322 



SUMMER 



has materially deteriorated in size, large specimen perch 

 being the exception to-day. This species delights in brackish 

 waters, and will hang upon the verge of the 'salts,' preying 

 upon the shrimps that come up witn the tide. Little urchins 

 with a piece of stick and the roughest tackle, angling near 

 the lock at Oulton Broad, where there are often several 

 degrees of salinity in the water, capture hungry perch in 

 numbers. The rudd is abundant at Hickling and in the 

 Heyham sounds; it is a frolicsome, sturdy fish, giving 

 excellent sport, taking a bait with an impetuosity which 



==5- 



makes it a favourite with anglers, who, when out specially 

 for its capture, in order to locate it, cast bread-crumbs on the 

 surface of the water. If there be a shoal within seeing dis- 

 tance, in a few minutes the stream will be alive with the 

 splashing of their tails as they dash eagerly at the crumbs. 

 If the angler but flings a lively worm into their midst a fish 

 inevitably becomes hooked on the instant, and sport, while 

 crumbs remain, will be fast and furious. The angler who is 

 wily does not wait for their return, but, quietly drawing his 

 stakes, shifts his position, following them up. He who is 

 not so ready to move repeats his seductions, and may be 

 rewarded time after time by an arrival of a shoal. If a 

 rippling of wind freckles the surface so much the better. 



