256 THE PERCH 



Thames one day. Now and again perch will take 

 imitations of natural flies, but can hardly be classed 

 among fly-taking fish. While fishing one day from 

 the rocky shores of Lough Mask I saw a fine rise, 

 cast a small claret and mallard over it, and hooked a 

 lively fish which played well for a few minutes. I 

 quit;e thought it was a trout of a pound and a half, 

 but it was a perch fourteen inches long. I mentioned 

 the incident to Mr. H. Hodgson, the Hon. Sec. of 

 the L. Corrib Fishery Preservation Association, who 

 recollected that when a lad at Rugby, he had seen 

 some fish rising under the bank of the river near the 

 school, dropped a May fly on to the water and caught 

 several perch. I have often taken these fish on 

 Alexandra flies in lakes and twice in the Thames. 



I cannot close this subject without reference to 

 our Irish vivier. In the Black Forest I had learned 

 the value to the table of a fish-box ; and when in 

 Ireland, catching many more lake perch than we could 

 eat, and finding them infinitely better on the day of 

 capture than later on, I adopted the very simple 

 method of placing a dozen or so in a good hamper, 

 tying down the lid tightly, and throwing it overboard. 

 It was, of course, made fast to the yacht with a rope. 

 In this wicker vivier the perch would live an indefinite 

 length of time ; a thing well worth remembering 



