72 ANGLING FOR COAKSE FISH. 



bait* will often determine tlie most fishy spots, but it is usually 

 desirable to bait up a spot with worms (see pages 9, 10, and 63) for 

 several days in advance. The baits for still water are the same as 

 those used in rivers, but the worm will often take better than 

 minnows in ponds. To find the fish, note the places where 

 the water is deepest, the bank hoUowest, where old piles exist, 

 by the sides of weed-beds — in fact, anywhere where there is 

 shelter and food for the fish. Float tackle, paternoster, or 

 leger — all are good. In very deep water, if a float is preferred, 

 it must be a slider (see page 26) ; but the paternoster is the 

 most convenient form of tackle. In ponds, perch are usually 

 easier to catch than in running water. In Lough Derg, one 

 of the largest lakes in Ireland, I had some curious experiences 

 with perch, which it may be useful to mention. They seemed to 

 feed only from about June to September. The best bait 

 obtainable was perch-fry, about the size of minnows, and tke 

 size of the perch depended altogether on the depth at which 

 I fished. In about 10ft. of water, all I caught would run 

 about Sin. long ; in 20ft., they would all be within an ounce or 

 two of fib. Fish of a size always seemed to swim in shoals 

 together, and the various shoals would swim at different depths. 

 I never caught a perch there over lib., so I suppose I never 

 fished deep enough. In some lakes perch take an artificial fly 

 well if it is allowed to sink, and is drawn slowly through the 

 water. A red palmer is a good fly for the purpose (see Chapter 

 YII.). 



In ponds and lakes (but not in rivers) perch are in shoals 

 most of the year, so wherever one is caught the angler should 

 remain. Always give perch plenty of time to take the bait 

 into its mouth before striking, as to prick and miss a perch 

 usually causes the rest of the shoal to go away, or at any rate to 

 leave off feeding — a fact well known to our forefathers, and 



* If artificial spinning baits are bought expressly for perch, I should recom- 

 mend small gold or silver Devons, very small gold and silver Clippers, or 

 Farlow's "Watchet" minnow— in short, any very quick -spinning, brilliant bait. 

 If a natural minnow is used, it cannot be mounted on better tackle than a very 

 small Chapman Spinner, which I need not describe, as it is obtainable in every 

 tackle-shop. Above the spinning bait should be a trace — i.e., a 2-yd. length of 

 gut, in the centre of which a small lead is slung below the level of the line, oelow 

 the lead being two small brass swivels. These are sold ready made. 



