CHAPTER ly. 



TEU PURGE. 



Habits — Baits — Minnow-catching — Paterno sieving — Float-fishing 

 Legering —Lake and Pond Fishing. 



HOG-BACKED fish is the perch, with dark 

 olive back and golden-brown sides, shading 

 to a light drab on the belly. From its back, 

 two-thirds of the way down its sides, are 

 six dark bars of colour. Its fins are tipped 

 with red, and its scales, though small, are 

 very rough and hard; taken altogether, it 

 is as handsome a fish as swims. Not only 

 is it handsome, but a fine sporting fish, by no means easy of 

 capture in well-fished waters, and most excellent eating, espe- 

 cially if it has dwelt for a time in brackish water, as some 

 occasionally do. There are authentic records of perch weighing 

 51b., and even more, caught in the United Kingdom. On the 

 Continent they run larger ; but in England anything over lib. 

 weight is looked upon as a good fish, and, except in a few 

 highly favoured waters, a two -and- a-half -pounder is not often 

 caught. They are rarely found north of the Forth. 



River perch do not differ very materially in their habits from 

 roach. About June, after spawning, they are found in rather 

 shallow water where the stream runs fairly fast. All through 

 the summer they remain for the most part among the weeds, 

 but not out of the stream. When the weeds begin to rot, they 

 are found scattered about all over the river when the bottom is 

 gravel or sand, and abound more particularly under deep clay 



