FOREST, LAKE, AND RIVER 



delicate, and does not always command the attention 

 of which it is worthy. 



When we were young and fished for perch, any 

 sort of a pole, line, hook, sinker, or float — and 

 for bait a worm, a minnow, or insect — seemed 

 sufficient to insure a good catch. Later on, the 

 pole gave place to a light rod with reel, and line 

 and float, sinker and hook became much smaller 

 and less clumsy. 



Perch will rise to a fly, at times, in the late 

 springtime. Gray-winged flies, with some red in 

 the body, have given me better results than any I 

 have tried. Abroad, " paternostering " from a 

 punt is a favorite method of taking perch; but it 

 is rarely tried in New England, so far as I have 

 been able to learn. 



In lakes, large fish take a spoon or an artificial 

 spinning minnow. At times they prove to be 

 most greedy fish, and large numbers are taken. 

 Shrimps, also, make excellent bait, when they can 

 be obtained. The mouth of the yellow perch is 

 tender, and the angler should be careful not to 

 strike hard. 



Perch may, in the winter, be taken through 

 the ice, and thus many are caught. They are 

 very tenacious of life, more so than most of their 

 finny brethren. 



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