The Compleat Angler, by Izaak
Walton Chapter IX
The fourth day - continued
On the Carp
Chapter IX
Piscator
The Carp is the queen of rivers; a stately, a good, and a very
subtil fish; that was not at first bred, nor hath been long in
England, but is now naturalised. It is said, they were brought
hither by one Mr. Mascal, a gentleman that then lived at Plumsted
in Sussex, a county that abounds more with this fish than any in
this nation.
You may remember that I told you Gesner says there are no Pikes in
Spain; and doubtless there was a time, about a hundred or a few
more years ago, when there were no Carps in England, as may seem
to be affirmed by Sir Richard Baker, in whose Chronicle you may
find these verses:
Hops and turkies, carps and beer, Came into England all in a year.
And doubtless, as of sea-fish the Herring dies soonest out of the
water, and of fresh-water fish the Trout, so, except the Eel, the
Carp endures most hardness, and lives longest out of its own
proper element; and, therefore, the report of the Carp's being
brought out of a foreign country into this nation is the more
probable.
Carps and Loaches are observed to breed several months in one
year, which Pikes and most other fish do not; and this is partly
proved by tame and wild rabbits; as also by some ducks, which will
lay eggs nine of the twelve months; and yet there be other ducks
that lay not longer than about one month. And it is the rather to
be believed, because you shall scarce or never take a male Carp
without a melt, or a female without a roe or spawn, and for the
most part very much, and especially all the summer season; and it
is observed, that they breed more naturally in ponds than in
running waters, if they breed there at all; and that those that
live in rivers are taken by men of the best palates to be much the
better meat.
And it is observed that in some ponds Carps will not breed,
especially in cold ponds; but where they will breed, they breed
innumerably: Aristotle and Pliny say six times in a year, if there
be no Pikes nor Perch to devour their spawn, when it is cast upon
grass or flags, or weeds, where it lies ten or twelve days before
it be enlivened
The Carp, if he have water-room and good feed, will grow to a very
great bigness and length; I have heard, to be much above a yard
long. It is said by Jovius, who hath writ of fishes, that in the
lake Lurian in Italy, Carps have thriven to be more than fifty
pounds weight: which is the more probable, for as the bear is
conceived and born suddenly, and being born is but short lived;
so, on the contrary, the elephant is said to be two years in his
dam's belly, some think he is ten years in it, and being born,
grows in bigness twenty years; and it is observed too, that he
lives to the age of a hundred years. And 'tis also observed, that
the crocodile is very long-lived; and more than that, that all
that long life he thrives in bigness; and so I think some Carps
do, especially in some places, though I never saw one above
twenty-three inches, which was a great and goodly fish; but have
been assured there are of a far greater size, and in England too.
Now, as the increase of Carps is wonderful for their number, so
there is not a reason found out, I think, by any, why they should
breed in some ponds, and not in others, of the same nature for
soil and all other circumstances. And as their breeding, so are
their decays also very mysterious: I have both read it, and been
told by a gentleman of tried honesty, that he has known sixty or
more large Carps put into several ponds near to a house, where by
reason of the stakes in the ponds, and the owner's constant being
near to them, it was impossible they should be stole away from
him; and that when he has, after three or four years, emptied the
pond, and expected an increase from them by breeding young ones,
for that they might do so he had, as the rule is, put in three
melters for one spawner, he has, I say, after three or four years,
found neither a young nor old Carp remaining. And the like I have
known of one that had almost watched the pond, and, at a like
distance of time, at the fishing of a pond, found, of seventy or
eighty large Carps, not above five or six: and that he had
forborne longer to fish the said pond, but that he saw, in a hot
day in summer, a large Carp swim near the top of the water with a
frog upon his head; and that he, upon that occasion, caused his
pond to be let dry: and I say, of seventy or eighty Carps, only
found five or six in the said pond, and those very sick and lean,
and with every one a frog sticking so fast on the head of the said
Carps, that the frog would not be got off without extreme force or
killing. And the gentleman that did affirm this to me, told me he
saw it; and did declare his belief to be, and I also believe the
same, that he thought the other Carps, that were so strangely
lost, were so killed by the frogs, and then devoured.
And a person of honour, now living in Worcestershire, assured me
he had seen a necklace, or collar of tadpoles, hang like a chain
or necklace of beads about a Pike's neck, and to kill him: Whether
it were for meat or malice, must be, to me, a question.
But I am fallen into this discourse by accident; of which I might
say more, but it has proved longer than I intended, and possibly
may not to you be considerable: I shall therefore give you three
or four more short observations of the Carp, and then fall upon
some directions how you shall fish for him.
The age of Carps is by Sir Francis Bacon, in his History of Life
and Death, observed to be but ten years; yet others think they
live longer. Gesner says, a Carp has been known to live in the
Palatine above a hundred years But most conclude, that, contrary
to the Pike or Luce, all Carps are the better for age and bigness.
The tongues of Carps are noted to be choice and costly meat,
especially to them that buy them: but Gesner says, Carps have no
tongue like other fish, but a piece of fleshlike fish in their
mouth like to a tongue, and should be called a palate: but it is
certain it is choicely good, and that the Carp is to be reckoned
amongst those leather-mouthed fish which, I told you, have their
teeth in their throat; and for that reason he is very seldom lost
by breaking his hold, if your hook be once stuck into his chaps.
