BAIT FOE PERCH. 137 



and patience, which constitute the purest luxuries of the 

 gentle craft? 



Some people spin the minnow for pike. This is a 

 sorry business ; but those who are disposed to practise it, 

 will find it fully described under the instructions for 

 catching trout. In this mode, as with the snap, the casts 

 are made much in the same manner as in trolling. 



The pike is also very frequently shot by those who 

 have a fancy for such sport. A light charge is put into 

 the gun, and all the art displayed in the performance, 

 consists in making due allowance for the refraction of 

 the water, according to the depth and distance of the 

 fish. It is a wretched, poaching proceeding, and some- 

 times mutiiatea the fish horribly. 



Unit for ific 



Being a bold biter, and a somewhat unscrupulous fish, 

 the perch is very easily attracted by bait, and very readily 

 caught. When he bites, he requires rather more time 

 than might be imagined from his bold and determined 

 character; but experience will soon convince the angler, 

 that whenever the perch escapes, it is, generally speaking, 

 because he has not been allowed time enough to get the 

 hook well into his gullet. The perch requires consider- 

 able indulgence in this respect, especially when angled for 

 with a gudgeon. 



Large perch will take a trimmer baited with a small 

 roach, or gudgeon, and are frequently caught in this way 

 in ponds, where they attain any considerable size ; but 

 this shabby mode is beneath the angler's notice, and can 

 afford him no desirable amusement. 



Almost any kind of tackle, however common and un- 

 pretending, will do for catching perch. The rod should 



