THE PERCH OF THE RIVER 241 



felt, the fish is missed, and on the tackle being 

 drawn out of the water half the minnow will be found 

 on one of the hooks. A small jack is usually desig- 

 nated the culprit, but even a large pike, though 

 exceedingly well furnished in the matter of the teeth, 

 cannot cut a bait in half ; it can only mangle it. The 

 severance is always due to the throat teeth of some 

 hungry chub. 



In late summer and autumn I have sometimes 

 succeeded in catching large shy-biting perch by 

 using a ledger baited with a gudgeon. Ledger-tackle 

 lies on the bottom, and the fish do not see the 

 gut. With float-tackle, on the other hand, every 

 inch of the gut, the shots which weight it, and even 

 the float itself, if the water be clear, are all visible to 

 the fish and doubtless objects of suspicion. 



Besides the methods of perch fishing I have 

 enumerated, there is spinning with artificial baits, 

 which I have always found more successful in spring, 

 summer, or early autumn than in winter. Let the 

 tackle be fine, and the bait a rapid spinner, small and 

 glittering. Very small baits are made for casting 

 with the fly rod, but I will refer to these in the next 

 chapter, for they are more particularly useful for 

 shallow lakes, where the lure can be worked near the 

 surface. 



