162 PERCH FISHING. 



One season in particular we captured one hundred and 

 fifty of these fish, the average weight of which was near three 

 pounds each ; and had we devoted ourselves to the sport, we 

 might probably have trebled that number. 



Perch were tolerably plentiful in my immediate neighbour- 

 hood. When spinning for trout or pike, I occasionally caught 

 one ; but I never regularly angled for those fish. My people, 

 however, not unfrequently killed a good dish. But the perch 

 fishing in the Wenern was by all accounts much better than 

 in the Gotha. An experienced fisherman, a friend of mine, 

 living near to the northern shores of that lake, states that on 

 some occasions, especially about Midsummer, two persons, 

 fishing from a boat, may take with the rod alone, in the 

 course of three or four hours, fifteen to eighteen lispund 

 that is, from three hundred to three hundred and sixty 

 pounds weight of those fish. 



When perch rove about in shoals near the surface, in 

 pursuit of small fish, as is the case in the height of summer, 

 the most execution is to be done ; for by backing the boat 

 warily and slowly (with muffled oars all the better) in the 

 wake of the shoal, it is the fisherman's own fault if he cannot 

 make a good basket. 



In one instance, and this was immediately near to the 

 house, my man, who at the time was fishing for ide, observ- 

 ing a shoal of perch thus roving about, captured ten or 

 eleven pounds weight of perch, in about half-an-hour, with 

 no other bait than a large blue fly. 



The heaviest perch that we ever killed at Ronnum did not 

 weigh more than three pounds; but it was said that some 

 were to be found weighing five pounds each. 



A skilful boatman was very necessary when fishing among 



