Carp, Tench, Barbel, Bream.—­The family as represented in England may be roughly divided into two groups, those which feed on the bottom purely and those which occasionally take flies.  The first consists of carp, tench, barbel and bream.  Of these carp, tench and bream are either river or pool fish, while the barbel is found only in rivers, principally in the Thames and Trent.  The carp grows to a great size, 20 lb being not unknown; tench are big at 5 lb; barbel have been caught up to 14 lb or rather more; and bream occasionally reach 8 lb, while a fish of over 11 lb is on record.  All these fish are capricious feeders, carp and barbel being particularly undependable.  In some waters it seems to be impossible to catch the large specimens, and the angler who seeks to gain trophies in either branch of the sport needs both patience and perseverance.  Tench and bream are not quite so difficult.  The one fish can sometimes be caught in great quantities, and the other is generally to be enticed by the man who knows how to set about it.  Two main principles have to be observed in attacking all these fish, ground-baiting and early rising.  Ground-baiting consists in casting food into the water so as to attract the fish to a certain spot and to induce them to feed.  Without it very little can be done with shy and large fish of these species.  Early rising is necessary because they only feed freely, as a rule, from daybreak till about three hours after sun-rise.  The heat of a summer or early autumn day makes them sluggish, but an hour or two in the evening is sometimes remunerative.  The bait for them all should usually lie on the bottom, and it consists mainly of worms, wasp and other grubs, pastes of various kinds; and for carp, and sometimes bream, of vegetable baits such as small boiled potatoes, beans, peas, stewed wheat, pieces of banana, &c.  None of these fish feed well in winter.

Roach, Rudd, Dace, Chub.—­The next group of Cyprinidae consists of fish which will take a bait similar to those already mentioned and also a fly.  The sizes which limit the ordinary angler’s aspirations are roach about 2 lb, rudd about 2-1/2 lb, dace about 1 lb and chub about 5 lb.  There are instances of individuals heavier than this, one or two roach and many rudd of over 3 lb being on record, while dace have been caught up to 1 lb 6 oz., and chub of over 7 lb are not unknown.  Roach only take a fly as a rule in very hot weather when they are near the surface, or early in the season when they are on the shallows; the others will take it freely all through the summer.  Ordinary trout flies do well enough for all four species, but chub often prefer something larger, and big bushy lures called “palmers,” which represent caterpillars, are generally used for them.  The fly may be used either wet or dry for all these fish, and there is little to choose between the methods as regards effectiveness.  Fly-fishing for these fish is a branch of angling which might be more practised than it is, as the sport is a very fair substitute for trout fishing.  Roach, chub and dace feed on bottom food and give good sport all the winter.