bait Mr. Blakey says: "No matter how small your hook, it must be put across the body just under the wings." For large carp, as I have indicated, the green pea, cherry, green corn, or new potatoes may be used with success. It is necessary to use a small triangle hook for the latter bait, putting it on

by means of a baiting needle, thus hiding the hook completely and giving your fish time to pouch, or at least to pass it beyond the teeth in the throat before referred to.

It is highly necessary sometimes to ground bait the spot you intend to fish. The following preparation has been recommended, but I imagine that most experienced anglers will readily perceive it errs from extreme elaboration: Take a quantity of well cooked veal, a handful of oatmeal, and a little honey; bruise them in a mortar, mix them in a thin paste or batter with new milk and a few grains of assafoetida. Crush down in a mortar a quantity of worms, gentles, slugs, and some lumps of the most tallowy cheese you can find, thicken the veal batter with this compound, and then roll it up into little balls; these balls must be thrown into a compost of tallow greaves and grains steeped in bullock's blood, and the entire mess sunk in the place some hours before fishing. This is Blakey's prescription. There are no less than twelve ingredients, besides trouble of procuring and compounding, and after all has been faithfully done one may go out, as I did on one occasion, after mixing up this unspeakable mess, and tell it not in Gath-catch nothing.

The best and simplest ground bait I know of is pearl barley or even boiled rice, using boiled pearl barley or a red worm for the hook bait. I have usually found that immediately after a thunderstorm is a good time to fish; and let it not be forgotten that the early bird ever gets the pick of the worms, or, as in this case, fishes.

The best spots in the Thames for carp, as far as my experience goes, is in water from 3ft. to 6ft. deep, where there are plenty of large stones and the long tape weed, from which it picks considerable quantities of animalculæ and water insects. I have in my "mind's eye" a certain spot by the dilapidated trunk of a willow on Chertsey Mead, by which the water gently swirls over rocky prominences and through a wild growth of weeds, alternated with clear intervals of gravel. Here have I seen many a two and three pounder somnolently basking in the morning sun, although I never caught one from the place.

In conclusion of this chapter on carp I may be allowed to jot down a few recorded weights of these fish. I have myself seen them of 18lb., but according to Donovan they attain a prodigious weight in Germany. He says: "One was taken at Dertz which weighed 381b. In Prussia they frequently weigh 40lb., and in the Volga they are 5ft. long. One caught near Frankfort-on-the-Oder was 9ft. long and 5ft. in circumference, weighing 70lb. Lake Zug, in Switzerland, produces carp of 90lb.; and in the Dniester some had been taken of which knife handles are made with the scales. Carp do not arrive at this prodigious size until they are of a very advanced age." I should think not.

In Shaw's " 'Zoology," it is said: "They are sometimes caught in Lago di Como, in Italy, weighing 2001b."

Dr. Block records a carp taken in the domains of Count de Schulenbourg, in Saxony, that weighed 32lb.; but Jovius and ancient writers, mention some much larger.

According to "Dodsley's Register," 1761, "Mr. Ladbroke, from his park at Gatton, presented Lord Egremont, with a brace that weighed 35lb. In 1793, at the fishing of a large piece of water at Stourhead where a thousand brace of carp were taken, the largest was 30in. long and 22in. broad, and weighed 181b."

A Mr. Milward had also drawn carp from his marl pits weighing 25lb. a brace, and having 2in. of fat upon them. They were fed upon peas. It is further said " that a brace of carp were presented to the Princess of Wales, weighing 281b., caught in a pond near Godstone, Surrey."