The chap­ter offers a detailed explo­ration of carps, hailed as the “queen of rivers” and esteemed for their cun­ning and dif­fi­cul­ty to catch. Orig­i­nal­ly not native to Eng­land, carps were intro­duced by Mr. Mas­cal from Sus­sex, a region rich in these fish. The nar­ra­tion delves into his­tor­i­cal anec­dotes and obser­va­tions from var­i­ous sources to illus­trate the carp’s habits, breed­ing pat­terns, and culi­nary val­ue. It explains that carps were rel­a­tive­ly recent addi­tions to Eng­land’s fau­na, along­side oth­er for­eign imports like hops and turkeys.

Dis­cussing their har­di­ness, Pis­ca­tor points out that carps, capa­ble of liv­ing out of water for extend­ed peri­ods, have intrigu­ing breed­ing habits, such as spawn­ing mul­ti­ple times a year in favor­able con­di­tions. These con­di­tions typ­i­cal­ly include warm, still waters with ample veg­e­ta­tion for the eggs to adhere to, unlike the cool­er, flow­ing rivers where breed­ing is less com­mon. Some ponds, espe­cial­ly warmer ones with­out preda­to­r­i­al fish like pikes and perch, can sup­port mas­sive increas­es in carp pop­u­la­tions.

Carps are not­ed for their poten­tial longevi­ty and size, with accounts of indi­vid­u­als grow­ing to extra­or­di­nary dimen­sions and ages, though the nar­ra­tor admits to nev­er wit­ness­ing such spec­i­mens in Eng­land. The mys­tery of carps’ pres­ence in cer­tain ponds but not oth­ers, despite sim­i­lar con­di­tions, is high­light­ed, along­side odd phe­nom­e­na like sig­nif­i­cant num­bers dis­ap­pear­ing with­out appar­ent cause. Fur­ther­more, ail­ments like frogs harm­ing or killing carps by adher­ing to them are recount­ed.

Offer­ing prac­ti­cal angling advice, the nar­ra­tor empha­sizes patience and spe­cif­ic baits like worms, pastes, and cer­tain inno­v­a­tive meth­ods to attract carps. The prepa­ra­tion of bait involves a mix of flesh (rab­bit or cat), flour, and sweet­en­ers formed into balls, with vari­a­tions in ingre­di­ents for year-round preser­va­tion or spe­cif­ic fish­ing strate­gies. Besides bait prepa­ra­tion, angling for carps also involves spe­cif­ic tech­niques and tim­ings, pri­mar­i­ly around dawn or dusk in warmer months, to increase the chances of catch­ing these elu­sive fish.

Last­ly, the chap­ter con­cludes with a sophis­ti­cat­ed recipe for prepar­ing carp, sug­gest­ing a cer­e­mo­ni­al and high regard for the fish not only as a sport­ing chal­lenge but also as a culi­nary delight. This recipe includes mar­i­nat­ing the carp in claret wine with herbs, onions, oys­ters, anchovies, and spices, show­cas­ing the carp’s esteemed posi­tion in gas­tron­o­my.