ARTIFICIAL PERCH CULTURE 233 



the way, are very fond of the freshwater shrimp 

 (Gammarus pulex\ and no plant I know of encourages 

 these valuable little items in a fish's diet as does the 

 common watercress. 



It will be seen from this and the foregoing 

 chapter that there are two methods of maintaining 

 a head of perch in any river. One is to fish it 

 lightly and return to the water all perch under seven 

 or eight inches, the other is to re-stock it from time 

 to time. I used to be a strong advocate for returning 

 undersized fish to the water, but the result, both in 

 trout and coarse fish streams, has been such a serious 

 advance in the education of the fish that at the 

 present day in many waters it is only the expert 

 angler who is able to enjoy sport worth speaking 

 about. Duffers and mediocrities catch next to 

 nothing. 



It is not unnatural that a fish which has been 

 caught several times and returned to the water 

 should, on attaining years of discretion and a length 

 which would permit of his being slain, also attain a 

 knowledge of things piscatorial, and by that time be 

 anything but the bold-biting fish which Walton and 

 the earlier writers described. Of course I do not 

 counsel or suggest the slaughter of mere babies ; but 

 where it is possible to re-stock a water from time 



