THE YELLOW BASS AND OTHER BOYS FISHES. 429 



The Perch abounds in quiet, deep places in the river and 

 in ponds and lakes. It feeds mainly upon minnows and 

 worms, having a constant though not voracious appetite. It 

 reaches a length of about eighteen inches and a weight of a 

 pound or two. As a food fish it is respectable, though fall- 

 ing far short of the best. 



I once spoke rather lightly of the Perch as food, and was 

 taken sharply to task by a New York angler devoted to the 

 Perch. I sent immediately to the market, bought some Perch 

 and had them properly fried, but I found them even poorer 

 and drier than I had thought. But these were market Perch, 

 tired, and crushed beneath a mass of ice. The flavor is said 

 to be best during the spawning season, after which, accord- 

 ing to Dr. Goode, the flesh is soft and watery. Taken at its 

 best, the Perch is a good pan-fish — and every fish has the 

 right to be taken at its best. 



The best bait for a Perch, so far as my experience goes — 

 and I hasten to say that it does not go very far — -is an angle- 

 worm. This, with a stout hook, a float and a sinker, serves 

 the essential purpose, and a rod of alder does as well as the 

 finest bamboo. According to Dr. Goode, this form of tackle 

 is effective when Perch are numerous and hungry, and thus I 

 have generally found them. 



Thoreau says of the Perch: 



"The common Perch, Perca flavescens, which name 

 describes well the gleaming, golden reflections of its scales, 

 as it is drawn out of the water, its red gills standing out in 

 vain in the thin element, is one of the handsomest of our 

 fishes, and at such a moment as this reminds us of the fish 

 in the picture which wished to be restored to its native ele- 

 ment until it had grown larger. 



"The Perch is a tough, and heedless fish, biting from 

 impulse, without nibbling, and from impulse refraining to 

 bite, and sculling indifferently past. It is a true fish, such 

 as the angler loves to put into his basket or hang on the top 



