AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



THE TRANSPLANTATION OF FRESH-WATER FISHES. 

 Continued. 



THE perch is one of our fresh-water fishes which admits of 

 being readily transplanted and made abundant. Its culture, 

 however, as an article of food, or as a subject of sport, has not 

 hitherto, in this country, received the attention it deserves. In 

 the latter respect, certainly, its pretensions are not to be classed 

 with those of the trout, but they are not altogether inadmissible. 

 There is diversion, after its kind, in watching for the dip of one's 

 float, near the edge of a lake or pool, in which you have reason 

 to know that the fish in question are tolerably plentiful, and of a 

 size, in the long-run, worth capturing, diversion, sufficient at 

 least, to content and even excite thousands among the Waltonian 

 order of anglers ; nay, to work upon the fancy, now and then, of 

 the experienced slaughterer of trout and salmon. I admit, for 

 my own part, under these circumstances, that I take special plea- 

 sure in a few hours' perch-fishing. The variety itself is most 

 acceptable ; and many a time would I gladly exchange, on that 

 score alone, a promising forenoon's sport on Tweed or Teviot for 

 a quiet fling in Yetholm or Fasten Loch, two well-known pre- 

 serves situated at the foot of the Cheviots, the nearer of them 

 being within an hour's drive of Kelso. 



Indeed, notwithstanding the clamour against bait-fishing raised 

 in certain quarters, I feel inclined to hold the opinion that diver- 

 sity in one's sport gives a sustaining relish to every individual 

 branch of it ; and that an occasional indulgence, by way, as it 

 were, of interlude, in the tamer and ruder, adds to the enjoyment 

 of the more exciting and refined department. I have frequently 

 also, among rod-fishers of my acquaintance, adepts in trout and 

 salmon -slay ing, noticed, that however much at starting they may 

 affect, in the way of comparison, to despise the amusement of 

 perch-fishing, they will quickly enter into the spirit of it, as a 



