384 PERCH FISHING. 



in the humour they will take this, or indeed almost any fish or 

 reptile bait. The following is Hofland's advice as to the mode 

 of fishing for him; and although the English and American 

 species are distinct, their habits are identical, and the rules laid 

 down below cannot be improved upon. 



The general rod will do well for taking Perch, but a heavy one 

 is not required. A reel and silk or grass-line with a gut bottom, 

 or gimp, if Pike haunt the same waters, as is apt to be the case, 

 will produce the desired effect. 



The same tackle and mode of fishing will capture, at times, 

 the Pickerel, the Pike Perch, the Rock Bass, and even the Trout, 

 and it is therefore well, in Perch fishing, always to be provided 

 with the tackle necessary to secure larger fish than those which 

 you actually expect to take, and to be prepared and on the look- 

 out that you be not surprised unawares. 



" The Perch loves to lie by the side of the stream, and under 

 deep banks, or near beds of the water-lily, the eddies at mill- 

 tails, and tumbling bays, near the old piles of wooden bridges, 

 or old kemp sheeting; the best baits for a Perch are, the min- 

 now, the gudgeon, the red- worm, and the brandling. 



''A minnow may be used by fixing a No. 9 hook under the 

 back fin, or by passing it through his lips, with a cork-float, 

 carrying shot according to the depth of the water. You should 

 fish within a few inches of the bottom, and when a fish bites, a 

 little time should be given before you strike, as the Perch is 

 tender-mouthed, and, if not well hooked, is apt to break his 

 hold. The paternoster is much used for minnow fishing ; it 

 may be had at all the tackle shops ; it is sunk by a small bullet, 

 and has three hooks at diff'erent distances, which may be baited 