I told you that Sir Francis Bacon thinks that the Carp lives but
ten years: but Janus Dubravius has writ a book Of fish and
fish-ponds in which he says, that Carps begin to spawn at the age
of three years, and continue to do so till thirty: he says also,
that in the time of their breeding, which is in summer, when the
sun hath warmed both the earth and water, and so apted them also
for generation, that then three or four male Carps will follow a
female; and that then, she putting on a seeming coyness, they
force her through weeds and flags, where she lets fall her eggs or
spawn, which sticks fast to the weeds; and then they let fall
their melt upon it, and so it becomes in a short time to be a
living fish: and, as I told you, it is thought that the Carp does
this several months in the year; and most believe, that most fish
breed after this manner, except the Eel. And it has been observed,
that when the spawner has weakened herself by doing that natural
office, that two or three melters have helped her from off the
weeds, by bearing her up on both sides, and guarding her into the
deep. And you may note, that though this may seem a curiosity not
worth observing, yet others have judged it worth their time and
costs to make glass hives, and order them in such a manner as to
see how bees have bred and made their honeycombs, and how they
have obeyed their king, and governed their commonwealth. But it is
thought that all Carps are not bred by generation; but that some
breed other ways, as some Pikes do.
The physicians make the galls and stones in the heads of Carps to
be very medicinable. But it is not to be doubted but that in Italy
they make great profit of the spawn of Carps, by selling it to the
Jews, who make it into red caviare; the Jews not being by their
law admitted to eat of caviare made of the Sturgeon, that being a
fish that wants scales, and, as may appear in Leviticus xi., by
them reputed to be unclean.
Much more might be said out of him, and out of Aristotle, which
Dubravius often quotes in his Discourse of Fishes: but it might
rather perplex than satisfy you; and therefore I shall rather
choose to direct you how to catch, than spend more time in
discoursing either of the nature or the breeding of this Carp, or
of any more circumstances concerning him. But yet I shall remember
you of what I told you before, that he is a very subtil fish, and
hard to be caught
And my first direction is, that if you will fish for a Carp, you
must put on a very large measure of patience, especially to fish
for a river Carp: I have known a very good fisher angle diligently
four or six hours in a day, for three or four days together, for a
river Carp, and not have a bite. And you are to note, that, in
some ponds, it is as hard to catch a Carp as in a river; that is
to say, where they have store of feed, and the water is of a
clayish colour. But you are to remember that I have told you there
is no rule without an exception; and therefore being possess with
that hope and patience which I wish to all fishers, especially to
the Carp-angler, I shall tell you with what bait to fish for him.
But first you are to know, that it must be either early, or late;
and let me tell you, that in hot weather, for he will seldom bite
in cold, you cannot be too early, or too late at it. And some have
been so curious as to say, the tenth of April is a fatal day for
Carps.
The Carp bites either at worms, or at paste: and of worms I think
the bluish marsh or meadow worm is best; but possibly another
worm, not too big, may do as well, and so may a green gentle: and
as for pastes, there are almost as many sorts as there are
medicines for the toothache; but doubtless sweet pastes are best;
I mean, pastes made with honey or with sugar: which, that you may
the better beguile this crafty fish, should be thrown into the
pond or place in which you fish for him, some hours, or longer,
before you undertake your trial of skill with the angle-rod; and
doubtless, if it be thrown into the water a day or two before, at
several times, and in small pellets, you are the likelier, when
you fish for the Carp, to obtain your desired sport. Or, in a
large pond, to draw them to any certain place, that they may the
better and with more hope be fished for, you are to throw into it,
in some certain place, either grains, or blood mixt with cow-dung
or with bran; or any garbage, as chicken's guts or the like; and
then, some of your small sweet pellets with which you propose to
angle: and these small pellets being a few of them also thrown in
as you are angling, will be the better.
And your paste must be thus made: take the flesh of a rabbit, or
cat, cut small; and bean-flour; and if that may not be easily got,
get other flour; and then, mix these together, and put to them
either sugar, or honey, which I think better: and then beat these
together in a mortar, or sometimes work them in your hands, your
hands being very clean; and then make it into a ball, or two, or
three, as you like best, for your use: but you must work or pound
it so long in the mortar, as to make it so tough as to hang upon
your hook without washing from it, yet not too hard: or, that you
may the better keep it on your hook, you may knead with your paste
a little, and not too much, white or yellowish wool.
And if you would have this paste keep all the year, for any other
fish, then mix with it virgin-wax and clarified honey, and work
them together with your hands, before the fire; then make these
into balls, and they will keep all the year.
And if you fish for a Carp with gentles, then put upon your hook a
small piece of scarlet about this bigness, it being soaked in or
anointed with oil of petre, called by some, oil of the rock: and
if your gentles be put, two or three days before, into a box or
horn anointed with honey, and so put upon your hook as to preserve
them to be living, you are as like to kill this crafty fish this
way as any other: but still, as you are fishing, chew a little
white or brown bread in your mouth, and cast it into the pond
about the place where your float swims. Other baits there be; but
these, with diligence and patient watchfulness, will do better
than any that I have ever practiced or heard of. And yet I shall
tell you, that the crumbs of white bread and honey made into a
paste is a good bait for a Carp; and you know, it is more easily
made. And having said thus much of the Carp, my next discourse
shall be of the Bream, which shall not prove so tedious; and
therefore I desire the continuance of your attention.
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