AMERICAN FISHES. 



6 inches of gut is fastened ; a foot above this another hook is fixed on, 

 and a foot above that again a third. This third hook is often a gimp- 

 hook when pike and Perch are found in common, so that if a pike should 

 come to the bait there may be a fair chance of capturing him. A minnow 

 being hooked through the lips on each of the other hooks, the tackle is 

 dropped into an eddy where Perch is supposed to be, and the three baits 

 swim round and round the main line ; so that, no matter whether the fish 

 are resting at the bottom or searching for their prey in mid water, they 

 may be attracted. As soon as there is a bite from a Perch the angler 

 feels it at the rod point, slackens line for two seconds to let the fish get 

 the minnow well into his mouth, and then strikes. Should the immediate 

 neighborhood not afford a bite the tackle is cast to a distance, and after 

 being allowed to rest for a minute it is drawn in a few feet, when another 

 cast is made and then another draw, until the tackle is worked up on the 

 boa;t or the bank. In the winter, after the floods, very many Perch are 

 caught in this way on the Thames, from one hundred to two hundred in a 

 day being not very uncommonly taken." 



Pater-nostering is said to require much skill, but this method is surely 

 worthy of more general use in America. It may, perhaps, be preferable to 

 hook the bait though the dorsal fin, or to use a " tail-hook " to avoid the 

 risk of losing the minnow without gaining the Perch. 



The French gear is more complicated than the English, the hooks being 

 attached to long bristles, which are tied to beads of wood, rubber or iron, 

 kept in place upon the line by means of split shot. The use of supplementary 

 floats, or "postillions," is recommended to keep the line from sinking. 

 This apparatus is very heavy, and is more of the nature of a set line 

 than of an angler's apparatus. 



The "ledger" is another method sometimes employed in Perch fishing, 

 especially in rapidly running streams, where it is not convenient to use a 

 float. 



" This," says Francis, " consists of a gut line a yard or two long, run 

 through a bullet or lump of lead pierced with a round hole. On the hook 

 side of the line an obstruction is fastened, so that the lead cannot slip 

 down to the hook, but the line is free on the rod side of the lead, the 

 lead is dropped into the water and rests on the bottom, a tight line 

 between the rod top and the lead being kept. The instant a fish bites at 

 the hook, the line being free in that direction, it is felt at the rod top, 

 and the angler, yielding a little line to let the fish get the bait and hook 

 well in his mouth, strikes, lifting the lead and hooks the fish." 



In France are employed various modifications of the ledger, some of 



