126 PRACTICAL LESSONS IN CANAL ANGLING. 

 ANGLING FOR PERCH. 



The perch 1 is a gregarious fish which is found in 

 slow-running weedy rivers, in canals, and not rarely in 

 ponds. It frequents hollow banks and deep holes, be- 

 tween weeds or stumps of trees, and spawns in May 

 or earlier. 



These fish have been found to bite best in the latter 

 part of the spring; but they may be taken all the 

 year round. The best times for angling for them are, 

 in hot and bright weather, from sun-rise till six o'clock 

 in the morning ; and in the evening, from six till sun- 

 set. If the day be cool and cloudy, with a ruffling 

 south wind, they will bite all day. 



Your bait worms should be either well scoured 

 brandlings, red dunghill worms, or those found in rotten 

 tan. Your hook, No. 4, 5, or 6, being well whipped 

 to a strong silk- worm gut, with a shot or two on 

 it, put the point of the hook in at the head of the worm, 

 and out again a little lower than the middle, and draw 

 it above the shank of the hook upon the gut; then 

 take a smaller one, beginning the same way, and bring 

 the head up to the middle of the shank only; then 

 draw the first worm down to the head of the latter, so 

 that the tails may hang one above the other, keeping 

 the point of the hook well covered. This is the most 

 enticing method that can be adopted in worm-fishing. 

 Use a small cork float, to keep the bait about a foot 

 from the bottom, or sometimes above mid-water. 



(1) In Latin, Percaflitciatilis. 



