CHAPTER I 



PERCH AND PERCH FISHING 



LIKE many other fish, the perch has been the 

 subject of much misrepresentation at the hands of 

 the older angling writers. Even ichthyologists have 

 misnamed him Perca fluviatilis^ signifying, if the 

 usually received etymology of the word is correct, the 

 dark fish of the river. Yet the perch as we know 

 him is, until he arrives at a venerable age, somewhat 

 gorgeous as to his colours, and is even more at home 

 in lakes and ponds than in running waters. The old 

 Anglo-Saxon word * bears,' the Dutch ' baars,' and the 

 German 'barsch,' all signifying a banded fish, were 

 better. In Westmoreland the name ' barse,' I believe, 

 still lingers, and in Cumberland ' base.' 



The Saxons, by the way, used to represent one of 

 their gods with unclad feet standing on the prickly 

 dorsal fin of a perch. This, it has been suggested, 

 was to be regarded as an emblem of patience in 

 adversity and of constancy under trial. To-day a 



