224 THE PERCH 



rivers. Two fishing friends of mine the late Mr. H. 

 Knight, sometime Hon. Secretary of the Henley 

 Fishery Perservation Association, and Dr. R. P. 

 Jeston told me that many years ago they had 

 succeeded in catching perch of over 3 Ib. in the 

 Henley district. But this was in the days when 

 fence months were unknown, and perch fishing was 

 allowed in May. The Hampshire Avon still occasion- 

 ally yields very large perch. In the autumn of 1899 

 Mrs. Fordham-Spence caught a notable specimen 

 weighing a fraction of an ounce under 3 Ib. 3 oz. The 

 bait was a gudgeon, best bait of all for large perch. 

 The fish was lying by a projecting bush in a hole 

 about five feet in depth. Mr. Fordham-Spence 

 when very kindly giving me these particulars, added : 

 ' I fancy I caught the same fish two years before on 

 a small Cleopatra spinner. He was then probably 

 2|lb. and I put him back. I have found that a small 

 gilt Cleopatra (2 J in.) and green-backed, silver- bellied 

 Bell's Life baits (2| in.) will take perch when the 

 natural bait will not touch them.' This is also my 

 experience. Another very fine perch was taken by 

 4 Redspinner ' when pike fishing under circumstances 

 to which he has himself referred in an early chapter. 



