Fishing for Pike and Other Coarse Fish - Carp and Tench

H. Cholmondeley-Pennell

Description

Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Sujets

• Sport
• Autour du sport
• Histoire du sport
• Autres sports
• Sports de plein air
• Sports
• Fishing
• Recreation

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 14 juin 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781446549629
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

FISHING FOR PIKE AND OTHER COARSE FISH
CARP AND TENCH
BY
H. CHOLMONDELEY-PENNELL
Contents
CARP AND TENCH .
CARP 1 AND TENCH . 2
Each yellow carp in scales bedropp d with gold.
P OPE S Windsor Forest .
I prithee come dance me a reel, carp,
I prithee come dance me a reel,-
I thank you, my lord, I ve no taste for your board,
You d much better play to the eel.
The Cunning Carp and the Contented Knight .
I N the Whole Art of Fishing, we are informed that a carp is a stately and very subtle fish called the Fresh-water Fox and Queen of Rivers, and Randal Holme in his remarkable work, the Academie of Armory, tells us that in Heraldry, the carp is the emblem of hospitality and denotes food and nourishment from the bearer to those in need. By this same Randal Holme we are told how every sort of fish are named after their age and growth, and we learn that a carp is first a seizling, then a sproll or sprale, before it arrives at the full majesty of carphood. When arrived at its maturity it must be confessed by all who have given much attention to carp catching, that its intellect matures at least in an equal ratio with its body, indeed, I used to call my carp fishing expeditions carp bubbles, to convey my feeling of the entirely illusory nature of the quest as appreciated by many and singular failures.
The well known Horatian motto, Carpe diem, might, it has been suggested, without doing great violence to the original, be rendered Catch your carp to-day, -that is if you can,- for the cunning customer may not be inclined to give you a chance on the morrow. 3 Its suspicious vigilance even in eluding the fatal sweep of the seine net has been described by Vaniere, in his Predium Rusticum , thus translated:-
Of all the fish that swim the watery mead,
Not one in cunning can the carp exceed.
Sometimes, when nets enclose the stream, she flies
To hollow rocks, and there in secret lies;
Sometimes the surface of the water skims,
And springing o er the net undaunted swims;
Now motionless she lies beneath the flood,
Holds by a weed, or deep into the mud
Plunges her head, for fear against her will
The nets should drag her and elude her skill;
Nay, not content with this, she oft will dive
Beneath the net, and not alone contrive
Means for her own escape; but pity take
On all her hapless brethren of the lake;
For rising, with her back she lifts the snares,
And frees the captive with officious cares;
The little fry in safety swim away,
And disappoint the nets of their expected prey.
The fact of the carp dodging the net has been so repeatedly borne testimony to, that, although not by any means inclined to be a gobe-mouche with regard to fish anecdotes and superstitions, I think it may be fairly accepted as substantially true. Indeed, the carp ought to be the cleverest as they possess the largest brain in proportion of any fresh-water fish, and the bones of the head are remarkable for their exquisite polish and symmetry. Fiction, if not fact, has, however, failed to credit the carp with the uncircumventible sagacity which is the theme of so many angling writers. In a curious old book, Dialogus Creaturam Moralizatus , published in 1480, it is recorded that at a red fish festival the carp and the grayling quarrelled on a point of precedence.
I bask in the favour of the great and powerful, said the carp, even man condescends to take care of me, and make ponds for my special use and protection. But, retorted the grayling, look at my elegant form and glittering scales, I am much handsomer than you are. The other fishes commencing to side with the contending parties, a scene of general strife seemed imminent, when the wily old trout restored peace to the company by saying- Why should we all be disturbed by this ridiculous quarrel? Let the disputants go to Judge Dolphin, he is a wise and just fish, and will soon decide the question. Accordingly the carp and the grayling went to the dolphin, and having laid the case before him, he said: My children, you place me in a very awkward position. I am bound to do you justice, but how can I, never having seen either of you before? While you have been residing in fresh-waters, I have all my life been rolling about in the restless waves of the ocean. Consequently I cannot give a conscientious opinion as to which is the best fish, without I first taste you. So the dolphin incontinently snapped up the carp and the grayling, and swallowing them down his gullet, said:-
No one ought himself to commend, Above all others, lest he offend.
It is curious, however, that although carp are exceedingly difficult to take with the rod and line, being altogether the most shy and difficult of capture of any species with which I am acquainted, they are, when in stew ponds and in confinement, one of the easiest of all to tame. They will come regularly to their meals, according to some authors, at the ringing of a bell or at the sound of their keeper s voice.
In Vol. IX. page 396, of the Censura Literaria there is an amusing ballad, from which the quotation at the head of this article is taken, commemorating the crafty character of the carp. It was written, according to the late Mr. William Pinkerton, by the Chief Justice Abbott, of Denton, in Kent, the seat of the late well-known literary antiquary, Sir Egerton Brydges, who is celebrated in it as the Knight of the Lake. Sir Egerton, though the House of Lords refused his claim, always alleged himself to be, per legem terr , Baron Chandos, of Sudley, and a lineal descendant of the hero of romance, Sir Launcelot du Lac. The musical Lord of Pembury s board, mentioned in the jeu d esprit , cannot be now identified. As the song is completely buried from the notice of the general public, in the only place in which it appears in print, no apology can be required for introducing it to the reader:
THE CUNNING CARP AND THE CONTENTED KNIGHT.
To the tune of St. George and the Dragon.
Within the wood a virgin ash
Had twenty summers seen;
The elves and fairies marked it oft
As they tripped on the green!
But the woodman cut it with his axe,
He cruelly fell d it down,
A rod to make for the Knight of the Lake,
A knight of no renown.
Turn and taper round, turner,
Turn and taper round,
For my line is of the grey palfrey s tail,
And it is slender and sound.
St. George he was for England,
St. Denis he was for France,
St. Patrick taught the Irishmen
To tune the merry harp,
At the bottom of this slimy pool
There lurks a crafty carp,
Were he at the bottom of my line,
How merrily he would dance.
In the Pacific Ocean
There dwelt a mighty whale,
And o er the waves from London Town,
There w